u/KaiLung

Through some various history podcasts (most relevantly Tudoriferous) and the like I've learned about Edward Brampton. As suggested by the rather short Wikipedia page, he's kind of a shadowy figure in the historical record.

But basically, he was this Portuguese Jewish merchant who moved to England and converted and somehow along the way became some kind of friend/associate of Edward IV and has a rumored role in educating and promoting Perkin Warbeck during the timeframe when he had fled to the Continent. And an earlier rumored connection to the "Princes in the Tower" (either with murdering them or spiriting them away, depending on who you ask).

I realize this is kind of a stupid question in so far as Young Griff is pretty obviously inspired by Perkin Warbeck/Lambert Simnel plus the oddly parallel case of Guccio Baglioni in France, but Brampton seems to me a lot like Illyrio, but with some Jon Connington thrown in, in terms of him having a friendly connection with the overthrown dynasty.

And needless to say, I can see parallels with Varys' supposed baby switch in the ambiguity of Brampton's conduct towards the Princes in the Tower.

Lastly, as a side note, based on reading about Brampton and Thomas Cromwell (at least Hillary Mantel's version of him), I can kind of buy Bronn ending up on the Small Council, since Brampton and Cromwell had this similar thing of "past as a lovable scoundrel/cut throat" (which nobles presumably found entertaining) turned statesman.

Edit - Also, at least in John Ford's Perkin Warbeck play (and I guess in some historical counts), there's the suggestion that Perkin was actually Jewish, which I assume was leveled based on antisemitism (since being Jewish would be viewed as a bad thing), but I would guess also had something to do with Brampton.

Which makes me think about the fan theories about Young Griff being Illyrio's son.

I started reading the Bernie Rhodenbar series of mystery/heist novels by Lawrence Block and I'm at the beginning of the third one, titled The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling.

The MacGuffin in the story is a fictional Kipling poem called "The Ballad of Fort Bucklow", which is an antisemitic screed.

In the historical background provided in the novel, they discuss Kipling's (historical) participation in the anti-Bolshevik Liberty League then go onto say that he had a brief flirtation with being an antisemitic conspiracy theorist and wrote the (again fictional) poem at this time.

Is there a historical basis for this? I'm not so much asking whether there was any moments of anti-semitism in his writings, but more so about the specific idea that there was a brief time where he went all in (and then disavowed it).

I did see from a "wikiwalk" that one of the members of the Liberty League, George Clarke did adopt the kind of views the novel attributes to Kipling.

[Spoilers TWOW] Edward Brampton as an inspiration in the Young Griff plotline?

Is there a historical basis or inspiration for Kipling's antisemitic poem in the novel "The Burglar Who Liked to Quote Kipling"?