Brandon finished his discussion post with no problems. We had to review the nature of the conflict of Mary 'Queen of Scots' who was executed by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England. This provided a nice background for Brandon's views on the nature of monarchical conflicts that occurred over the prospect of power (cousins betraying cousins, monarchs "saving face" and killing the other in order to preserve their power). After he finished writing, we moved on to next week's reading on Galileo.