Edward III: A Heroic Failure by Jonathan Sumption

Edward III: A Heroic Failure Reviews

• 
  Carolyn Harris

  A short critical biography of King Edward III with a strong focus on the Hundred Years' War. Sumption is especially critical of Edward III's approach to finances, arguing that he financed his wars in such a haphazard fashion that a few of his barons, who acted as guarantors for his loans, spent time in debtors prison. Other aspects of Edward III's reign receive less attention. The Black Death plague is only mentioned in passing a few times even though it caused tremendous social change in Edward III's kingdom and resulted in the deaths of three of his dozen children. The Six Statutes are not discussed and I would have liked more analysis about the culture of his court. Edward III's plans for his sons are discussed in the text but not his daughters. A good introduction to certain aspects of Edward III's reign but not a comprehensive biography.
• 
  Lisa

  Edward III: A Heroic Failure is part of the Penguin Monarchs, a series of short biographies of English monarchs for the general reader, usually around 100-150 pages long. As such, I don’t expect an overly thorough exploration of the life and reign of each monarch.
  
  I approached this entry with that understanding and I wasn’t disappointed. Jonathon Sumption, limited by format and length, focuses mainly on Edward III’s military career, largely his war with France that began the Hundred Years War. This is the area the majority of readers will be interested in the most, I feel, and in keeping with Sumption’s specialisation in the Hundred Years War. However, it does feel lopsided in approach and we find little personal detail about Edward until the final chapter focusing on his later years. The Black Death is also largely ignored in this treatment. That being said, I tend to be more interested in personalities rather than battles so another reader may feel differently.
  
  Sumption’s writing is fine, but not particularly gripping. What typos other readers found in the hardback edition seem to have been corrected for the paperback. I do have a small complaint about the final chapter, in that Sumption will say something that suggests what he’s telling us is not necessarily true and should be doubted but does not give us anything more. For instance, Sumption notes Froissart’s “exaggerated account” of the sack of Limoges by Edward the Black Prince, but does not tell us what actually happened. In another example, he describes Walsingham as “malicious” before discussing Walsingham’s account of Edward III’s death but does not tell us why or what is more likely to have happened.
  
  Whatever my criticisms, this is a decent overview of Edward III’s military career and Sumption’s central argument – that Edward was more “lucky” than a naturally born genius strategist and that he tended to harm his own interests as much as he aided them – makes for interesting food for thought. I picked this up to read a critical view of Edward III as a precursor to eventually reading Ian Mortimer’s hagiographic biography of the same king and wasn’t disappointed.
  
  In short, I do recommend this, but with the caveats listed here, the worst of which is that it’s focused mainly on Edward III’s military career and it’s not especially compellingly written.
• 
  Paul

  February’s Penguin Monarch is complete (remember, one a month).
  
  Edward III. Founder of the Order of the Garter, father to the Black Prince, quintessential medieval French-bashing monarch.
  
  Author Johnathan Sumption is an authority on Edward. He’s the author of the series of books on the Hundred Years War (four written, one to go - I intend to read them all).
  
  Sumption describes Edward as a heroic failure. This is because of his ultimate failure to win the French crown.
  
  I really enjoyed the book. So why only four stars? Some annoying typos and a quote on the back of the book supposedly about Edward III, but actually about his father Edward II. Sloppy editing.
  
  March’s monarch - King Stephen.
• 
  David Guest

  A solid, brief introduction. The writing sometimes seems a bit abrupt but that's due to the fact that it's intended to be so short.
• 
  Ian

  As with most of the Penguin Monarchs, a nice, easy to read, summary of one of our longer serving kings.
• 
  Michael

  Nice summary of Edward's life, and made me want to read more about it, which is what these little introductory book should do. There was a some nice suggestions for further reading at the back too.
• 
  Trevor

  A reasonable and easy summary of Edward III's reign and times.
• 
  Ronan Mcdonnell

  In some ways exactly as I'd hoped, this turned it to be tales of chivalrous derring do, sieges and pitched battles, courtly intrigue, men in hose and machinating matriarchs. Edward lived the medieval life we learn about as kids: jousting, battling and carousing.
  It's a fine history. But the writer has an annoyting tic. Ordinarily, after being introduced an historic figure is referred to by family name. Here, after the first mention, it is nearly always the first name, or simply their title (John, or the count, instead of Count Olaf). It makes reading back a little slower.