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72 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
72 lines
3.4 KiB
Markdown
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Title: Guideschi You Guys
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Date: 2021-08-06
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Tags: Insults, Guideschi, Brittany, Italy
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Category: Etymology
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"You Guys!" was an insult. But this expression was transformed into a term
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of endearment, in America, by the working class. Because that is what the
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working class do.
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### Gunpowder Plot
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You are probably familiar with the
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[Gunpowder Plot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot){target="_blank"},
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in which [Guy Fawkes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes){target="_blank"},
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attempted to blow up Parliament on 5 November 1605.
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And thus, because Guy Fawkes was reviled for his crime, the expression "You Guys" emerged
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as an insult.
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### Norman Conquest
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But how did an Englishman come by the names "Guy", and "Fawkes"?
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According to Wikipedia,
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[Fawkes is a name of Norman-French origin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fawkes){target="_blank"}.
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Well now. It just so happens that the
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[Normans invaded and conquered England in 1066](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Conquest){target="_blank"},
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an event from which the history of English Nobility ever since can be traced.
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### Guy of Nantes
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And yet more than a half century before the Normans even
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[settled in Normandy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy#Viking_period){target="_blank"},
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which they would not do until the middle of the 9th Century,
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(from where they would later sail across the English Channel and conquer England),
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[Guy of Nantes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_of_Nantes){target="_blank"}
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was Count of Nantes, as of 778, which was of course the late 8th Century,
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the [County of Nantes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_of_Nantes){target="_blank"}
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being located next door to what was not yet Normandy nor inhabited by Normans,
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and Guy (of the Guideschi Family), not being Norman but Frankish of descent.
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Well, that was awkward.
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### Breton Peninsula Geography
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So who was Guy, who were the Guideschi, and why were they occupying a small principality
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in between what are today Normandy and Brittany in the NorthWest corner of France?
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If you will recall that Charlemagne became King of the Franks in 768, but he was never able
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to conquer the
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[Breton Peninsula](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittany){target="_blank"},
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because the terrain was too rough. Thus he appointed
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Guy's father [Roland](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland){target="_blank"} as
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Count of Nantes, intending for the County of Nantes to be a buffer zone of containment
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protecting the Carolingian Empire from the inhabitants of the Breton Peninsula, (who
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could not be conquered on account of the rough terrain).
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### Excile to Italy
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Anyway, one thing led to another. Guy's son
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[Lambert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambert_I_of_Nantes){target="_blank"}
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had a falling-out with Charlemagne's son
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[Louis the Pious](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_the_Pious){target="_blank"},
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which resulted in the Guideschi Family being exciled to Italy.
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And then in 834 Lambert was given the
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[Duchy of Spoleto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duchy_of_Spoleto){target="_blank"},
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even though he was exciled, and the Guideschis firmly ensconsed themselves in the
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chaos and intrigue of what at that time passed for statecraft in Italy.
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### Conclusion
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In conclusion I really have no idea where I was going with all this, but
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thanks for reading all the way to the end, you guys!
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Here's a
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[podcast about the Guideshi](https://wittenbergtowestphaliapodcast.weebly.com/blog/episode-16-hey-guy){target="_blank"}.
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