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British Monarchy
The Plantagenets
'A portrait gallery of medieval English sovereigns, illustrated with many splendid photographs. Learned, informative and entertaining.' Peter Quennett, Daily Moil
'In 13 chapters he has restated the characters of 13 Kings, going back to every discoverable source and taking his own line as to what should be accepted and what suspected . . . Mr. Harvey has revealed knowledge, memory and industry of a phenomenal order.' Arnold Palmer, Observer
'Mr.Harvey uses only facts that are accepted by the best contemporary scholarship . . . and he does not distort them.' Times Literary Supplement
'Sparkle and scholarship.' Books and Bookmen
'In 13 chapters he has restated the characters of 13 Kings, going back to every discoverable source and taking his own line as to what should be accepted and what suspected . . . Mr. Harvey has revealed knowledge, memory and industry of a phenomenal order.' Arnold Palmer, Observer
'Mr.Harvey uses only facts that are accepted by the best contemporary scholarship . . . and he does not distort them.' Times Literary Supplement
'Sparkle and scholarship.' Books and Bookmen
255 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1948
2 people are currently reading
58 people want to read
About the author
John Hooper Harvey
39 books1 followerEnglish architectural and garden and architectural historian. A prolific writer and distinguished scholar, he made a major contribution over many years to several aspects of garden and architectural history, but his greatest achievement by far was his magisterial English Mediaeval Architects: A Biographical Dictionary down to 1550, first published in 1954, and subsequently revised. Based on documentary sources, it illumines the English medieval architectural world with gracefully presented facts.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
May 6, 2013
It's always interesting to read history from an earlier perspective. There is an enormous amount of research and scholarship in this book, particularly about the culture of the time, including art and architecture.
Details about the types of cloth and the amount of money spent on dress; details about the names and families of servants of the kings; details about taxes and rents and food served; all these particulars reinforce the author's points. That said, the author's biases are clear. His idea of what constitutes a great monarch may not be the same as ours, in the modern day.
Interestingly, the author gives an impassioned defense of homosexuality (regarding Richard the Lion Heart) and of not victimizing those who are simply being true to their natures. This was a brave stance in the 1940s in England, when homosexuals were severely punished.
One detail: the author assumes that we know English history. He therefore gives no details about battles or famous personages. I had to look up quite a few.
Details about the types of cloth and the amount of money spent on dress; details about the names and families of servants of the kings; details about taxes and rents and food served; all these particulars reinforce the author's points. That said, the author's biases are clear. His idea of what constitutes a great monarch may not be the same as ours, in the modern day.
Interestingly, the author gives an impassioned defense of homosexuality (regarding Richard the Lion Heart) and of not victimizing those who are simply being true to their natures. This was a brave stance in the 1940s in England, when homosexuals were severely punished.
One detail: the author assumes that we know English history. He therefore gives no details about battles or famous personages. I had to look up quite a few.
January 3, 2011
I know books are a product of their time, but it was too much work slogging through the aggressive bias here. My jaw dropped several times, and not in the good way. Couldn't enjoy it.
December 22, 2010
A well-written study of the Plantagenets.
July 30, 2021
My first review. I am a huge reader but not reviewer. I realise this is not helpful and I should review to help out. So here goes.
This book, which I inherited from my mum (I'm 56), is fabulous. It clearly has its roots in the 1940-40s, but more importantly, it has its roots in the mind of a very attentive scholar, interested in people. The presentation of the material is structured upon the notion that it was family, and the effect of family upon particular personalities, that took monarchs in and out of wars, peace-making, and law / social reforms. John Harvey pays enormous attention to this - looking for the clues to how this dynasty played out, king by king, upon their times. Having owned this book all my adult life, I have had to decide for 25 years of ownership- whether to read it or give it away. I know how much my mum thought of it, so I always opted to keep, and yet could get no satisfaction from it. Like so many books we keep, it remained beyond my ability to grasp.
All that changed, when I did some research first. Firstly I got an audiobook, A Brief History of British Kings & Queens (Mike Ashley). This is a simple, tell-it-straight account. I had to replay it a few times, over the House of Anjou parts 1 & 2. But it was easy enough to absorb. Then, I watched the BBC's Hollow Crown films, to find out what Shakespeare said about them (6 plays covering Richard II to Richard III). He wrote for a Tudor & Stuart audience - Elizabeth and Charles I got their crowns via Henry VII's defeat of Richard III on Bosworth Field. Those films staring Patrick Stewart, Rory Kinnear, Ben Whishaw, Jeremy Irons, Benedict Cumberbatch, and a host of other fantastic actors, put a razor-sharp focus on these personages of history. But was Shakespeare too pro Lancastrian? So I listened to Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time 'Is Shakespeare History?' episode on the Henriad plays, (and other episodes on there).
Finally, coming to my review, I read John Harvey. And all the jewels of his scholarship and deep-thought, fell into my hands. It has been so exciting to read how each of these monarchs played the hand they were dealt' how circumstances of war or pestilence, or the cunning and avarice of others, broke their policies, or, just as randomly, ennobled a reign without cause. It is particularly striking, how he frames the last years of Richard II. Ben Wishaw's Richard, played as a preening melancholic poetic fool, with none of Bolingbroke's steely pragmatism or vision, makes his usurption and murder an inevitability we can feel almost relieved about. Harvey has none of that. He looked at that Shakespeare text, and at the sources, and gives us something very different, which by itself, justifies reading this book (whether he is right or wrong, his view, is stirring stuff). It goes like this:
'...the tragedy is not of Richard II only; not of one solitary, lonely individual, but of millions upon millions of human beings, spread over 500 years of time and thousands of square miles; in fact, the whole surface of the habitable globe. The grand significance of this lone figure, champion of order against disruption and chaos, has not passed unnoticed: Queen Elizabeth I, in a dangerous hour, was shown a portrait of Richard II, and flared out: "I am Richard the Second: know ye not that?" Recognising the full meaning of his last ditch stand and martyrdom. But as has been said, in a less serious connection, nothing succeeds like a failure, and the tragedy of Richard will outlive many generations.'
