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Lotharingia
Following Germania and Danubia , the third installment in Simon Winder’s personal history of EuropeIn 843 AD, the three surviving grandsons of the great emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. After years of bitter squabbles over who would inherit the family land, they finally decided to divide the territory and go their separate ways. In a moment of staggering significance, one grandson inherited the area we now know as France, another Germany and the third received the piece in Lotharingia.Lotharingia is a history of in-between Europe. It is the story of a place between places. In this beguiling, hilarious and compelling book, Simon Winder retraces the various powers that have tried to overtake the land that stretches from the mouth of the Rhine to the Alps and the might of the peoples who have lived there for centuries.
576 pages, Paperback
First published March 7, 2019
231 people are currently reading
2276 people want to read
About the author
Simon Winder
17 books150 followersSIMON WINDER has spent far too much time in Germany, denying himself a lot of sunshine and fresh fruit just to write this book. He is the author of the highly praised The Man Who Saved Britain (FSG, 2006) and works in publishing in London.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
October 30, 2022
(Rewritten March 2022) Not nearly as enjoyable as the first two books in this series. These earlier books ('Germania' and 'Danubia') were enjoyable mishmashes of travelogue, personal reminiscence and history, though history told in a gossipy rather than academic way. Both books got their knuckles rapped by serious historians, who rightly pointed out that there's no evidence for what some 1386 prince was actually thinking, or whether two women in a painting were actually smoldering for one another behind the King's back. In Lotharingia, it seems that perhaps Winder listened to these criticisms, and consequently produced the third volume in a straightforward, entirely readable but much less fun fashion.
While I mostly read him for entertainment, even his serious thoughts have merit:
While I mostly read him for entertainment, even his serious thoughts have merit:
In some moods I really think that these Cisterian abbeys should lie at the centre of all teaching of European history and that they are far more significant and interesting than most, merely ephemeral political events. We are so used to thinking of the Middle Ages in terms of men covered in sheets of metal clopping about on horses and hitting one another, whereas the true image of the period should be a monk writing. Many suits of armour are still around today because they are made from a relatively non-reactive metal, but the work of the monks has survived in everything we think, know and believe.Or this is nice:
The searing text of a song from the Third Crusade has somehow come down to us -- a woman lamenting:But of course, this being Winder, he can't help letting some impishness creep in:
I will sing to comfort my heart
For I do not want to die or go mad...
...He sent
me the shirt that he was wearing
that I might hold it in my arms. At
night when my love for him torments
me, I take it into bed and hold it
close to my naked body to sooth my suffering
She wrote fascinatingly about medicine, and has become a heroine of the New Age healing...her cure for jaundice by carefully tying a stunned bat to your loins and waiting for it to die seems beyond improvement.Or this little piece of art criticism:
How startling it would be to find an elaborate sculpture of a nymph on her way to the bath, with a sensible gown on and a little basket for her shampoo, rather than being 'surprised' in the bath in a skittish naked pose. These statues make it a mystery as to how nymphs spend their time when they are not bathing or being abducted....Topped off by a marble Joan of Arc at the stake, arching her back in fear of the flames and her dress partly unbuttoned to let her breathe more freely...Should the whole lot be gathered in a huge net, picked up by a helicopter and dumped off the Florida Keys to create the fabulous basis for a new reef, for example? It might be even more pervy to see Joan with brittle-stars clambering over her breasts, but it would at least be an exciting Green initiative.
July 31, 2019
PEARL RULED (p76)
"The Cistercians" did it.
A lot of that's context-free for y'all, but the lack of series commas (called Oxford commas among the Anglophilic) in this incredibly rapid-fire sequence is what tipped me over the edge. (I, with context, found the Berg reference inelegantly phrased.) It is not an affectation to put a comma after a dependent clause or a list item. It is a means of explaining a thought or delineating items on a list as discrete. "Cultural and economic" sound like one thing, one parcel of meaning; they are not meant to. "...cultural, and economic..." makes the two items separate, understood as different concepts in a list of several.
Anyway. Five hundred or so pages without series commas in a non-fictional work of dense information content would reduce me to a gibbering heap of misery and headaches. So no more. Dammit all, I was really, really interested in this book! The topic is very interesting to me. But I am not going to flinch twenty-three thousand times while this affront to clarity is perpetrated before my appalled eyes.
"The Cistercians" did it.
