Its often remarked on how George RR Martin drew inspiration from medieval history for his Game of Thrones epic. Indeed its far more similar than you might imagine. The ten quotes below are a mixture taken from Martin’s Game of Thrones and Gerald of Wales’ famous Conquest of Ireland (Expugnatio Hibernica) written in 1189. Its almost impossible to tell them apart. The answers are below.

You can hear the full story of the Norman Invasion of Ireland based on Gerald’s account in my podcast series here.

The answers

1.”Every Race that is born among the frosts of the North is unvanquished in battle and welcomes death”? Gerald of Wales, Expugnatio Hibernica, FitzAudelin Recalled p189.

2.“A cold wind was blowing from the north, and it made the trees rustle like living things.” George RR Martin, A Game of Thrones, Prologue.

3 Just as the people of the North… are warlike, so the inhabitants of the south are full of guile. The former are eager to win renown the latter to commit treachery. Gerald of Wales, Expugnatio Hibernica, FitzAudelin Recalled p. 187.

4.” The more you give a king, the more he wants. We are walking on a bridge of ice with an abyss on either side” George RR Martin A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 7.

5.”There is no creature on earth half so terrifying as a truly just man” George RR Martin A Game of Thrones, Chapter 58.

6.”After the death of his wife he was a womaniser and enslaved by lust, but not just for one woman for many” Gerald of Wales, Expugnatio Hibernica, A description of Hugh de Lacy p.193.

7.”Foretelling that battle years previously, had said that in it the slaughter of the townspeople would be so great their enemies would wade up to their knees in blood’ Gerald of Wales, Expugnatio Hibernica, p. 177.

8.”Some battles are won with swords and spears, others with quills” George RR Martin A Storm of Swords, Chapter 4.

9.”He comes here to subdue a people, and yet he puts forward subtle arguments for sparing that same people” Gerald of Wales, Expugnatio Hibernica, The Invasion of UIaid p.63.

10.”If, when they came out of battle array to vanquish us, they had been victorious, surely they would not now make any concession out of pity?” Gerald of Wales, Expugnatio Hibernica, The Invasion of UIaid p. 63.