Earn A Short History Of England Penned By G.K. Chesterton Exhibited In Booklet

se propone corregir el punto de vista dominante entre los historiadores de Inglaterra, El maestro de la paradoja llega a una paradoja: propone la misma conclusión que intentaba corregir, La esencia inglesa según Chesterton es la aristocracia, creadora del Parlamento Inglés y del Imperio Británico, que es otra definición de la esencia inglesa, Esa aristocracia ha estado por encima de la monarquía, de los Whigs y los Tories, de las guerras, de los complots, de las crisis, de la Reforma, de los efímeros levantamientos de lo que Chesterton llama populacho, inclusive de la Revolución, que nunca ocurrió en Inglaterra.
La esencia inglesa, once upon a time, sobrevivió al Imperio Romano, nada mal como obertura, La aristocracia inglesa es lo propiamente inglés, Gran paradoja: esa aristocracia es teutona, Lo anglo cobra sentido por lo sajón, que prima, Paradoja chesterborgeana. De ahí deriva Chesterton todas las interpretaciones históricas de los isleños que llama de risa ilógica, El núcleo católico del libro: esta aristocracia es una reformulación de instituciones medievales, una reunión de caballeros santos en busca del Grial, Una Edad Media idealizada, una comunidad religiosa radicalizada aparece entonces como

esencia de lo inglés, Es asombroso sospechar que tenga razón, Y más asombroso, que la tenga, Como todo Chesterton, la prosa es brillante, irónica, erudita, Usa y abusa de la paradoja y la metáfora como provocación, El estilo es todo en este poeta místico devenido en narrador, I had finished a Father Brown mystery collection by G, K. Chesterton, and although the writing was great, I got irritated by his flaky perspectives on science and atheists,

I decided on this book because I know little history, I was first surprised that it was written by Chesterton and to my second surprise, he had no training in history, though he seemed to know quite a bit.


It was poetical and literate and had tons of fresh perspectives, such as about when conservatism was for democracy and rationalism, and how once Rome in the sense of both the Empire and the Church were too.
And how the church was antislavery, and how you have to understand the King Arthur myths to understand England, And how the Magna Carta restrained the king but was in no sense democratic, Lots more!

I really liked the first go!

It gradually becomes plain that it is an elaborate defence and promotion of the Catholic Church in England.
That's still a fresh perspective to me, and it did shed some light and sequencing upon English history, He adores medieval democracy, especially monasteries and guilds,

He sure hates Thomas Cromwell, whom he calls a torturer and a looter of monasteries and guild halls,

Interesting tidbit: Apparently after some king wronged the church, he surrendered himself to be beaten by priests, which they did, till he was naked and crying for mercy.


He alludes to a lot of historical events without explaining them, If I was sitting with my phone, that would be fine, But I took this book as an audiobook during exercise, so that didn't work out for me, He did much better on the earlier history and the legends, He used the terms whigs and tories constantly without explaining, I checked during journalling, and whiggism is favouring Parliament over King, tolerance of protestant protesters, and opposition to papist on throne, They called their enemies Jacobites, Jacobites were trying to restore the House of Stuart to the throne, Jacobus is the latin form of James,

And what the hell is Agincourt Wikipedia says “England's unexpected victory against a numerically superior French army boosted English morale and prestige, crippled France, and started a new period in the war during which the English began enjoying great military successes.
” “King Henry V of England led his troops into battle and participated in handtohand fighting, King Charles VI of France did not command the French army himself, as he suffered from severe psychotic illnesses with moderate mental incapacitation, ” “This battle is notable for the use of the English longbow in very large numbers, with the English and Welsh archers making up nearlypercent of Henry's army, ” “Several French accounts emphasise that the French leaders were so eager to defeat the English and win the ransoms of the English menatarms that they insisted on being in the first line as one of the contemporary accounts put it: "All the lords wanted to be in the vanguard, against the opinion of the constable and the experienced knights.
"” “The field of battle was arguably the most significant factor in deciding the outcome, The recently ploughed land hemmed in by dense woodland favoured the English, both because of its narrowness, and because of the thick mud through which the French knights had to walk” “Henry ordered the slaughter of what were perhaps several thousand French prisoners, sparing only the highest ranked “ he had threaten hangings of those who disobeyed, but he feared that the prisoners outnumbered the exhausted English and nearly needed to rise up.
“ It established the legitimacy of the Lancastrian monarchy” “The most famous cultural depiction of the battle today is William Shakespeare's Henry V, written in, The play focuses on the pressures of kingship, the tensions between how a king should appear chivalric, honest, and just and how a king must sometimes act Machiavellian and ruthless” “V sign, for more on the "twofinger salute" which legends claim derives from the gestures of longbowmen fighting in the English army at the battle of Agincourt.
”

He wraps up with how the German protestant influence grew until they were the villain in the war, The war proved that the youth of England have the courage of their fathers, but he fears that they will keep failing to restore the medieval virtues and Catholic virtues, so they might as well have died.
So, a rather sour ending,
Read it for Chesterton's prose, which makes any subject interesting, or for his forays into medieval historiography, You won't learn much in the way of history from the book, Its more a book about the author's romantic views and his prejudices on the topic than what the title suggests, It's obviously very well written, but it's for hardcore Chesterton fans only,

If you just want to learn more about the history of England, I don't recommend it, Don't read this book, if you have never read a history of England, Despite the title, it is not a short summery of the primary events in English history it is a short philosophical work about English history,
Chesterton writes in his typical flair for paradox and philosophy about his opinions of the trends in English history, Typical statements: "Though the Dane got the crown, he did not get rid of the cross," "The Magna Carta was not a step towards democracy, but a step away from despotism," and "In Scotland, Puritanism was the main thing.
. . In England, Parliamentary oligarchy was the main thing, "
If you already know English history, you will enjoy the quirky statements and strong opinions biased strongly in favor of Christianity, especially Catholicism that help you to see the big picture of English history.

This is called a "Short History," but it is more of a commentary on England's history and ruminations on the concept of Englishness rather than a pure chronology.
Chesterton takes a rather romaticized view of the absolute monarchy of olden times and naturally gets increasingly more political as his history nears his own time period of World War I.
It's an intriguing look at England written in an engaging style not lacking in humor,

A few interesting quotes so far:

"Magna Charta was not a step towards democracy, but it was a step away from despotism, "

"The Henry V, of Shakespeare is not indeed the Henry V, of history yet he is more historic, He is not only a saner and more genial but a more important person, For the tradition of the whole adventure was not that of Henry, but of the populace who turned Henry into Harry.
There were a thousand Harries in the army at Agincourt, and not one, For the figure that Shakespeare framed out of the legends of the great victory is largely the figure that all men saw as the Englishman of the Middle Ages.
He did not really talk in poetry, like Shakespeare's hero, but he would have liked to, "

"The English historical tradition has at least a loose largemindedness which always finally falls into the praise not only of great foreigners but great foes, Often along with much injustice it has an illogical generosity and while it will dismiss a great people with mere ignorance, it treats a great personality with hearty heroworship.
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