...it was always part of Cistercian practice to battle with the commitment to a near-inhuman level of asceticism and to sometimes fail. But these great institutions were for centuries the motor for Europe's spiritual, cultural and economic hopes, places of pilgrimage, guardians of the past and guarantors of the future. Even the most sybaritic lay magnate understood that mere castles, towns and palaces were minor spin-offs. Indeed, it could be that the once-haughty crusading rulers of Berg would be thrilled to know that they have wound up abused as mere platforms for a Christmas crib.
A lot of that's context-free for y'all, but the lack of series commas (called Oxford commas among the Anglophilic) in this incredibly rapid-fire sequence is what tipped me over the edge. (I, with context, found the Berg reference inelegantly phrased.) It is not an affectation to put a comma after a dependent clause or a list item. It is a means of explaining a thought or delineating items on a list as discrete. "Cultural and economic" sound like one thing, one parcel of meaning; they are not meant to. "...cultural, and economic..." makes the two items separate, understood as different concepts in a list of several.
Anyway. Five hundred or so pages without series commas in a non-fictional work of dense information content would reduce me to a gibbering heap of misery and headaches. So no more. Dammit all, I was really, really interested in this book! The topic is very interesting to me. But I am not going to flinch twenty-three thousand times while this affront to clarity is perpetrated before my appalled eyes.
January 31, 2025
Due to a loophole in the Selective Service Act which allowed a military exemption for fulltime undergraduate college students, I spent the latter third of Lyndon Johnson's presidency studying history in an obscure corner of West Virginia rather than dodging incoming in the Mekong delta. As a freshman I was required to take a history course called Western Civilization. The requirement was moot in my case as I would have signed up for it anyway. I eagerly plunged into the thick textbook for the course even before classes started and finished it by the beginning of October. About the second week of September I came across a map in the text showing the division of Charlemagne's empire in the mid-9th century among his three grandsons. Charles got France, Louis got Germany, and Lothar, in addition to his distinctive name, got a strip of land in between that reached from the North Sea to the Mediterranean.
Although the text did not dwell on the division of the empire and I'm sure there was nothing about Lothar on the exam, knowledge of Lothar and his oddly-shaped inheritance stayed with me. Decades later, I read a reference to Lotharingia and knew immediately what it meant; and recently when I saw there was a book with that title, it went immediately on my want to read list.
I was not disappointed in Simon Winder's book. Winder has apparently spent a significant portion of his life traveling through Europe seeking out cathedrals, museums, village historical societies, and anywhere else that might include information on the history and art of the region. He brings a fondness and respect for these subjects to this work. (His all time favorite German is Albrecht Durer. Although nobody has asked me, I might have gone with Elke Sommer.) However, Winder also has an eye for the odd and nonsensical aspects of European history which he generously shares with his readers, making Lotharingia much more compelling reading than my college textbooks.
Although the text did not dwell on the division of the empire and I'm sure there was nothing about Lothar on the exam, knowledge of Lothar and his oddly-shaped inheritance stayed with me. Decades later, I read a reference to Lotharingia and knew immediately what it meant; and recently when I saw there was a book with that title, it went immediately on my want to read list.
I was not disappointed in Simon Winder's book. Winder has apparently spent a significant portion of his life traveling through Europe seeking out cathedrals, museums, village historical societies, and anywhere else that might include information on the history and art of the region. He brings a fondness and respect for these subjects to this work. (His all time favorite German is Albrecht Durer. Although nobody has asked me, I might have gone with Elke Sommer.) However, Winder also has an eye for the odd and nonsensical aspects of European history which he generously shares with his readers, making Lotharingia much more compelling reading than my college textbooks.
Read
August 16, 2021Quite interesting look at the patchwork of countries and states that made up what is now the bit where France meets Germany. Written in a self-consciously quirky way with personal bits and fun facts and amusing remarks etc, which readers may find fun or annoying. Mostly a useful reminder of how Europe was entirely and continually at brutal war with itself more or less non-stop till the latter half of the 20th century. but sure, what did the EU ever do for us.
March 27, 2025
The blurb on Lotharingia: A Personal History of Europe's Lost Country nicely sums up what it's about:
In 843 AD, the three surviving grandsons of the great emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. After years of bitter squabbles over who would inherit the family land, they finally decided to divide the territory and go their separate ways. In a moment of staggering significance, one grandson inherited the area we now know as France, another Germany and the third received the piece in between: Lotharingia.
