The High King: "First Among Equals"

[Meltintalle]

Pattertwig's Pal and I went and watched a showing of Narnia: The Musical and during the crowning of the four siblings Aslan describes Peter as "first among equals".

We were both struck by the phrasing but didn't have a book handy to immediately check if that was actually used by Lewis to describe the position. (Full disclosure, Twigs said it wasn't, I said I thought it sounded familiar even if it did not occur in LWW. I haven't found it in the Chronicles yet. ) However, while researching the phrase I found that it has a Latin origin and is sometimes used in referring to the Bishop of Rome i.e. the Pope. I had been thinking it reminded me of the King Arthur legends, where there were many kings in Britain at the time but they all looked to Arthur for leadership. Both seem like possible influences for Lewis while he was writing.

So my question is two-fold. What associations does "first among equals" have for you, and is it a good way to describe the High King?

[Pattertwigs Pal]

We were both struck by the phrasing but didn't have a book handy to immediately check if that was actually used by Lewis to describe the position.

One of the few times I didn't bring a book with when going to see an adaptation.

The first thing that came to my mind was this quote from Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” And that quote definitely was not referring to anything positive. The very phrase "first among equals" seems contradictory. I guess it depends just what is meant by "equal." The children are "equal" in so far as they are all charged with ruling Narnia but they do not have equal say and power. Aslan makes it quite clear that Peter is to be above the others: "I show it to you because you are the first-born and you will be High King over all the rest." (LWW Chapter 12) In PC, the final decision about where to go falls to Peter as the High King. He also has the power to control when Lucy uses her cordial. She can't take it to "common wars." I was just reading something about Lewis and believing in hierarchy. I'm not sure it exactly applies here because it might have been referring to husbands over wives ... I can't look it up because I finally returned the book to Meltintalle. I think it still might apply though. Someone would have to be higher. There must be someone with final say. There were four children so a vote will not always work.

I don't like the saying first among equals but that could be largely due to the association I make with Animal Farm. I'm not sure how well it captures Lewis's vision for the role of High King. We know that the Pevensies were good rulers, but we don't know a lot about how they worked together. I'll be interested in seeing what other people think.

[waggawerewolf27]

I take Meltintalle's point about King Arthur being the most eminent among several kings operating in what is now England. But since C.S.Lewis was born in Ulster, in Belfast, I think that he borrowed the term from his own Irish heritage. As in England, Ireland has had a whole group of Kings, but there was a High King at Tara, away in the south of Ireland, at some place called Cashel. I don't know about first among equals, though. What little I was able to absorb about Irish prehistory suggests that he was merely some sort of chairperson among kings who were little more than military chieftains. It would be worth looking up.

[Meltintalle]

Good addition, Wagga. I was aware of the Irish kings but only peripherally.

Twigs, is this the quote?

I do not believe God created an egalitarian world. I believe in the authority of the parent over the child, the husband over the wife, the learned over the simple, to have been as much a part of the original plan as the authority of man over beast.

In the books we mostly see Peter using his authority as the deciding vote when the four children are choosing a course of action. We also see him acknowledging his mistakes and being humble. So while he is not equal in a strict democratic sense, he is equal in the more human sense...

In short, if it's not obviously wrong, I will happily look at any description of the High King as somehow pertaining to his chivalrous virtues.