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 An exceptional study of England in the high Middle Ages October 17, 2008
Mark Klobas (Tempe, AZ, USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Robert Bartlett's contribution to the New Oxford History of England series is about a kingdom in transition. In 1075, England was a newly conquered realm of William of Normandy, who was transforming the sleepy monarchy of the Anglo-Saxons into a powerful feudal state. A century and a half later, his great-great-great grandson, Henry III, issued a modified Magna Charta that served as the foundation of English common law, establishing the right of the English aristocracy against the king. How this evolution took place forms just one aspect of this exceptional book, which addresses nearly every aspect of England's politics, culture, and society during this period.
In doing this, Bartlett adopts an analytical rather than narrative approach. Events are studied within the context of the broader patterns and developments of the era. This makes for a more challenging read but also a much more rewarding one, with insights contained on every page. Readers unfamiliar with the period should start with a survey such as David Carpenter's The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284 (The Penguin History of Britain), but even knowledgeable students of the period will learn much from Bartlett's clear writing and perceptive analysis.
 Everything you always wanted to know about Norman Britain but were afraid to ask August 21, 2008
reader 451
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I am jointly reviewing Frank Barlow's The Feudal Kingdom of England and Robert Bartlett's England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings. They deal with the same period, they are remarkably complementary, and I highly recommend doing as I did and reading them together.
Barlow's book, first published in 1955, takes a traditional approach and reviews the events of the Norman and early Angevin period chronologically. Bartlett's, benefiting from recent research, offers a more static but broader picture of the period's trends and features. To the newcomer (as I was) or, I think, to someone with basic knowledge of 12th century England, the combination will be as instructive as it is exciting to read.
The Feudal Kingdom of England recounts the main political events from the Norman invasion to the forced grant of the Magna Carta by king John. Barlow tells the drama of the conquest, the tales of dynastic intrigue, the blow-by-blow of three-sided feuding between king, church and baronage in sometimes gory, sometimes inspiring detail. Some stories simply need to be given chronologically, which Bartlett doesn't do: the manoeuvrings of William's sons, the dispute between Becket and Henry II, Richard's crusade and capture, the crafty king John's miserable reign. Though the narrative remains central to it, the book also contains chapters on aristocratic society, the church, and the English towns and countryside. In fact, it begins with an overview of England under Edward the Confessor which is invaluable for understanding change in post-invasion England.
Bartlett's England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings paints a multi-faceted panorama of 12th and early 13th century England. It is equally awesome in breadth and depth. And it is free of the typical fault of medieval history, in which 90% of space is devoted to the doings of 10% of the population. Bartlett devotes more than half his book to ordinary people's lives, urban and rural: their work, their habitat, their relationship to the lords, their money problems, their beliefs. He offers fascinating information on perceptions of the world, how the day was spent and divided, on marriage, manners and pastimes, even on sex. His section on culture and language isn't the boring recital one often finds, but is lively and relevant to the rest of the book. He describes the church at all levels, not just that of the bishopric, and from both the institutional and the spiritual perspective. He makes the best use of available data to discuss economic developments, themselves key to some of the period's political events (e.g. late 12th century inflation and the disasters of John's reign). And of course, Bartlett describes government and political patterns, only not in sequence.
These two books are complementary in other ways. Where Barlow tends to use original words, Bartlett prefers their more explicit equivalents (for example danegeld in one book is called a land tax in the other). If you only have time to read one, I would probably recommend The Feudal Kingdom of England, as it will leave you with the period's basic milestones. Still, it would be a shame to miss the fun of Bartlett's big canvas.
Superb modern history of a nation June 29, 2008
Hector Chumpitas (London)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Firstly, the title does what it says on the tin - this is not a history of kings, it is a history of a nation, ruled by oppressive foreign kings. Overall, it's a wonderful example of a modern history book, which gives you so much more flavour of the age than an old-fashioned 'what happened when'-style history. The drawback, I guess, is it may not be 100% suitable for people who don't have a basic knowledge of events before picking up this book - only about 100 of the 700 pages represents a narrative of what happened politically or militarily in the period. But this really ought not to put anybody off, by the time you finish the book you'll understand the major themes.
I read all the volumes in the old Oxford History of England (took me years!) but this volume is better than any of them.
Too short at 750+ pages December 18, 2007
Carol Small (Bucknell, Shropshire, England)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Every now and then you come across a technical or academic book that is clear, concise and just beautifully written. This is such a book. One hundred and fifty years are covered at a cracking pace and I savoured each and every page. It's a large book at 750+ pages, but it left me wishing it had been twice as long.
Most books relating to this period cover who did what, to whom and when. Bartlett doesn't: he assumes if you're reading this book you already know, at least in outline, the events of the period. It does cover how people lived, worked, worshipped, swore, laughed and cried. It makes you feel that you understand what it would have been liked to have lived during the period.
The book is well structured and you can happily dip in here and there as your interest takes you.
One minor criticism is that there are many words and phrases which, it is plain from context, have a particular technical meaning that Bartlett doesn't explain. But with Google to hand that's just a minor irritation.
I just hope the rest of the series is as good.
Fantastic lecturer, amazing historian... October 18, 2002
26 out of 30 found this review helpful
This book is an essential companion to any student studying the Norman or Angevin dynasty, or the period of history from 1066-1225. Robert Bartlett is Wardlaw Professor at St. Andrews University and anyone who has heard him lecture on this subject knows the sheer enormity of his personal knowledge and understanding. He writes with a glorious idiosyncratic brilliance so rare in the academic world, leaving a highly accesible book that thoroughly invokes the period.
If you're going to buy any book, buy this one. History doesn't get much more enticing than this.
I vote to promote Prof. Bartlett to a knighthood!
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