Lotharingia is a history of in-between Europe. It is the story of a place between places. In this beguiling, hilarious and compelling book, Simon Winder retraces the various powers that have tried to overtake the land that stretches from the mouth of the Rhine to the Alps and the might of the peoples who have lived there for centuries.
___________________
I found it fascinating, and his unfailing sense of the ridiculous keep it light for a hisory of a comlex part of Europe with more battles and oppressions than you could count. I did tire of the humour on occasion and wished he'd just get on with it.
One of my favourite chapters is on Albrecht Durer's year in the Netherlands in 1520 during which he kept a diary, initially keeping track of his expenses which 'sometimes have a strange intimacy. durer uys a small human skull in Cologne ... and in Antwerp he pays a ninety-three-year old man to sit for him. the astounding result is his painting of St. Jerome, which he sels to a merchant in the Portuguese colony in Antwerp, who sends it back to Lisbon, where it can be seen today'.
And so he goes on.
We're going to be in these Lotharingian lands in a few weeks, only for three weeks, not like the ten years that Winder spent wandering to find what he wanted to write about. Winder has helped me to understand some big things - like why the lands from the coastal low countries into modern Switzerland have been borderland battlegrounds for centuries , and how the religious politics of the region influenced its art.
No point taking it with me, but it will add to my enjoyment and umderstanding of the pplaes we'll visit.
In 843 AD, the three surviving grandsons of the great emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. After years of bitter squabbles over who would inherit the family land, they finally decided to divide the territory and go their separate ways. In a moment of staggering significance, one grandson inherited the area we now know as France, another Germany and the third received the piece in between: Lotharingia.
Lotharingia is a history of in-between Europe. It is the story of a place between places. In this beguiling, hilarious and compelling book, Simon Winder retraces the various powers that have tried to overtake the land that stretches from the mouth of the Rhine to the Alps and the might of the peoples who have lived there for centuries.
___________________
I found it fascinating, and his unfailing sense of the ridiculous keep it light for a hisory of a comlex part of Europe with more battles and oppressions than you could count. I did tire of the humour on occasion and wished he'd just get on with it.
One of my favourite chapters is on Albrecht Durer's year in the Netherlands in 1520 during which he kept a diary, initially keeping track of his expenses which 'sometimes have a strange intimacy. durer uys a small human skull in Cologne ... and in Antwerp he pays a ninety-three-year old man to sit for him. the astounding result is his painting of St. Jerome, which he sels to a merchant in the Portuguese colony in Antwerp, who sends it back to Lisbon, where it can be seen today'.
And so he goes on.
We're going to be in these Lotharingian lands in a few weeks, only for three weeks, not like the ten years that Winder spent wandering to find what he wanted to write about. Winder has helped me to understand some big things - like why the lands from the coastal low countries into modern Switzerland have been borderland battlegrounds for centuries , and how the religious politics of the region influenced its art.
No point taking it with me, but it will add to my enjoyment and umderstanding of the pplaes we'll visit.
October 21, 2019
When high expectations meet an underwhelming read, you get a one-star review. I’m born and bred within the confines of what once was the early medieval kingdom of Lotharingia and was excited to see someone had taken the time to write a book to see and discover what unites this region crammed in between old Francia and Germania; and to discover whether and under what circumstances this historic region could have coalesced into a more durable and coherent political structure.
However, this book, if one can call it a book, does not provide any of this. There is no overarching arc or narrative to be found. Most charitably it can be described as a collection of essays covering the history of the entities within the area that once was Lotharingia. However, even that supposes a level of editing that is absence from what mostly reads as a mixture of stream-of-conscious writing by a very excited 10-year old who is on his first holiday camp in the Alsace. Tangents are almost inescapable in a history book, but the author in this book often takes you for a walk in the forest leaving you there in the dark on your own while he stalks of into the bushes mumbling “I could have written a whole book about this, you know…”.
The lack of structure is worsened by the tendency of the author to continuously interjects himself into story, either by largely irrelevant and humourless anecdotes about his travels when writing this book (adding to the field notes nature of it all) or even more irrelevant stories from his younger years. To his credit, the author tones done this tendency when he solemnly covers the mass atrocities of the first World War and he admits in the afterword that he struggled with the format for this particular book and that his personal circumstances were far from ideal.
All in all, this book feels like it could have done with an editor to reign in the author. Better editing could have also improved the writing (one joke centering on an unclear antecedent could be fun, two within the span of a few pages is just bad penmanship). I also managed to pick up on two factual errors regarding two towns near me, which made me doubt all the other facts and figures being busied around.
