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The English Monarchs
Edward the Confessor
Londres. 24 cm. 375 p. Encuadernación en tapa dura de editorial. Idioma inglés. Primera edición .. Este libro es de segunda mano y tiene o puede tener marcas y señales de su anterior propietario.
375 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
19 people are currently reading
290 people want to read
About the author
Frank Barlow
26 books9 followersA Fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature, Frank Barlow was Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Exeter, where he taught from 1953 until his retirement in 1976. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1989 for his contributions to historical scholarship.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
November 28, 2019
This is the second book of the Yale English Monarchs series I read and I have to confess,
it didn‘t get me at all.
First of all it’s an academic work through and through, aimed at scholars and students
of English history but not suitable for leisure readers. Being part of the said series, this had to be expected.
But for a book aiming towards scholar significance Barlow‘s work contains way too little substance. It contains a lot of guesswork and oftentimes Barlow seems to say: „We don’t have any source on xyz so we don’t know what happened but I think it was this or that way.“ For many years I focus my reading mainly on biographies. This is one of only very few I put down after reading it cover to cover with the feeling of not knowing anything new about the person I just read a whole book about. To be fair, the book contains a few interesting parts on English history, hence the second star.
it didn‘t get me at all.
First of all it’s an academic work through and through, aimed at scholars and students
of English history but not suitable for leisure readers. Being part of the said series, this had to be expected.
But for a book aiming towards scholar significance Barlow‘s work contains way too little substance. It contains a lot of guesswork and oftentimes Barlow seems to say: „We don’t have any source on xyz so we don’t know what happened but I think it was this or that way.“ For many years I focus my reading mainly on biographies. This is one of only very few I put down after reading it cover to cover with the feeling of not knowing anything new about the person I just read a whole book about. To be fair, the book contains a few interesting parts on English history, hence the second star.
September 14, 2017
Edward the Confessor
Frank Barlow
Read in a dilapidated old used Hardback weighing in at 381 pages with applicable maps, appendix, biblio, etc.
Edward stands as a unique and interesting King that would, in a way, be the crossroads for the transformation of England. Edward was the son of Aethelred 'the unready' and Emma of Normandy (relevant later) united England under the House of Wessex after a tumultuous period of waning Danish rule. His heir-less reign creating the rough succession that would eventually see William the Conqueror (of Normandy) on the throne in 1066.
Mr. Barlow does a good job with the meager documentation and doesn't waste time where he doesn't need to expounding on the unknown. He does paint Edward in a successful light, primarily for the merits of keeping a very divisive kingdom of competing cultures and interests together. Most historians don't credit him with success for the lack of producing an heir. Thus ending the line of House Wessex and creating the conflict that would upset the balance of power in western Europe, a valid criticism.
Frank Barlow was born in 1911 and passed in 2009. He studied at St. Johns College before becoming a Professor at the University of Exeter and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1989 for his services in the study of Medieval English history. He has many published works and focuses on the Early High Middle Medieval Age.
Frank Barlow
Read in a dilapidated old used Hardback weighing in at 381 pages with applicable maps, appendix, biblio, etc.
Edward stands as a unique and interesting King that would, in a way, be the crossroads for the transformation of England. Edward was the son of Aethelred 'the unready' and Emma of Normandy (relevant later) united England under the House of Wessex after a tumultuous period of waning Danish rule. His heir-less reign creating the rough succession that would eventually see William the Conqueror (of Normandy) on the throne in 1066.
Mr. Barlow does a good job with the meager documentation and doesn't waste time where he doesn't need to expounding on the unknown. He does paint Edward in a successful light, primarily for the merits of keeping a very divisive kingdom of competing cultures and interests together. Most historians don't credit him with success for the lack of producing an heir. Thus ending the line of House Wessex and creating the conflict that would upset the balance of power in western Europe, a valid criticism.
Frank Barlow was born in 1911 and passed in 2009. He studied at St. Johns College before becoming a Professor at the University of Exeter and was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1989 for his services in the study of Medieval English history. He has many published works and focuses on the Early High Middle Medieval Age.
February 4, 2009
Barlow is the man for this period. Times that are tantalisingly just beyond clarity. In fact most of the important issues of Edward's reign are cloudy and open to debate.
July 19, 2011
I like Barlow's detailed books on the Anglo Saxon age, and Edward is a surprising figure who differs from the typical picture of him.
March 29, 2020
Frank Barlow was one of the most distinguished medievalists of his era. A prolific author, he wrote and translated over a dozen other books, including biographies of William Rufus and Thomas Becket and an anonymous account of Edward the Confessor’s life originally written in the early 12th century. Over the course of his career he was elected to both the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature, and he capped it all off by being appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his work as a historian. Reading his biography of Edward, it’s easy to see how he earned his accolades. Not only is it among the best books that I have read so far for this project, it’s one of the best historical biographies I have ever read, period.
For the rest of my review, click on the link:
https://www.bestbritishbios.com/2020/...
For the rest of my review, click on the link:
https://www.bestbritishbios.com/2020/...
September 30, 2013
This book was intriguing enough that it made me read the actual Life of Edward the Confessor to see for myself how he was portrayed by his near contemporaries and that's what a good history book should do! If it doesn't make you question the sources the narrative is based on then the portrayal by the author is simply too convincing. History is all about interpretation, and we should never accept what we are told without seeing for ourselves.
December 15, 2022
STOP! Go Read Edward the Confessor: Last of Royal Blood by Tom Licence instead! It's MUCH better!
Information is a solid 4 but Readability is a 3 - This is a dense work that assumes you already have a firm grasp of the history and power players of the era. However, Barlow's faith in his readers may be a bit optimistic - for example the footnotes are often in Latin!! (how is that helpful?) So I needed google translate open at all times to see what was actually being said in the cited works. Note: this is available (need free account) at www.openlibrary.org but was so dense I bought a used copy to mark up.
Barlow lays out the "facts" as described by multiple sources, states what he thinks is wrong or right with the sources, and then lays out his own conjectures as to what was Edward's motivation or what actually happened. For example, Barlow paints Edward as a vigorous and active King ~ about the power plays for church appointments he says, "Edward learned to play this game and played to win. He rarely lost." He further believes Edward, while not leading any battles, oversaw military campaigns saying: "The year 1055 was clearly a turning point in Anglo-Welsh relations. The English court decided to destroy the presumptuous Gryffydd; and the steadfastness with which this policy was pursued using different expedients until success was achieved, shows that Edward when the safety of his kingdom was threatened was at his shrewdest and most tenacious." The reader may not always agree with Barlow's line of thinking, but he lays out the options and defends his position well while giving plenty of information to make their own decisions.
A quick note - don't judge the book by it's first chapter, which is poorly organized! You'll have to plow through it as he lays out his concerns with the various chronicles and details the recent history. It gets MUCH better in chapter 2. I disagree with reasoning in the Epilogue. The Appendices (A. about the purpose of Vita Æwardi Regis and B. about the Godwin Hostages) are also very interesting.
1. Edward's background
2. Edward Ætheling
3. Anointed King
4. The Years of Struggle (1043-8)
5. The Victorious King (1049-51)
6. The Revolution Undone (1052-3)
7. The Royal Estate
8. The King's Government
9. The Rule of Solomon (1054-64)
10. The Kingdom Bequeathed
11. The End of the Reign
12. The Eternal Kingdom (about who pushed for Edward became a Saint)
13. Epilogue (2 pages saying Edward was a decent King who left his estate intact to his successor - which is a very generous reading of his reign since, at 63, everyone knew he would die soon and people had been concerned about the succession problem for the last 10 years. The idea that Edward only needed to "hold ow" for 5 more years for Edward Ironside's grandson Edgar Æthling to be old enough to be the successor is naïve since the oldest king in the last 100 years only lived to 50.)
Appendices
A. The purpose of the Vita Æwardi Regis
B. Hostages taken from the Godwin Family
C. The descendants o Eustace of Boulogne and Godgifu
D. Correspondence concerning Edward's canonization
E. The date of the first translation
F. Some unpublished Royal Charters
List of Rulers (this would have been so useful in 1970 before the internet!)
Schedule of Selected Dates
Maps, Genealogical tables, bibliography, Index
Information is a solid 4 but Readability is a 3 - This is a dense work that assumes you already have a firm grasp of the history and power players of the era. However, Barlow's faith in his readers may be a bit optimistic - for example the footnotes are often in Latin!! (how is that helpful?) So I needed google translate open at all times to see what was actually being said in the cited works. Note: this is available (need free account) at www.openlibrary.org but was so dense I bought a used copy to mark up.
Barlow lays out the "facts" as described by multiple sources, states what he thinks is wrong or right with the sources, and then lays out his own conjectures as to what was Edward's motivation or what actually happened. For example, Barlow paints Edward as a vigorous and active King ~ about the power plays for church appointments he says, "Edward learned to play this game and played to win. He rarely lost." He further believes Edward, while not leading any battles, oversaw military campaigns saying: "The year 1055 was clearly a turning point in Anglo-Welsh relations. The English court decided to destroy the presumptuous Gryffydd; and the steadfastness with which this policy was pursued using different expedients until success was achieved, shows that Edward when the safety of his kingdom was threatened was at his shrewdest and most tenacious." The reader may not always agree with Barlow's line of thinking, but he lays out the options and defends his position well while giving plenty of information to make their own decisions.
A quick note - don't judge the book by it's first chapter, which is poorly organized! You'll have to plow through it as he lays out his concerns with the various chronicles and details the recent history. It gets MUCH better in chapter 2. I disagree with reasoning in the Epilogue. The Appendices (A. about the purpose of Vita Æwardi Regis and B. about the Godwin Hostages) are also very interesting.
1. Edward's background
2. Edward Ætheling
3. Anointed King
4. The Years of Struggle (1043-8)
5. The Victorious King (1049-51)
6. The Revolution Undone (1052-3)
7. The Royal Estate
8. The King's Government
9. The Rule of Solomon (1054-64)
10. The Kingdom Bequeathed
11. The End of the Reign
12. The Eternal Kingdom (about who pushed for Edward became a Saint)
13. Epilogue (2 pages saying Edward was a decent King who left his estate intact to his successor - which is a very generous reading of his reign since, at 63, everyone knew he would die soon and people had been concerned about the succession problem for the last 10 years. The idea that Edward only needed to "hold ow" for 5 more years for Edward Ironside's grandson Edgar Æthling to be old enough to be the successor is naïve since the oldest king in the last 100 years only lived to 50.)
Appendices
A. The purpose of the Vita Æwardi Regis
B. Hostages taken from the Godwin Family
C. The descendants o Eustace of Boulogne and Godgifu
D. Correspondence concerning Edward's canonization
E. The date of the first translation
F. Some unpublished Royal Charters
List of Rulers (this would have been so useful in 1970 before the internet!)
Schedule of Selected Dates
Maps, Genealogical tables, bibliography, Index
July 12, 2020
Well-written and well-researched; I am not an expert but my guess is that forty years after its initial writing this is still the definitive life of Edward the Confessor. It is a bit academic but it held my attention and I enjoyed it, although it did demand concentration. My biggest issue with it was the gratuitous, sexist swipes at Edith and Emma -- Barlow does not seem to have been a fan of strong women.
January 19, 2019
Solid scholarship, quite readable. Perhaps a little esoteric for a non-medievalist.
November 8, 2023
Excellent history.
January 30, 2025
Useful, but dated now. Has been superseded by the Tom Licence bio but was quite formidable in its time.
July 16, 2025
didn't actually fumble the bag
September 7, 2015
Informative biography of Edward the Confessor. There is a lot here that may whet your appetite for learning more about Edward, the House of Wessex, and its fall. There are a lot of books that start with the Norman Conquest, just after Edward's death, and cover Edward as the events of his reign lead up the conquest. That's an interesting perspective, but a lot about Edward and his reign is interesting enough in its own light. I loved the intriguing details about Emma of Normandy and her prominent role in shaping Edward's reign, both through her actions at the time and by shaping one of the key sources of information about the period.
The author is on a bit of a rampage against Edward's saintliness. I'm the sort of person that can appreciate both a historical and a hagiographic narrative, but I don't see a need to reconcile these two perspectives to make them consistent. In this vein, I'm really interested in Barlow's historical interpretation, but I tired a little over the continual emphasis on disproving the poor guy's saintliness, which I found less salient. As with most books of the period, the author gets into interesting discussions about the different available sources, their usefulness and the particular assumptions and interpretations they bring. I can see why the author seems to resent the hagiography of Edward in this sense, as it certainly complicates matters.
There was definitely more than one Edward. The elusive historical Edward. The Edward invoked as a political figure to restore the House of Wessex for a brief time before the consequence, and referred to by subsequent generations of kinds, particularly the Plantagenets who resurrected his particularly anglo-saxon name after Norman-ness was firmly established in England.
And of course, Edward the Saint.
The author is on a bit of a rampage against Edward's saintliness. I'm the sort of person that can appreciate both a historical and a hagiographic narrative, but I don't see a need to reconcile these two perspectives to make them consistent. In this vein, I'm really interested in Barlow's historical interpretation, but I tired a little over the continual emphasis on disproving the poor guy's saintliness, which I found less salient. As with most books of the period, the author gets into interesting discussions about the different available sources, their usefulness and the particular assumptions and interpretations they bring. I can see why the author seems to resent the hagiography of Edward in this sense, as it certainly complicates matters.
There was definitely more than one Edward. The elusive historical Edward. The Edward invoked as a political figure to restore the House of Wessex for a brief time before the consequence, and referred to by subsequent generations of kinds, particularly the Plantagenets who resurrected his particularly anglo-saxon name after Norman-ness was firmly established in England.
And of course, Edward the Saint.
August 11, 2014
I found this dragged for me. Because it dragged, I procrastinated picking it up. Because I procrastinated, I lost the thread and it dragged more. Etcetera. There were good reviews so I wouldn't let mine stop you from reading it if you have a particular interest in the period.
March 2, 2013
For any student of history. This is the must read on the life of Edward.
April 17, 2015
Good source but I was only interested in the information up to about 1050.
February 8, 2017
Good overview of a cryptic reign and good lead in to the Norman conquest
Read
April 28, 2019I'm not actually finished but I've read as much as I want to. This book assumes a knowledge of the period which I don't have. It is too dense for my needs at this time. I read half of it and I hope i got the gist of it.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews