on Edward I: A New King Arthur?
Get It Now Edward I: A New King Arthur? Illustrated By Andy King Available Through Digital Edition
moves along quickly and fully attempts to keep up with complicated politics, . . yet
This is just not long enough to cover my gap in knowledge about this time period,
As much as I dread it I think I'm gonna have to try Marc Morris' biography of Edward I A strange, uneven book.
The important things are all here: the famous and probably apocryphal story about Edwards wife Eleanor sucking poison from his wound to save his life from an assassination attempt while on crusade his quick doffing of the crown at his coronation and declaration of refusal to wear it again until hed recovered all the lands lost by his father Henry III his seizure of power in Wales, construction of Caernarfon Castle and creation of the title of Prince of Wales for the monarchs firstborn son his role in shaping the subsequent development of the Houses of Parliament and establishment of means by which individuals could petition the crown his expulsion of Jews from England and of course his various “hammerings” of the Scots.
But Andy King spends about as much time on many of these as Ive just done here, meanwhile devoting strangely disproportionate attention elsewhere.
There is, for example, a dull, overlong and, er, taxing chapter on the byzantine fundraising schemes used to generate resources for crusades and for wars with France, Scotland and Walesbut the poisonsucking and the mention of the mourning Edwards construction of the memorial Eleanor Cross monuments on the route from Lincoln to Westminster Abbey are literally all thats here of Eleanor of Castile.
Even Edwards attempts to frame his reign as Arthurian in its glory, which find their way into the very title itself, see almost no development until the lastpages of the final chapter.
And what emerges here in general is a strange mix of neutral and not, an oddly distant, uncritical pen portrait of Edward Longshanks that you might say is as unduly easy on the “Hammer of the Scots” as Braveheart is unduly hard.
A very solid and easily read overview of Edward I, and his place among the Kings of Britain of that era.
Interesting reading, wellresearched. A short, political biography of King Edward I that captures the contradictions within the king's life and reign, Edward was an admirer of the legend of King Arthur and confirmed Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest, making a public show of consulting his leading subjects through regular parliaments.
However, Edward also annexed Wales, invaded Scotland and seized lands belonging to his subjects on dubious pretexts, Edward favoured brutal, theatrical punishments for those defied him including hanging, drawing and quartering for a Welsh prince and imprisonment in an outdoor cage for one of the sisters of Robert the Bruce.
The book is primarily a political biography with Edward's close relationship with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile and conflicts with his heir, the future Edward II, summarized in the first chapter.
Nevertheless, there are bursts of Edward's Plantagenet temperament throughout the text, especially his contempt for one of the main claimants to the throne of Scotland who asked for Edward's support and received the reply: "Have we nothing better to do than win kingdoms for you" The author concludes that Edward was an effective medieval king but also details his ruthlessness and greed.
good, a basic survey of Edward, It doesn't get into the nittygritty details, however, he does provide a general bio of Edward and his reign This is a curious, disjointed account of the life of Edward I.
The start lacks focus and structure on Edwards early life, and does not set it in the context of his fathers reign.
There is detail about the diplomatic nature of kingship in the early Middle Ages, and the author is at pains to describe the delicate balance of power that existed between the thrones of England, Scotland and France.
The chronology is erratic though,
I had expected some detail on Edwards abiding love for his first consort, Eleanor of Castile, yet she is hardly mentioned at all.
Likewise Edward of Caernarfon, the future king, i read this book as part of some research i was doing, it was a wonderfully concise way for me to digest the information I needed to gather, King's knowledge on one of England's more famous kings especially of those of the medieval era is sufficient to give an informative insight to the actions and the reasoning behind them, of warriorking Edward I.
For a short biography, King succeeds in effectively explaining major events during Edward's rule his conquest of Wales and Scotland his wars with the French his tireless effort to hold Parliament, to attempt to give counsel on matters across his realm, and of course his innovation in reforming the bureaucracy of the country, using Rolls and writs to document the workings of a growing Christian power.
A very enriching book on medieval England and one of her best remembered Kings, Edward I,
The book is written for light reading and doesn't go into too much academic detail, The writing is crisp and to the point with enough subjective details to help the reader understand the historical context.