However, this book, if one can call it a book, does not provide any of this. There is no overarching arc or narrative to be found. Most charitably it can be described as a collection of essays covering the history of the entities within the area that once was Lotharingia. However, even that supposes a level of editing that is absence from what mostly reads as a mixture of stream-of-conscious writing by a very excited 10-year old who is on his first holiday camp in the Alsace. Tangents are almost inescapable in a history book, but the author in this book often takes you for a walk in the forest leaving you there in the dark on your own while he stalks of into the bushes mumbling “I could have written a whole book about this, you know…”.
The lack of structure is worsened by the tendency of the author to continuously interjects himself into story, either by largely irrelevant and humourless anecdotes about his travels when writing this book (adding to the field notes nature of it all) or even more irrelevant stories from his younger years. To his credit, the author tones done this tendency when he solemnly covers the mass atrocities of the first World War and he admits in the afterword that he struggled with the format for this particular book and that his personal circumstances were far from ideal.
All in all, this book feels like it could have done with an editor to reign in the author. Better editing could have also improved the writing (one joke centering on an unclear antecedent could be fun, two within the span of a few pages is just bad penmanship). I also managed to pick up on two factual errors regarding two towns near me, which made me doubt all the other facts and figures being busied around.
April 14, 2022
The twin counterweights of Europe have always been France and Germany but way back in time, even before the Normans Invaded us, the three grandsons of the great emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. They were there to settle a long running feud over who would inherit the lands. They finally decided to split the land three ways. One grandson inherited the land that we now know as France, the second grandson was granted the land that was to become Germany and the third grandson received the land that split these two.
It was called Lotharingia.
It stretched from the mouth of the Rhine to the alps, and as a place, it doesn’t exist now; unless you know where to look. In this book, Simon Winder will take us back to the beginning when it was handed to the third grandson and bring us an irreverent and personal history of the towns, cities and new countries that we know it by today.
It is a wide-ranging book and sometimes I felt there was too much emphasis on the history of the region. I had hoped for more travel, especially as it was shortlisted for a travel writing prize and whilst there is some in here it very much plays second fiddle to the history.
I didn’t love it, but I did like the book. There were some amusing parts and thankfully he is quite an engaging writer, however, he does indulge himself in researching these places and people that shaped this part of Europe. He does say many times throughout the book that he could have written much more about particular subjects or people, but I felt it should have had a much stricter editor who could have made the prose tighter and shorter. I also felt that it lacked a cohesive thread, but then I suppose that reflects the mess that the place was until recently. If you have read any of his other books in the trilogy, Germania and Danubia then this is probably worth reading too.
It was called Lotharingia.
It stretched from the mouth of the Rhine to the alps, and as a place, it doesn’t exist now; unless you know where to look. In this book, Simon Winder will take us back to the beginning when it was handed to the third grandson and bring us an irreverent and personal history of the towns, cities and new countries that we know it by today.
It is a wide-ranging book and sometimes I felt there was too much emphasis on the history of the region. I had hoped for more travel, especially as it was shortlisted for a travel writing prize and whilst there is some in here it very much plays second fiddle to the history.
I didn’t love it, but I did like the book. There were some amusing parts and thankfully he is quite an engaging writer, however, he does indulge himself in researching these places and people that shaped this part of Europe. He does say many times throughout the book that he could have written much more about particular subjects or people, but I felt it should have had a much stricter editor who could have made the prose tighter and shorter. I also felt that it lacked a cohesive thread, but then I suppose that reflects the mess that the place was until recently. If you have read any of his other books in the trilogy, Germania and Danubia then this is probably worth reading too.
March 31, 2019
De boeken van Simon Winder..Soms word je er gek van (wat is de rode draad?) en dan smul je weer van de meest prachtige anekdotes over Doornik, gekke Duitse vorsten en Franse tombes. Kan ik nog zo’n boek aan van hem? Maar gaat weer mee op vakanties om in iedere stad anekdotes terug te zoeken, net als bij Danubia en Germania
June 25, 2019
A history book, but of a very personal (to the author) kind with elements of travel writing (I have added a few places to my bucket list) and art history. I felt it got badly bogged down in the middle, which I found confusing, but the first and last 150 pages or so are excellent. I occasionally found the writing a bit over elaborate, needing a few references to a dictionary, but generally I enjoyed the book a lot. I even laughed out loud a few times. I have added to two earlier books in this trilogy to my to read list, but I would stress that this book is fine to read without knowledge of the others.
