Nothing more that anyone could reasonably add to this, in my opinion. The author has covered just about every base. Well done.

The delicate relationship between the Rulers, in this case the conquering Normans and the Vassals, in this case the English (Saxons) is exemplified in one of my favourite poems by one of my favourite poets, Rudyard Kipling. Enjoy the poem below.

Norman and Saxon

A.D. 1100
"My son," said the Norman Baron, "I am dying, and you will
be heir
To all the broad acres in England that William gave me for
share
When he conquered the Saxon at Hastings, and a nice little
handful it is.
But before you go over to rule it I want you to understand this:--

"The Saxon is not like us Normans. His manners are not so polite.
But he never means anything serious till he talks about justice
right.
When he stands like an ox in the furrow--with his sullen set eyes
on your own,
And grumbles, 'This isn't fair dealing,' my son, leave the Saxon
alone.

"You can horsewhip your Gascony archers, or torture your
Picardy spears;
But don't try that game on the Saxon; you'll have the whole
brood round your ears.
From the richest old Thane in the county to the poorest chained
serf in the field,
They'll be at you and on you like hornets, and, if you are wise,
you will yield.

"But first you must master their language, their dialect, proverbs
and songs.
Don't trust any clerk to interpret when they come with the tale
of their own wrongs.
Let them know that you know what they are saying; let them feel
that you know what to say.
Yes, even when you want to go hunting, hear 'em out if it takes
you all day.

They'll drink every hour of the daylight and poach every hour
of the dark.
It's the sport not the rabbits they're after (we've plenty of game
in the park).
Don't hang them or cut off their fingers. That's wasteful as well
as unkind,
For a hard-bitten, South-country poacher makes the best man-
at-arms you can find.

"Appear with your wife and the children at their weddings and
funerals and feasts.
Be polite but not friendly to Bishops; be good to all poor parish
priests.
Say 'we,' 'us' and 'ours' when you're talking, instead of 'you
fellows' and 'I.'
Don't ride over seeds; keep your temper; and never you tell 'em
a lie!"

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Brilliant, Anne, simply brilliant! You made I larf!!

Hardly the SAME moustache, Matt. We are both independent enough to own one each!! However, I do see where you are coming from.
By the way, an email will be winging its way to you later today....Sunday....

Are you seriously stating that the words above said by our Queen Elizabeth are NOT what she actually said, Gramm?
Are you suggesting that our English language of the sixteenth century needs to be translated? If this is so we shall have to re-write and "translate" everything that Shakespeare and Spencer, together with dozens of contemporaneous writers have penned.
Get a grip, Gramm.

Weasel words that will one day come back to bite "Call me Dave."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veRsC44HPXE

Here's another beauty, Matt.

The other evening, on BBC2 "Eggheads" a team of students at Plymouth university selected one of their team, a lass reading history to answer questions on, would you believe, history.
Her first question was, "How did Julius Caesar die, a) in the bath, b) on the battlefield or c) at the Senate.
She hummed and arred and said, "Not my study period" and elected to go for b) the battlefield. CLANG!
Another gem was, "Which English royal house had the Gorse or Broom shrub as its emblem." Choices were a) Plantagenet, b) Tudor or c) Hanoverian. Again, this was not her period of study, she said. She took a stab at pronouncing "Plantagenet" not very successfully, but elected to make a guess as she, in her own words, had no idea. She, luckily went for the correct answer, Plantagenet much to her surprise and delight.
This lass was not one of your usual low lifes but a presentable but sadly, in this case, completely uneducated university student!
What has our education system become?

You've got to be kidding, Matt. All one has to do is watch some of the more "popular" quiz shows on T.V. to determine just how thick some people can be. The selection above is mild compared to some demonstrations that can be witnessed "on the box."

It's not as if the Chinese people have little or no experience in such matters of naval dominance. Hundreds of years ago they were exploring the world in truly enormous, blue water ships with crews of a thousand men.
Take a look at this article by "Auntie" for verification of just how powerful the Chinese were and could very easily become again:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-1076...

When you say,"our eleven carriers" you are no doubt referring to the U.S. Navy carriers as we, the Brits, only have one carrier, the Illustrious, launched in 1978 and with no actual aircraft that can operate from it. Even this elderly lady will be retired in 2014 when H.M.S.Ocean completes a refit.
By contrast, the Chinese carrier is bigger, far more modern and actually has the capacity to launch aircraft!! It is now COMPLETING its sea trials and should be fully commissioned by the end of this year. When you say that Britain has too much military one could argue that we managed to put MORE men onto the field at Waterloo (whilst the bulk of our top regiments were fighting a war in America) than we have in our army today. How much is too much?