One gets a fair outline of England as a political geography and it's standing among it's neighbours during the medieval times.
The author has followed the analytical approach as the various chapters try to look into the cause and effect relationship of Edward's actions during his reign in view of the prevailing political climate and how he dealt with them keeping the interests of his crown paramount.
Let's look at some of the interesting things we learn from this book:
A King needed various attributes to survive and succeed during those treacherous times, such as pragmatism, religious affiliation, paying heed to counsel, loyalty through grants and patronage etc.
For example, Edward I realized the mistakes his father Henry III made during his reign and avoided them.
His practice of taking counsel from Parliament before important decisions thereby increased the acceptance of his decisions among the subjects.
Before the reign of Edward I, there was prevalence of oral records and rights/identity based on historical lineage.
His emphasis on written records as a part of functioning of Government was a major improvement from the past,
The concept of Parliament in medieval times was far removed from it's modern avatar,
He had named his first born son future Edward II as " Prince of Wales " inafter the infant was
born there.
This tradition has continued to this day with Prince Charles being the current holder of the title, It is a tradition that goes backyears!
As the author writes in the concluding part that although Scottish and Welsh history may record him as a ruthless tyrant but English history records him far more favourably for he managed to bring the whole of British Isles under his rule something his predecessors couldn't.
This book is recommended for those with a fondness for history, This bitesize biography and analysis doesn't worship its subject, but it does shed some light on Edward's standings as a king by putting his actions in the perspective of his era's expectations of the office.
I enjoyed the conclusions particularly, It's a brief book and it flies by, The weakest of the series so far,
Ive been reading them in chronological order, Most of the series gives us a clear framework for understanding actions and policies, The first half of this book is just One Damned Thing After Another, Analysis is left late, if offered at all, And too much if it feels like the evenhandedness of an A level essay, full of qualifications and contradictions,
This is just not long enough to cover my gap in knowledge about this time period,
As much as I dread it I think I'm gonna have to try Marc Morris' biography of Edward I A strange, uneven book.
The important things are all here: the famous and probably apocryphal story about Edwards wife Eleanor sucking poison from his wound to save his life from an assassination attempt while on crusade his quick doffing of the crown at his coronation and declaration of refusal to wear it again until hed recovered all the lands lost by his father Henry III his seizure of power in Wales, construction of Caernarfon Castle and creation of the title of Prince of Wales for the monarchs firstborn son his role in shaping the subsequent development of the Houses of Parliament and establishment of means by which individuals could petition the crown his expulsion of Jews from England and of course his various “hammerings” of the Scots.
But Andy King spends about as much time on many of these as Ive just done here, meanwhile devoting strangely disproportionate attention elsewhere.
There is, for example, a dull, overlong and, er, taxing chapter on the byzantine fundraising schemes used to generate resources for crusades and for wars with France, Scotland and Walesbut the poisonsucking and the mention of the mourning Edwards construction of the memorial Eleanor Cross monuments on the route from Lincoln to Westminster Abbey are literally all thats here of Eleanor of Castile.
Even Edwards attempts to frame his reign as Arthurian in its glory, which find their way into the very title itself, see almost no development until the lastpages of the final chapter.
And what emerges here in general is a strange mix of neutral and not, an oddly distant, uncritical pen portrait of Edward Longshanks that you might say is as unduly easy on the “Hammer of the Scots” as Braveheart is unduly hard.
A very solid and easily read overview of Edward I, and his place among the Kings of Britain of that era.
Interesting reading, wellresearched. A short, political biography of King Edward I that captures the contradictions within the king's life and reign, Edward was an admirer of the legend of King Arthur and confirmed Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest, making a public show of consulting his leading subjects through regular parliaments.
However, Edward also annexed Wales, invaded Scotland and seized lands belonging to his subjects on dubious pretexts, Edward favoured brutal, theatrical punishments for those defied him including hanging, drawing and quartering for a Welsh prince and imprisonment in an outdoor cage for one of the sisters of Robert the Bruce.
The book is primarily a political biography with Edward's close relationship with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile and conflicts with his heir, the future Edward II, summarized in the first chapter.