So, I now have two ideas of Richard to reconcile. One has Ben Wishaw declaiming Richard's woes in repellant self-pity on the sands of Wales, having discovered the size of the opposing army - and the other is Harvey's damnation of the whole Bolingbroke enterprise as born out of the selfishness and cruelty of men of great wealth and status.
This is the kind of thing I feel a scholar can do - to be so dramatically and excitingly revisionist. In a way that a chronicler can not - or will not - attempt. I am about to download Dan Snow's book and it may also be riveting & scholarly. But Dan will have loved the ideas here. Upon the shoulders of giants... Having said all that, my mum could not do the kind of research I have done using a few films and BBC sounds, and audiobooks. We are so much luckier! Her love of this book was that it existed at all, and spoke so movingly about these people. The book is lovingly put together. There are fabulous photographic plates, well annotated, and the elegance of the writing makes it a pleasure to read. (I have a lovely 1st Edition hardback 1948).
I hope this first review of mine, can be helpful. But if nothing else, I have said my thanks to John Harvey.
This book, which I inherited from my mum (I'm 56), is fabulous. It clearly has its roots in the 1940-40s, but more importantly, it has its roots in the mind of a very attentive scholar, interested in people. The presentation of the material is structured upon the notion that it was family, and the effect of family upon particular personalities, that took monarchs in and out of wars, peace-making, and law / social reforms. John Harvey pays enormous attention to this - looking for the clues to how this dynasty played out, king by king, upon their times. Having owned this book all my adult life, I have had to decide for 25 years of ownership- whether to read it or give it away. I know how much my mum thought of it, so I always opted to keep, and yet could get no satisfaction from it. Like so many books we keep, it remained beyond my ability to grasp.
All that changed, when I did some research first. Firstly I got an audiobook, A Brief History of British Kings & Queens (Mike Ashley). This is a simple, tell-it-straight account. I had to replay it a few times, over the House of Anjou parts 1 & 2. But it was easy enough to absorb. Then, I watched the BBC's Hollow Crown films, to find out what Shakespeare said about them (6 plays covering Richard II to Richard III). He wrote for a Tudor & Stuart audience - Elizabeth and Charles I got their crowns via Henry VII's defeat of Richard III on Bosworth Field. Those films staring Patrick Stewart, Rory Kinnear, Ben Whishaw, Jeremy Irons, Benedict Cumberbatch, and a host of other fantastic actors, put a razor-sharp focus on these personages of history. But was Shakespeare too pro Lancastrian? So I listened to Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time 'Is Shakespeare History?' episode on the Henriad plays, (and other episodes on there).
Finally, coming to my review, I read John Harvey. And all the jewels of his scholarship and deep-thought, fell into my hands. It has been so exciting to read how each of these monarchs played the hand they were dealt' how circumstances of war or pestilence, or the cunning and avarice of others, broke their policies, or, just as randomly, ennobled a reign without cause. It is particularly striking, how he frames the last years of Richard II. Ben Wishaw's Richard, played as a preening melancholic poetic fool, with none of Bolingbroke's steely pragmatism or vision, makes his usurption and murder an inevitability we can feel almost relieved about. Harvey has none of that. He looked at that Shakespeare text, and at the sources, and gives us something very different, which by itself, justifies reading this book (whether he is right or wrong, his view, is stirring stuff). It goes like this:
'...the tragedy is not of Richard II only; not of one solitary, lonely individual, but of millions upon millions of human beings, spread over 500 years of time and thousands of square miles; in fact, the whole surface of the habitable globe. The grand significance of this lone figure, champion of order against disruption and chaos, has not passed unnoticed: Queen Elizabeth I, in a dangerous hour, was shown a portrait of Richard II, and flared out: "I am Richard the Second: know ye not that?" Recognising the full meaning of his last ditch stand and martyrdom. But as has been said, in a less serious connection, nothing succeeds like a failure, and the tragedy of Richard will outlive many generations.'
So, I now have two ideas of Richard to reconcile. One has Ben Wishaw declaiming Richard's woes in repellant self-pity on the sands of Wales, having discovered the size of the opposing army - and the other is Harvey's damnation of the whole Bolingbroke enterprise as born out of the selfishness and cruelty of men of great wealth and status.
This is the kind of thing I feel a scholar can do - to be so dramatically and excitingly revisionist. In a way that a chronicler can not - or will not - attempt. I am about to download Dan Snow's book and it may also be riveting & scholarly. But Dan will have loved the ideas here. Upon the shoulders of giants... Having said all that, my mum could not do the kind of research I have done using a few films and BBC sounds, and audiobooks. We are so much luckier! Her love of this book was that it existed at all, and spoke so movingly about these people. The book is lovingly put together. There are fabulous photographic plates, well annotated, and the elegance of the writing makes it a pleasure to read. (I have a lovely 1st Edition hardback 1948).
I hope this first review of mine, can be helpful. But if nothing else, I have said my thanks to John Harvey.
January 7, 2019
A good read and re-read.
About 50/50 academic history and popular history.
About 50/50 academic history and popular history.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews