Clifford Brewer (1913–2017)

This is a collection of biographical sketches of the kings and queens of England, beginning with Edward the Confessor, with a focus on trying to figure out what caused their deaths. In many cases it's quite easy (Richard I was hacked to pieces on the battlefield. Pretty obvious cause of death there!) but in many cases there is a lot of mystery and speculation, as medicine was so primitive back in the days of Merrie Olde Englande and doctors didn't know what to look for or how to treat what they did see.

The author is himself a doctor, so with the medical side of the book I presume he knows what he's on about. He does carefully weigh the variables instead of immediately trying to pin on one illness or another. However, he is not a historian, and I saw some errors. Most of them were minor, but some were not. There were some parts that weren't inaccurate so much as incredibly dense -- like where the author makes note, with apparent wonder, of Elizabeth I's "distorted and very morbid approach to marriage and all that follows" but fails to even begin to connect this to her father Henry VIII's matrimonial history.

I would recommend this book, with reservations, to English history buffs.… (mer)