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