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Laddar... Henry III: Reform, Rebellion, Civil War, Settlement, 1258-1272 (Volume 2) (The English Monarchs Series)av David Carpenter
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Gå med i LibraryThing för att få reda på om du skulle tycka om den här boken. Det finns inga diskussioner på LibraryThing om den här boken. It is ironic that probably the best documented medieval English king is also one of the least well known. With the second volume of his biography of Henry III, David Carpenter continues his valiant attempt to address this imbalance. Carpenter expresses a concern that he remains an academic rather than a popular historian but, despite the length, there is nothing for the general reader to fear: this is history at its very best. Carpenter is the perfect tour guide of the 13th century. The reader is carried along at a gentle pace, the prose scaffolded by a lifetime’s learning evident in the generous footnotes, and distilled into a conversational style. The reader is aided by two thematic chapters that explore the society of Henry’s England, and the intellectual and practical basis of the revolutionary regime of Simon de Montfort. The task is made a little easier by the events the book covers. The 14 years (1258-72) described in this volume are some of the most exciting, terrible and important in English history. The book begins where the first volume left off, with the dramatic march on Westminster Hall by seven barons demanding the reform of the realm. Carpenter traces the often-twisted paths that reform took as the reformers argued among themselves, and Henry plotted to wrest back power for himself. Far more radical than Magna Carta, which sought largely to regulate the exercise of royal power, the so-called Provisions of Oxford (the name given by reformers and historians to an array of reforms that took place in 1258 and 1259) wrenched virtually all executive power away from the king. The reformers corporatised royal authority among the barons, investing it in a council of 15 to rule with minimal input from the king. The work of the reformers exposed the failings of Henry’s personal rule and Carpenter takes us through the painstaking work of the justiciar Hugh Bigod as he travelled around the country, hearing the people’s complaints and trying to do genuine justice. The reformers sought to reach beyond the great lords to the lesser knights and gentry, to the church and even to the peasantry. The demands of the ‘community of the realm’ to preserve the Provisions and the oath taken at Oxford to uphold them were both inspiring and threatening. Those who dared to forsake their oath were to be regarded as mortal enemies while foreigners, especially England’s Jews, became, as so often, the scapegoat for the nation’s ills and the target of hostility and, increasingly, violence. Read the rest at HistoryToday.com Andrew Spencer is Senior Tutor and Fellow in History at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. inga recensioner | lägg till en recension
The second volume in the definitive history of Henry III's rule, covering the revolutionary events between 1258 and the king's death in 1272 After coming to the throne aged just nine, Henry III spent much of his reign peaceably. Conciliatory and deeply religious, he created a magnificent court, rebuilt Westminster Abbey, and invested in soft power. Then, in 1258, the king faced a great revolution. Led by Simon de Montfort, the uprising stripped him of his authority and brought decades of personal rule to a catastrophic end. In the brutal civil war that followed, the political community was torn apart in a way unseen again until Cromwell. Renowned historian David Carpenter brings to life the dramatic events in the last phase of Henry III's momentous reign. Carpenter provides a fresh account of the king's strenuous efforts to recover power and sheds new light on the characters of the rebel de Montfort, Queen Eleanor, and Lord Edward--the future Edward I. A groundbreaking biography, Henry III illuminates as never before the political twists and turns of the day, showing how politics and religion were intimately connected. Inga biblioteksbeskrivningar kunde hittas. |
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Google Books — Laddar... GenrerMelvil Decimal System (DDC)942.034092History and Geography Europe England and Wales England Plantagenet 1154-1399 Henry III 1216-72Klassifikation enligt LCBetygMedelbetyg:
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In the first book, the author covers a period of a period of fifty-one years in seven hundred pages. I thought that was tough going. In this volume, the author covers a period substantially smaller, sixteen years, in just as many pages. The author clearly recognizes this as he mentions it in his author's note. It is an exhaustive account of the latter part of Henry III's reign.
My favorite bit of the book was actually the end. I find the deaths, funerals, and burials of these medieval kings highly interesting, and to that end, the book did not disappoint.
As I finished with this series on a previously little known or understood king, I came away a bit shell-shocked. A lot of info was poured out. And sadly, because of the pacing and just the sheer amount of detail, I retained very little. ( )