Jeffrey Gonano

“Edward had been fascinated from his youth by the great heroes of history and mythology, and he was especially taken with a popular fourteenth-century literary staple, the lives of the Nine Worthies. (These consisted of three “good pagans”—Hector, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar—three great biblical kings—Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabaeus—and three great Christian kings—Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Bouillon, the first king of Jerusalem.) He consciously studied the lives of kings and would try to imbue his own reign with their best qualities, while avoiding their failures. He was fascinated by the providential quality of history, with its ability both to foreshadow the events of his own life and to set the conditions for the lives of his descendants.”
― Dan Jones, The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England