Readers reply: who has been treated most unfairly by history?
Which individual has been treated most unfairly by history? Alex Middleton, Rutland
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Readers reply
Judas. If he had not done his thing, Jesus would not have been crucified and God would not forgive our sins. (Allegedly.) So why is he vilified? NormanOfAnstruther
And we wouldn’t have a public holiday without him. rushmorewallace
Mary Magdalene, a follower and financial supporter of Jesus. In his Easter sermon in 591AD, Pope Gregory I declared she was the same woman as Mary of Bethany and the “sinful” woman who anointed Jesus’s feet at the home of a Pharisee, effectively saying she was a prostitute. There is no evidence for this beyond nasty misogyny. It was not until 1969 that Pope Paul VI put the record straight officially, but the lie is still repeated, usually by men, even today. Ruthedgehog
I am a biologist, so I would like to suggest Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. She brought smallpox inoculation to the west from Turkey in 1720, but the credit always goes to Edward Jenner, nearly 75 years after her. Jenner merely substituted cowpox virus for live smallpox, since immunity to one pox virus confers immunity to others. A great breakthrough, but impossible without the baseline technology she introduced, as anyone can see by reading her Turkish embassy letters.
How Mary Wortley Montagu's bold experiment led to smallpox vaccine – 75 years before Jenner
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It is part and parcel of the general unfairness with which women are always treated. Lady Mary’s only official recognition is a plaque in Lichfield cathedral – put up by her great niece in the 1790s. Why doesn’t she have a plaque in Westminster Abbey along with, say, all the governors general of India, including that idiot Lord Canning? Even during the pandemic, little was said about her, but ultimately her discovery and its promotion, at a certain cost to her reputation, is what made Covid vaccines possible. (Speaking of which, Katalin Karikó was laughed at for suggesting mRNA vaccines. At least she finally got a Nobel prize.)
Lady Mary had a disagreement with Alexander Pope, so she is relegated to a footnote in Pope studies. Yet what she accomplished was far, far more important than anything Pope thought, said or did. lorantffy
Anne Boleyn. Lost her head for the crime of not bearing a son when it was not her fault and was accused of incest with her brother. Even now, she is portrayed as a seductress and gold-digger when she had very little choice in her fate, once she had caught the eye of Henry VIII. GrasmereGardens
Richard III has had a pretty bum rap from history and he ended his days in Leicester! StorageLacuna
Neville Chamberlain. He bought the UK time to rearm by “appeasing” Hitler. If he’d gone to war when historical revisionists thought he should have, France would probably have capitulated sooner, the UK would have been quickly overwhelmed and the US would perhaps not have been persuaded to join the war effort. All of which, taken together, would have meant that history would have worked out rather differently. MHubbard
During the 1960s, Dick Rowe of Decca Records signed (among others) the Rolling Stones, Them, the Moody Blues, the Zombies, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Tom Jones, the Small Faces, the Animals, Cat Stevens and Procol Harum. However, to history, he will always be the man who turned down the Beatles. EddieChorepost
Taking Shakespeare as history – not strictly true – the answer could be Macbeth. He rose up against Duncan, and killed him in battle, because Duncan was so oppressive. Macbeth ruled over a period of peace and prosperity. Tedami7
Cain. He was an industrious farmer and made Yahweh a fine offering, yet the big guy spurned his hard work in favour of his sheep-bothering brother’s grilled lamb. MaxAmalric
While we’re on things biblical, the prodigal son’s dutiful brother seems to be portrayed as a whining goody two-shoes. PeteTheBeat
The Lisbon Lions 50 years on: still the greatest story ever told in Scottish sport
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Bobby Lennox. A much better player than he was ever given credit for. I would also credit Lord Boyd-Orr, who basically invented nutrition and is responsible for much of what we now understand. First director general of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and a Nobel prize winner, but largely forgotten. chymist
King Canute – for the total misunderstanding of the point he was supposedly trying to make. EuropaKelt
Women. yogainspain
Cleopatra: demonised as an evil seductress for centuries, exoticised and belittled with ethnic tropes, blamed for the fall of Egypt to Rome, when most of what she did was excellent political pageantry as a queen of the ancient world trying to retain the independence of Egypt. History has far too easily bought into Augustan rhetoric about her, despite knowing that Augustus was a pioneer of propaganda at the turn of the millennium. Grumylar
The clear answer here is Charlie Brown. Judge a person by how he or she treats their pets. Snoopy is well loved and given room for his personal expressions. Lucy, despite her crush on the boy, has much to answer for. JohnHunt
Definitely me – I don’t appear in any history books. It’s so unfair! Serenely