hi... weird question, almost a confession. I'm feeling sort of lost. My mother is from nafarroa, and I've grown up visiting euskadi a lot. But her father(my grandpa, from Valencia) became franquista and was abusive patriarch during the war and forbade euskera at home and made my grandma change her surname(she's now also diehard facha and refuses to even admit she's from nafarroa, saying she's lived in central spain all life... sure) and my mom never relearned and just integrated. So I never learned either, and then mom died a year ago... I have no contact with that side of the family at all, and have lived outside of Euskadi and Spain for the majority of my life now, but I want to reconnect with being basque. I just don't know how or if i even have the right.

Talking to my dad about it(he's english) he's always xenophobic about it saying you guys weren't even THAT basque and making etarra jokes at any oportunity, and saying nafarroa doesn't even count based on phrenology(yes he is also a racist). I don't feel I'm basque enough at all, and I don't know how to even begin reconnecting, I just feel like a huge part of myself was taken from me but I don't know if it's mine to take back. I feel ashamed when I try to learn euskera now because I feel like I'm intruding. Am I? I don't even know...

Kaixo anon!

First of all, thanks A LOT for sharing your story with us, especially because it isn't a pleasant one and sadly it's very similar to thousands others. Eskerrik asko.

Secondly. There's no such thing as Basque enough, so please leave that out of your head. Nobody is giving Basque IDs or asking for requisites to fulfill to get one. Our culture and language is open to anyone: many foreigners have become interested and speak a beautiful Basque and enjoy our history and traditions, and many locals couldn't care less about it all. Our language would be dead by now if it wasn't for new learners. Nobody will set you a limit as how deep you should go depending on where you come from or how much Basque blood you have.

Basque is an identity, yes, and that includes being a feeling, a calling, wanting to reconnect, being interested in our point of view, our history, our dances, our places. Maybe because EH is your family homeland, or because you just feel a connection. Nobody's gonna ask why you feel that. Who cares. We certainly don't.

That said, if you want to reconnect, go ahead!! Read something like The Basque History of the World as a first step, deep dive in the Wiki, get a general view and discover if you want to know more and more. Show a big middle finger to all those fascists who suppressed our culture in your family. Do it for yourself.

But don't let fear stop you, you're doing nothing wrong, quite the opposite!!

If Richard III and Henry VII die, who should be the king of England?

It depends on the context.

Considering you put their ruling number, I assume you imagine they would die at the moment they were both declared king, which is the Bosworth campaign.

At that point, it really depends on conjuncture: Was John de la Pole captured? Did he flee? Which magnate has kept its army?

For instance, Norfolk getting killed at Bosworth means that John de la Pole or Edward Plantagenet might carry less weight, considering that he was a diehard Ricardian. On the reverse, the Marquess of Dorset which might support Edward Plantagenet is in France which can either be a curse (he's out of the immediate picture) or a blessing (he can ask for French support).

Many solutions are possible: the Ricardian faction might either favour John de la Pole or Edward Plantagenet. It depends if whether none, one or both fall under Tudor custody. The Tudor coalition is gone. Jasper could marry Elizabeth of York, but he doesn't have the Beaufort blood, and he's around 50 years old and heirless, which isn't great. Edward Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, has royal blood but is merely seven years old. At that point, prominent magnates would decide what's best for the country and themselves.

I think that Elizabeth of York ruling on her own right is definitely out of the picture for patriarchal reasons. The Tudor faction can manufacture a king by marrying her to someone who would rule in her name but I don't think it would happen. To me, the struggle would be between John de la Pole and Warwick. As Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick is a minor, he don't have feud with anybody and that might be enough to push Tudor support toward him. Plus he can marry EoY. Still, if John de la Pole flee and play his cards well, if the Stanleys decide otherwise, if a Perkin Warbeck arises, it can go anywhere.

Thanks for the question, anon.