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British Monarchy
The Stuarts: A Study in English Kingship
Publisher-Fontana/Collins-British Monarchy Series paperback
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1958
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58 people want to read
About the author
J.P. Kenyon
20 books2 followersJohn Philipps Kenyon was an English historian. He was one of the foremost historians of 17th-century England, a prolific writer and reviewer, and a Fellow of the British Academy.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 11, 2018
Excellent narrative, beautiful ornate writing style. The characterisations are less historical and more evocative. For instance the description of Black Tom Wentworth "his mellifluous voice issued incongruously from a ravaged parchment face periodically suffused with angry blood, his hooded eyes intermittently blazing as of some inner light, or glazed; his heavy body twisted by gout over its supporting stick. In his awful presence questions of taxation, privilege, vestments, even doctrine faded into pallid obscurity, because he envisaged a polity in which such things had no place" .. who needs Game of Thrones. Or this of Charles I execution ".. and so to the day itself ... its details etched deep into the consciences of generations to come. They were so etched because the King by his great command over himself, his inner faith and peace, never put a foot wrong".
January 8, 2018
This book, written in 1958 and slightly revised in 1970, is considerably more concerned with the arcane ins and outs of Parliamentary leaders in England during the 17th Century than I am. But, it did provide an interesting overview, albeit one that expected me to know a lot more general history of the time than I apparently did, of James I, Charles I, Charles II, James II, William and Mary, and Anne - the kings and queen of England from the Stuart line of royalty. So, when I get around to a general history, I'm going to understand this stuff much better.
October 25, 2018
Readable - Check. Thorough - Check. Definitive - Check.
August 22, 2018
Fontana/Collins Edition
February 13, 2012
Opinionated, highly critical, and assuming a level of knowledge regarding the political atmosphere during the Stuart era that may not be present in a non-clasically educated reader-- it certainly had me diving for other texts on a regular basis, this is an intersting example of a book whose prevailing attitudes have been superseded by fresh approaches.
Given its age, it's easy to believe this was a central text for study when first released. It has all the right references, and the weight of genuine scholarly attention behind it. However, fifty-plus years on, it creaks more than a little. The level of misogyny is a suprise, for example, and many of the author's assumptions betray a pecularliarly English upper middle class background, and accompanying disdain of anything outside of the class-- this was a book written by a posh old English fellow, and no mistake. The book also betrays its author's genuine preoccupations: it is, quite simply, far more interested in the political manoeuvrings of the various Lords, Nobles and Parliamentary figures of the time than in the Monarchs themselves, who are all too readily dismissed as (variously) weak, vain, ineffectual, cunning, and downright stupid. Only Charles II comes out of it with any measure of credit, and event then, it is tempered by the author's inclination towards hypercritical assessment.
In the end, and assuming you have the time to go chasing all the references the author chooses not to explain, it's an entertaining look at, not so much the subject matter as attitudes towards the subject matter from an obsolete point of view. Not a populist treatment by any means, but an interesting supporting text to be taken very much in the context of a marxist reading-- an academic text demoted to the status of quirky remnant by the revisionism that has since been undertaken towards its subject matter.
Given its age, it's easy to believe this was a central text for study when first released. It has all the right references, and the weight of genuine scholarly attention behind it. However, fifty-plus years on, it creaks more than a little. The level of misogyny is a suprise, for example, and many of the author's assumptions betray a pecularliarly English upper middle class background, and accompanying disdain of anything outside of the class-- this was a book written by a posh old English fellow, and no mistake. The book also betrays its author's genuine preoccupations: it is, quite simply, far more interested in the political manoeuvrings of the various Lords, Nobles and Parliamentary figures of the time than in the Monarchs themselves, who are all too readily dismissed as (variously) weak, vain, ineffectual, cunning, and downright stupid. Only Charles II comes out of it with any measure of credit, and event then, it is tempered by the author's inclination towards hypercritical assessment.
In the end, and assuming you have the time to go chasing all the references the author chooses not to explain, it's an entertaining look at, not so much the subject matter as attitudes towards the subject matter from an obsolete point of view. Not a populist treatment by any means, but an interesting supporting text to be taken very much in the context of a marxist reading-- an academic text demoted to the status of quirky remnant by the revisionism that has since been undertaken towards its subject matter.
February 26, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in April 1998.
The Stuarts are interesting as perhaps the most devastatingly unsuccessful series of English monarchs. They managed to combine political stupidity with a belief in their own greatness, hardly a recipe for success, particularly not in the changing world of the seventeenth century.
This book follows on from The Tudors, and is part of Fontana's excellent series on English history understood through the personalities of the monarchs who have ruled the country. They have a popular feel, but don't compromise on the historical accuracy and scholarship. In the case of the Stuarts, for example, issues of sexuality are neither ignored nor sensationalised, and an intelligent assessment is made of the effects their activities had on policy (not as much as you might think).
None of the rulers, from James I to Anne, come over as terribly pleasant, and the book gives you the feeling that the English did the Scots a great service by causing the early death of so many Scottish Stuart kings in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
The Stuarts are interesting as perhaps the most devastatingly unsuccessful series of English monarchs. They managed to combine political stupidity with a belief in their own greatness, hardly a recipe for success, particularly not in the changing world of the seventeenth century.
This book follows on from The Tudors, and is part of Fontana's excellent series on English history understood through the personalities of the monarchs who have ruled the country. They have a popular feel, but don't compromise on the historical accuracy and scholarship. In the case of the Stuarts, for example, issues of sexuality are neither ignored nor sensationalised, and an intelligent assessment is made of the effects their activities had on policy (not as much as you might think).
None of the rulers, from James I to Anne, come over as terribly pleasant, and the book gives you the feeling that the English did the Scots a great service by causing the early death of so many Scottish Stuart kings in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
December 21, 2021
Like many "popular" British history books this one proved too inside-baseball for me. In other words, Kenyon assumes the reader is already sufficiently familiar with all of the major threads of 17th and early 18th century British history and so doesn't cover them here. The result is a relatively unengaging and listless tone which lacks a narrative arc. It may be a useful overview of a period for someone already relatively familiar with things like the Union of the Crowns (1603), the execution of Charles I, the civil wars and interregnum (Oliver Cromwell and co), the restoration, and the Glorious Revolution, etc., who won't be bothered when Kenyon more or less breezes past these events.
September 19, 2011
Fourth volume of the British Monarchy series, Kenyon traces the ill-starred family from its rise to the English throne through its various collisions with Parliament and modernity. Well written.
(I assume the book I read in 1988 was an earlier edition, published in 1958, but I saw no reason to unnecessarily proliferate entries in the Goodreads database.)
(I assume the book I read in 1988 was an earlier edition, published in 1958, but I saw no reason to unnecessarily proliferate entries in the Goodreads database.)
August 22, 2009
for my constitutional law essay
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews