titles in the Penguin Monarchs series provide an introduction to an individual monarch's life and reign but this short biography of Richard II is best enjoyed by readers already familiar with the key events and people of the time period or, at least, have seen a performance of Shakespeare's Richard II.
Ashe adopts a strictly thematic approach, analyzing Richard II's reign through the lens of parliament, church, battlefield and London, The literary culture of the time and Shakespeare's time is woven into the text with extensive quotations from primary sources.
This is probably a good analysis of Richard II's reign and view of the monarch's role, but it's not a biography or text for those unfamiliar with the subject.
I'm reading the Nigel Saul book now, which is the chronological biography of Richard II with which I should have begun.
I'll probably revisit this once I've read Saul's biography, after which the geographicalrather than chronologicalapproach to the subject might make more sense.
The problem with this book is that its not for people who know nothing about the subject, but the series is on the whole directed precisely at people who know nothing about the subject.
If you do have a basic grasp of the reign, all the following is irrelevant,
I really havent a clue about medieval Kings, The Penguin Monarch, King John, was brilliant and left me feeling I now had a surface grasp of his reign.
Laura Ashes book has me making notes so I could figure out how all of the things she told me fit together.
Basically, the thematic structure is very cool but means this total beginner has no idea whats going on, because Ashe tells us the outcome of things weve not heard about before we know what they are or how we got there.
Date wise, the book flows backward in time
If Richard II Is as much a mystery to you as to me Ive not even seen the play I recommend reading the chapters in the following order.
It wont give you a straight chronology but it does give you chapters that each then begin a bit later than the one before
Battlefield
Shrine
City
Parliament
Finally: whats with Chester I still dont understand why Chester
Post script:
King who believes in his own majesty and the sanctity of his office raises money for overseas ventures he loses contracts an unpopular marriage pisses off the Commons and breaks his word to his Lords.
Loses crown.
And there was me thinking we only had one of those,
My first foray into the 'Penguin Monarchs' series of publications which follow the English crown from the AngloSaxon period through to Elizabeth II, which includes contributions from many popular and knowledgeable scholars of their particular studied period of history.
Laura Ashe is certainly at home with 'Richard II',
A short read of just over one hundred pages, but a book that gets right to the heart of this short and troubled reign.
Recommended. I don't feel it is controversial to expect a short history to be, . . Well a history. I don't know how he died, Or what happened at the end of his reign, did he have kids none mentioned but then so much want mentioned.
Worst in the series so far, Richard II has always been a monarch that has fascinated me and has not been as written about as other strong characters in British Royal History.
Ashe discusses his life primarily through the events that shaped his reign, although as she concludes, there is not reliable description of his character and he remains an elusive figure of piety and ostentation.
Furthermore, I found Ashe's discussion of his religious piety as a means of practicality and often as a means of strengthening his image, which was fixated on the divine right.
An interesting brief insight into the reign of a fascianting king, I may reread and will certainly explore the further reading once I have some more free time.
This was short but I did have a problem with lack of background knowledge, It took up the story at a level above where I was at, I needed the children's version to read first, Richard was a spoiled boy who became king when he was only a child, He seems to have handled the Peasant's revolt pretty well except that he went back on his promises and lied to the peasants.
At least he got them to go home, which may, or may not, have been a good thing,
I would have benefited from a more chronologically ordered recount of the events, If I had known more about the subject I would have appreciated the organisation of the book into headings of place, Church, City etc.
Lauren Ashes Richard II: A Brittle Glory is a slim volumepages, not counting notes and further reading that explores the reign of Richard II through thematic analysis based around four locations: parliament, the battlefield, city and shrine.
First up, I should say that this is not a strict biography of Richard II, If youre looking for a chronological exploration of his life and reign, youll probably be disappointed, or if youre not too familiar with him, youll probably be confused.
Two alternate books that might serve you better are Nigel Sauls sitelinkRichard II and Kathryn Warners sitelinkRichard II: A True King's Fall, both of which are more conventional biographies, albeit far longer and complicated than a volume in the Penguin Monarchs series would be.
Thankfully, I do know a bit about Richard II and was able to enjoy this book for what it was.
The analysis never really goes deep itd be hard to, given the limited space plus the need to make sure the text is relatively beginnerfriendly but it is interesting.
Ashes writing is clear, accessible and definitively readable and I did enjoy her discussion about how Richards image, not his person, that dominates not only the perceptions of him throughout history, but also his own reign and also, presumably, his life.
I liked the topical approach of this book, I learned more than I do from the typical approach of a chronology of battles, The chapters on Parliament, the cities and the church give a good understanding of the evolution of institutions and social organization at this time.
Richard himself comes across as an ineffective, vacuous narcissist, allowing other forces to lead the changes in society, With a particular connection to Shakespeare's play about Richard, and a few Penguin Monarchs already under my belt, I'd really hoped for something special from this book.
I was disappointed,
The main issue is not Laura Ashe's subject knowledge clearly immense, or even her writing style clear and accessible enough.
What distracted me and deters me from recommending this without reservation is the approach she took: thematic rather than chronological.
The consequence of this, for a biography, is that it is difficult almost impossible to follow the subject's life.
For someone looking for contextual information for their studies of Shakespeare's play, or as a starting point for the historical period, it is difficult to piece together the factors which may have combined to cause a decision, policy or event.
The reader needs to produce their own chronological framework which is surely what this book should do before they can start to synthesise their own ideas.
And if you are interested in the themes and not the person, there are probably much more useful books out there, given how short and condensed the Penguin Monarch series is.
Overall, whilst it's not one to avoid, be prepared to be frustrated by the disjointed narrative, An opportunity to produce something really useful has been squandered,
It's structured thematically rather than chronologically, and the end of his reign is dealt with in the very first chapter.
These criticisms aside, each chapter reads well and I have come out with a reasonable understanding of the monarch, so I guess it achieves its objective.
.
Ashe adopts a strictly thematic approach, analyzing Richard II's reign through the lens of parliament, church, battlefield and London, The literary culture of the time and Shakespeare's time is woven into the text with extensive quotations from primary sources.
This is probably a good analysis of Richard II's reign and view of the monarch's role, but it's not a biography or text for those unfamiliar with the subject.
I'm reading the Nigel Saul book now, which is the chronological biography of Richard II with which I should have begun.
I'll probably revisit this once I've read Saul's biography, after which the geographicalrather than chronologicalapproach to the subject might make more sense.
The problem with this book is that its not for people who know nothing about the subject, but the series is on the whole directed precisely at people who know nothing about the subject.
If you do have a basic grasp of the reign, all the following is irrelevant,
I really havent a clue about medieval Kings, The Penguin Monarch, King John, was brilliant and left me feeling I now had a surface grasp of his reign.
Laura Ashes book has me making notes so I could figure out how all of the things she told me fit together.
Basically, the thematic structure is very cool but means this total beginner has no idea whats going on, because Ashe tells us the outcome of things weve not heard about before we know what they are or how we got there.
Date wise, the book flows backward in time
If Richard II Is as much a mystery to you as to me Ive not even seen the play I recommend reading the chapters in the following order.
It wont give you a straight chronology but it does give you chapters that each then begin a bit later than the one before
Battlefield
Shrine
City
Parliament
Finally: whats with Chester I still dont understand why Chester
Post script:
King who believes in his own majesty and the sanctity of his office raises money for overseas ventures he loses contracts an unpopular marriage pisses off the Commons and breaks his word to his Lords.
Loses crown.
And there was me thinking we only had one of those,
My first foray into the 'Penguin Monarchs' series of publications which follow the English crown from the AngloSaxon period through to Elizabeth II, which includes contributions from many popular and knowledgeable scholars of their particular studied period of history.
Laura Ashe is certainly at home with 'Richard II',
A short read of just over one hundred pages, but a book that gets right to the heart of this short and troubled reign.
Recommended. I don't feel it is controversial to expect a short history to be, . . Well a history. I don't know how he died, Or what happened at the end of his reign, did he have kids none mentioned but then so much want mentioned.