Nevertheless, there are bursts of Edward's Plantagenet temperament throughout the text, especially his contempt for one of the main claimants to the throne of Scotland who asked for Edward's support and received the reply: "Have we nothing better to do than win kingdoms for you" The author concludes that Edward was an effective medieval king but also details his ruthlessness and greed.
good, a basic survey of Edward, It doesn't get into the nittygritty details, however, he does provide a general bio of Edward and his reign This is a curious, disjointed account of the life of Edward I.
The start lacks focus and structure on Edwards early life, and does not set it in the context of his fathers reign.
There is detail about the diplomatic nature of kingship in the early Middle Ages, and the author is at pains to describe the delicate balance of power that existed between the thrones of England, Scotland and France.
The chronology is erratic though,
I had expected some detail on Edwards abiding love for his first consort, Eleanor of Castile, yet she is hardly mentioned at all.
Likewise Edward of Caernarfon, the future king, i read this book as part of some research i was doing, it was a wonderfully concise way for me to digest the information I needed to gather, King's knowledge on one of England's more famous kings especially of those of the medieval era is sufficient to give an informative insight to the actions and the reasoning behind them, of warriorking Edward I.
For a short biography, King succeeds in effectively explaining major events during Edward's rule his conquest of Wales and Scotland his wars with the French his tireless effort to hold Parliament, to attempt to give counsel on matters across his realm, and of course his innovation in reforming the bureaucracy of the country, using Rolls and writs to document the workings of a growing Christian power.
A very enriching book on medieval England and one of her best remembered Kings, Edward I,
The book is written for light reading and doesn't go into too much academic detail, The writing is crisp and to the point with enough subjective details to help the reader understand the historical context.
One gets a fair outline of England as a political geography and it's standing among it's neighbours during the medieval times.
The author has followed the analytical approach as the various chapters try to look into the cause and effect relationship of Edward's actions during his reign in view of the prevailing political climate and how he dealt with them keeping the interests of his crown paramount.
Let's look at some of the interesting things we learn from this book:
A King needed various attributes to survive and succeed during those treacherous times, such as pragmatism, religious affiliation, paying heed to counsel, loyalty through grants and patronage etc.
For example, Edward I realized the mistakes his father Henry III made during his reign and avoided them.
His practice of taking counsel from Parliament before important decisions thereby increased the acceptance of his decisions among the subjects.
Before the reign of Edward I, there was prevalence of oral records and rights/identity based on historical lineage.
His emphasis on written records as a part of functioning of Government was a major improvement from the past,
The concept of Parliament in medieval times was far removed from it's modern avatar,
He had named his first born son future Edward II as " Prince of Wales " inafter the infant was
born there.
This tradition has continued to this day with Prince Charles being the current holder of the title, It is a tradition that goes backyears!
As the author writes in the concluding part that although Scottish and Welsh history may record him as a ruthless tyrant but English history records him far more favourably for he managed to bring the whole of British Isles under his rule something his predecessors couldn't.
This book is recommended for those with a fondness for history, This bitesize biography and analysis doesn't worship its subject, but it does shed some light on Edward's standings as a king by putting his actions in the perspective of his era's expectations of the office.
I enjoyed the conclusions particularly, It's a brief book and it flies by, The weakest of the series so far,
Ive been reading them in chronological order, Most of the series gives us a clear framework for understanding actions and policies, The first half of this book is just One Damned Thing After Another, Analysis is left late, if offered at all, And too much if it feels like the evenhandedness of an A level essay, full of qualifications and contradictions,
Edward Iis one of the most commanding of all English rulers, He fought in southwest France, in Wales, In Scotland and in northern France, he ruled with ruthlessness and confidence, undoing the chaotic failure of his father, Henry III's reign.
He reshaped England's legal system and came close to bringing the whole island of Great Britain under his rule, He promoted the idea of himself as the new King Arthur, his Round Table still hanging in Winchester Castle to this day.
His greatest monuments are the extraordinary castlesCaernarfon, Beaumaris, Harlech and Conwybuilt to ensure his rule of Wales and some of the largest of all medieval buildings.
Andy King's brilliant short biography brings to life a strange, complex man whose triumphs raise all kinds of questions about the nature of kingship how could someone who established so many key elements in England's unique legal and parliamentary system also have been such a harsh, militarily brutal warrior
.