Worst in the series so far, Richard II has always been a monarch that has fascinated me and has not been as written about as other strong characters in British Royal History.
Ashe discusses his life primarily through the events that shaped his reign, although as she concludes, there is not reliable description of his character and he remains an elusive figure of piety and ostentation.
Furthermore, I found Ashe's discussion of his religious piety as a means of practicality and often as a means of strengthening his image, which was fixated on the divine right.
An interesting brief insight into the reign of a fascianting king, I may reread and will certainly explore the further reading once I have some more free time.
This was short but I did have a problem with lack of background knowledge, It took up the story at a level above where I was at, I needed the children's version to read first, Richard was a spoiled boy who became king when he was only a child, He seems to have handled the Peasant's revolt pretty well except that he went back on his promises and lied to the peasants.
At least he got them to go home, which may, or may not, have been a good thing,
I would have benefited from a more chronologically ordered recount of the events, If I had known more about the subject I would have appreciated the organisation of the book into headings of place, Church, City etc.
Lauren Ashes Richard II: A Brittle Glory is a slim volumepages, not counting notes and further reading that explores the reign of Richard II through thematic analysis based around four locations: parliament, the battlefield, city and shrine.
First up, I should say that this is not a strict biography of Richard II, If youre looking for a chronological exploration of his life and reign, youll probably be disappointed, or if youre not too familiar with him, youll probably be confused.
Two alternate books that might serve you better are Nigel Sauls sitelinkRichard II and Kathryn Warners sitelinkRichard II: A True King's Fall, both of which are more conventional biographies, albeit far longer and complicated than a volume in the Penguin Monarchs series would be.
Thankfully, I do know a bit about Richard II and was able to enjoy this book for what it was.
The analysis never really goes deep itd be hard to, given the limited space plus the need to make sure the text is relatively beginnerfriendly but it is interesting.
Ashes writing is clear, accessible and definitively readable and I did enjoy her discussion about how Richards image, not his person, that dominates not only the perceptions of him throughout history, but also his own reign and also, presumably, his life.
I liked the topical approach of this book, I learned more than I do from the typical approach of a chronology of battles, The chapters on Parliament, the cities and the church give a good understanding of the evolution of institutions and social organization at this time.
Richard himself comes across as an ineffective, vacuous narcissist, allowing other forces to lead the changes in society, With a particular connection to Shakespeare's play about Richard, and a few Penguin Monarchs already under my belt, I'd really hoped for something special from this book.
I was disappointed,
The main issue is not Laura Ashe's subject knowledge clearly immense, or even her writing style clear and accessible enough.
What distracted me and deters me from recommending this without reservation is the approach she took: thematic rather than chronological.
The consequence of this, for a biography, is that it is difficult almost impossible to follow the subject's life.
For someone looking for contextual information for their studies of Shakespeare's play, or as a starting point for the historical period, it is difficult to piece together the factors which may have combined to cause a decision, policy or event.
The reader needs to produce their own chronological framework which is surely what this book should do before they can start to synthesise their own ideas.
And if you are interested in the themes and not the person, there are probably much more useful books out there, given how short and condensed the Penguin Monarch series is.
Overall, whilst it's not one to avoid, be prepared to be frustrated by the disjointed narrative, An opportunity to produce something really useful has been squandered,
Richard IIcame to the throne as a child, following the long, domineering, martial reign of his grandfather Edward III.
He suffered from the disastrous combination of a most exalted sense of his own power and an inability to impress that power on those closest to the throne.
Neither trusted nor feared, Richard battled with a whole series of failures and emergencies before finally succumbing to a coup, imprisonment and murder.
Laura Ashe's brilliant account of his reign emphasizes the strange gap between Richard's personal incapacity and the amazing cultural legacy of his reign from the Wilton Diptych to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Piers Plowman and The Canterbury Tales.
It's structured thematically rather than chronologically, and the end of his reign is dealt with in the very first chapter.
These criticisms aside, each chapter reads well and I have come out with a reasonable understanding of the monarch, so I guess it achieves its objective.
.