March 25, 2019
detailed book in continued series looking at different parts of Europe this book looks at Lotharingia the lost part which had been split into different places over the years but has keep Europe in check. the book itself can make history seem funny and good but felt the author had done a good job in so much information to deal with.
September 30, 2019
The title suggests this is a “personal history”. That is fine, but I would call this more a combination of two genres - history and travel book. I am not sure what the standard for this would be, but Simon Winder’s book would certainly be a good place to start.
History that makes inroads on popular attention these days seems to start with current circumstances and conditions and write about the past in ways that help readers better understand the present. There is some of that in Winder’s book, of course, but it is also different. The starting point is to go back to 800 AD and the formation of Charlemagne’s realm and then note how the Holy Roman Empire splintered into three major parts not long after his death. One became what we have come to know as Germany. Another become what we know as France. ...and then there is that stretch of Europe from Northern Italy, through Eastern France and South Western Germany (near Switzerland) and extending north into Northeast France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Sometimes it was called Burgundy. The name Winder uses comes from an early recipient of this territory after Charlemagne. This is the in between land that have been the focus of wars, dynastic marriages, political intrigues, and religious disputes on a nearly continuous basis since Charlemagne. The Western Front in WW1 ran through this area from Ypres in Belgium south and east down to Alsace and Lorraine and the Swiss border.
This is the focus of the book and the story ties together a huge array of events, stories, and traditions that otherwise present such chaos that it will drive people away from learning more about any European history. Mr. Winder is a marvelous writer and this book will pay for itself in its ability to serve up interesting facts that a reader might not know and also tie together story lines that do not seem related. If anyone reading this is into travel, the book will be essential as preliminary homework in advance to new trips to Europe.
It is a fun and fairly quick read and I highly recommend it.
History that makes inroads on popular attention these days seems to start with current circumstances and conditions and write about the past in ways that help readers better understand the present. There is some of that in Winder’s book, of course, but it is also different. The starting point is to go back to 800 AD and the formation of Charlemagne’s realm and then note how the Holy Roman Empire splintered into three major parts not long after his death. One became what we have come to know as Germany. Another become what we know as France. ...and then there is that stretch of Europe from Northern Italy, through Eastern France and South Western Germany (near Switzerland) and extending north into Northeast France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. Sometimes it was called Burgundy. The name Winder uses comes from an early recipient of this territory after Charlemagne. This is the in between land that have been the focus of wars, dynastic marriages, political intrigues, and religious disputes on a nearly continuous basis since Charlemagne. The Western Front in WW1 ran through this area from Ypres in Belgium south and east down to Alsace and Lorraine and the Swiss border.
This is the focus of the book and the story ties together a huge array of events, stories, and traditions that otherwise present such chaos that it will drive people away from learning more about any European history. Mr. Winder is a marvelous writer and this book will pay for itself in its ability to serve up interesting facts that a reader might not know and also tie together story lines that do not seem related. If anyone reading this is into travel, the book will be essential as preliminary homework in advance to new trips to Europe.
It is a fun and fairly quick read and I highly recommend it.
May 5, 2019
Have Wikipedia at the ready. The thinking man’s Bill Bryson.
January 24, 2020
Had some doubts about this one going in, which proved to be more or less correct. In a nutshell, this is the book the author wanted to write where the information meant more to him than I suspect the general reader. Disappointing after liking Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe and Germania: In Wayward Pursuit of the Germans and Their History. Read those first, and then this one... keeping expectations low.
Different audio narrator for this one, where I could see how the new guy is a good fit in terms of pronouncing names and places in foreign languages well, but his speech pattern came off almost like vocal fry to me (best way I can put it).
Different audio narrator for this one, where I could see how the new guy is a good fit in terms of pronouncing names and places in foreign languages well, but his speech pattern came off almost like vocal fry to me (best way I can put it).
April 1, 2024
Het was alsof ik terug was bij de geschiedenisleraar van de middelbare school: de ene anekdote na de andere. Goed verteld en zelfs een poging om er een lijn in te krijgen. Ik had een geïllustreerde versie wel gewaardeerd want er wordt zo vaak verwezen naar beelden, gebouwen, schilderijen en andere kunstwerken dat je die eigenlijk niet kan missen. Weer veel fun facts rijker al kun je de betrouwbaarheid soms wel in twijfel trekken. In het boek staat dat de Duitsers (mede) schuld hebben aan de watersnoodramp van 1953 en dat Napoleon III geen directe afstammeling is van een Bonaparte. Een nazoek op Google kon mij geen bron geven. Desondanks zeer vermakelijk en barstensvol (soms wel soms niet te verstouwen) Engelse humor.
September 3, 2025
This book is absolutely packed with facts and information about the history, geography, art, wars and characters of Europe over the last 1200 years or so. Much of it is fascinating and sometimes quite funny but my almost total ignorance of the subject matter also made it quite difficult to follow. The author is clearly very intellectual and well-read and I think I would have enjoyed the book more if my own background knowledge of the topics covered was greater.
March 28, 2019
I bought this book on a whim. During my master's degree, I studied the inception of Lotharingia during the Carolingian era of early Medieval Europe. I usually only buy books after extensive research, but I simply could not pass this one up due to the subject matter.
To start with: it was absolutely an enjoyable read, and I would rate it 3,5 stars if I could. Simon Winder is a witty writer and manages to elucidate the byzantine history of the region in a clear way. Despite having studied part of its history and having lived in the Netherlands all my life, nearly every page was filled with facts and tidbits of information that I had not learnt before.
There are only two reasons why I did not give this book four or five stars. While Simon Winder writes with clarity once he finds a subject to focus on, the book itself meanders from subject to subject and region to region without any (to me) clearly defined themes and transition from theme to theme. That said, it did not disturb me all that much. Once I accepted this, I just went with the flow and allowed Simon to guide me through his vision of Lotharingia.
My second issue is not necessarily Simon Winder's fault, but my own expectations of the book based on what was told on the back cover and the sparse amount of book reviews I managed to read while googling the book in the store. I expected the book to focus more on Simon Winder's travels and observations throughout the area, interspersed with tidbits of history and lore. I felt the book lacking in that regard, even though I was supremely interested in the author making observations about the modern towns, countries and regions and comparing them to their ancient forebears.
If Simon Winder ever decides to write a book that is partly inspired by, say, Bill Bryson while keeping his current wit and esteemable talent for telling history it would probably garner five stars from me.
To start with: it was absolutely an enjoyable read, and I would rate it 3,5 stars if I could. Simon Winder is a witty writer and manages to elucidate the byzantine history of the region in a clear way. Despite having studied part of its history and having lived in the Netherlands all my life, nearly every page was filled with facts and tidbits of information that I had not learnt before.
There are only two reasons why I did not give this book four or five stars. While Simon Winder writes with clarity once he finds a subject to focus on, the book itself meanders from subject to subject and region to region without any (to me) clearly defined themes and transition from theme to theme. That said, it did not disturb me all that much. Once I accepted this, I just went with the flow and allowed Simon to guide me through his vision of Lotharingia.
My second issue is not necessarily Simon Winder's fault, but my own expectations of the book based on what was told on the back cover and the sparse amount of book reviews I managed to read while googling the book in the store. I expected the book to focus more on Simon Winder's travels and observations throughout the area, interspersed with tidbits of history and lore. I felt the book lacking in that regard, even though I was supremely interested in the author making observations about the modern towns, countries and regions and comparing them to their ancient forebears.
If Simon Winder ever decides to write a book that is partly inspired by, say, Bill Bryson while keeping his current wit and esteemable talent for telling history it would probably garner five stars from me.
June 28, 2024
I adore Simon Widener's books examining, and expounding his personal views, on European history, art and culture via the lands of the Habsburgs and those that eventually became Germany. They are a wonderful combination of personal experiences gained through travel and observation along with straight forward history. They are also very funny.
If you loved them you will enjoy his latest one. Some have complained of difficulties following Winder's wanderings through the no longer extant Lotharingia. But Lotharingia is a more elusive object than the Holy Roman/Germany or the Hapsburg empires. It changed shape and name so often, so completely and so confusingly over its 500 year existence that I couldn't attempt a summary but I highly recommend the relevant chapter in Norman Davies 'Vanished Kingdoms'.
The subject of this wonderful book is a kingdom that ceased to exist 500 years ago but whose importance culturally and politically continues to this day. Only Mr. Widner can provide the wealth of insight and interest to bring alive such a complex and fascinating historical time span. The area covered - roughly the Netherlands and Belgium but many other places - is one of the building blocks of European culture - it's physical fabric is stunning and the fact that area it is not a desolate desert after the ravages of WWI and II is something we should all thank our gods for (see the book 'The Monument Men'). This book is an excellent introduction to so much and should lead all curious readers into fascinating new discoveries in art, literature and architecture.
It is a joy to read and every page mentioned places, people or events I wanted to know more about. On top of everything it is wonderfully funny. This is just wonderful and a joy t.o read. Isn't that what we want from any book?
If you loved them you will enjoy his latest one. Some have complained of difficulties following Winder's wanderings through the no longer extant Lotharingia. But Lotharingia is a more elusive object than the Holy Roman/Germany or the Hapsburg empires. It changed shape and name so often, so completely and so confusingly over its 500 year existence that I couldn't attempt a summary but I highly recommend the relevant chapter in Norman Davies 'Vanished Kingdoms'.
The subject of this wonderful book is a kingdom that ceased to exist 500 years ago but whose importance culturally and politically continues to this day. Only Mr. Widner can provide the wealth of insight and interest to bring alive such a complex and fascinating historical time span. The area covered - roughly the Netherlands and Belgium but many other places - is one of the building blocks of European culture - it's physical fabric is stunning and the fact that area it is not a desolate desert after the ravages of WWI and II is something we should all thank our gods for (see the book 'The Monument Men'). This book is an excellent introduction to so much and should lead all curious readers into fascinating new discoveries in art, literature and architecture.
It is a joy to read and every page mentioned places, people or events I wanted to know more about. On top of everything it is wonderfully funny. This is just wonderful and a joy t.o read. Isn't that what we want from any book?
December 14, 2022
Remarkably insufferable.
A patient reviewer could talk about how Winder's conception of Lotharingia is entirely ahistorical, how the very artificial and extremely short-lived medieval kingdom never formed any kind of meaningful cultural unity either at the time or at any point in the following millennium, or how his half-assed random anecdotes don't constitute a history, but that would miss the point entirely—the operative word in the subtitle ("a personal history of Europe's lost country") isn't country or history, but personal, and the whole thing is really just a shitty travelogue interspersed with tangential autobiographical word association. As a travelogue, though, it suffers from Winder's caricaturistic Englishness, which has him to approach every aspect of the Continent with sneering condescension, and his breath-taking egomania, which further leads him to stuff every page with vapid and trivial opinions in some of the worst prose I've seen in a while.
Standards are low when it comes to pop history, but Winder skates well below the bar: his own sources, apart from a smattering of half-remembered factoids he picked up in various municipal museums he holds in open contempt, are all pop history themselves, and the result of this secondary digestion is not still pop history in its own right—it's public masturbation.
A patient reviewer could talk about how Winder's conception of Lotharingia is entirely ahistorical, how the very artificial and extremely short-lived medieval kingdom never formed any kind of meaningful cultural unity either at the time or at any point in the following millennium, or how his half-assed random anecdotes don't constitute a history, but that would miss the point entirely—the operative word in the subtitle ("a personal history of Europe's lost country") isn't country or history, but personal, and the whole thing is really just a shitty travelogue interspersed with tangential autobiographical word association. As a travelogue, though, it suffers from Winder's caricaturistic Englishness, which has him to approach every aspect of the Continent with sneering condescension, and his breath-taking egomania, which further leads him to stuff every page with vapid and trivial opinions in some of the worst prose I've seen in a while.
Standards are low when it comes to pop history, but Winder skates well below the bar: his own sources, apart from a smattering of half-remembered factoids he picked up in various municipal museums he holds in open contempt, are all pop history themselves, and the result of this secondary digestion is not still pop history in its own right—it's public masturbation.
January 10, 2020
For those of you who haven’t had the privilege of dining with Nino Lo Piccolo in Palermo, imagine you have an eccentric uncle who travels a lot. Now imagine you’re at his house looking at slides and hearing stories of his trip. You’ll see some cool things and learn some interesting tidbits, but the majority of the time will be spent in self-reflection asking questions like, “why me?!” followed by cries to the divine to just let it all end.
The book is really a collection of somewhat disjointed (he makes an effort) travelogues that are awkwardly introduced or focus on odd details that are quickly abbreviated “because otherwise the book would never end.” At least the author is aware of it, but in the end this book is all over the place and revels in odd museum collections rather than a coherent or even linear history of these lands.
Interesting idea, well-written book cover that got me to buy it, and ultimately not what was promised.
The book is really a collection of somewhat disjointed (he makes an effort) travelogues that are awkwardly introduced or focus on odd details that are quickly abbreviated “because otherwise the book would never end.” At least the author is aware of it, but in the end this book is all over the place and revels in odd museum collections rather than a coherent or even linear history of these lands.
Interesting idea, well-written book cover that got me to buy it, and ultimately not what was promised.
April 27, 2024
At first it was like dear god what a lot of information and names I definitely won't remember. But then it was like ooo fun fact about orange or interesting thought about the concept of nationalism. Was one of those at first puts you to sleep then suddenly you can't put it down. Sorry I ripped the cover off, it was an accident
June 15, 2023
Lotharingia: A Personal History Of Europe's Lost Country, by Simon Winder
At first glance, this book might seem to be a whimsical and lighthearted book about a ghost nation formed out of the Treaty of Verdun in 843 between the three grandsons of Charlemagne, but as someone who has many ancestors who come from precisely this region which has long been caught in the crosshairs between mutually hostile French and German designs on the territory, in which periodic and repeated disasters have befallen the inhabitants of the small and fragmented realms that have long (and even to this day) dotted this region, reading this book filled me with a sense of both deep sadness and deep anger. It is not easy for me to write my feelings about this book, where the author mixes in tales of quirky places and people, his own travels to the region throughout the course of his life, starting from his childhood and extending to the writing of this book, and the sorrowful and tragic history that this region suffered through centuries of conflict where the people of this land were repeatedly visited by fire, sword, rapine, pillaging, and a complete denial of their freedom to decide what kind of lives they wanted to live by those imperial powers who thought that they knew better where these nations belonged to be governed from and by.
This particular volume is, like the other volumes in this series, a sprawling one of nearly 500 pages of text. It opens with an ominous quote from Thomas A Kempis, "On the day of Judgment we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done," and from there, it proceeds through fourteen chapters to chronologically examine the history of this tormented region from prehistory to the contemporary rise of the EU. The book begins with a humorous discussion of the author's relationship with France and a note on his inconsistent but sensible use of place names and their spellings. The first chapter then covers the scope of the region from prehistory to Charlemagne, including the region's first appearance in recorded history under the Romans. After that, the author winds his way through early medieval history (2), the high middle ages (3), the late middle ages (4), going to the problems of Napoleon (10, 11), the Franco-Prussian War (12), World War I (13), and World War II (14), after which there is a postscript, acknowledges, a bibliography, and an index. The contents of this book range from political and military history, which for this region is pretty grim material of bloody battles, horrific sieges, and hostility towards the native inhabitants of the land by one massive army of imperialistic outsiders or another that comes off as somewhat genocidal. In addition to this, there are discussions of religion, art, literature, as well as economic history and a discussion of science and technology and its effect on the region and its people.
In reading this book, the reader is likely to have conflicting feelings. The author himself appears to feel a high degree of pride and interest in the region he discusses here. He seems to have, like many of his readers are likely to have, a wistful fondness for small states where people can be free without massive and oppressive governments. He describes his own efforts to travel and appreciate the countryside from its quirky borders, the baffling geography and history, museums, graveyards, and even the remnants that have survived from long-ago times. The bears of Bern get repeatedly mentioned, and despite my own more limited travels in the region, it is amusing to hear his takes on some of the same places in the area that both him and I have seen--especially his thoughts on the Chateau du Chillion and Montreux in general. In reading this book, one gets the sense that it is hard for small peoples and small nations to survive in a world that worships size and power, and that this area and so many others would be far better off if people did not seek to destroy the world in order that they might control it. Over and over again in this book, one sees the resourcefulness of common people of small realms seeking to make do as the world fights in their midst, trading off areas in marriages or treaties, filled with the sullen hostility of lost glory that they desire to reconquer while the regions inhabitants simply move on and persist in the face of more than a thousand years in which the area has served as the borderlands of the larger French and German world, neither of which have tended to let things remain as they are for long.
At first glance, this book might seem to be a whimsical and lighthearted book about a ghost nation formed out of the Treaty of Verdun in 843 between the three grandsons of Charlemagne, but as someone who has many ancestors who come from precisely this region which has long been caught in the crosshairs between mutually hostile French and German designs on the territory, in which periodic and repeated disasters have befallen the inhabitants of the small and fragmented realms that have long (and even to this day) dotted this region, reading this book filled me with a sense of both deep sadness and deep anger. It is not easy for me to write my feelings about this book, where the author mixes in tales of quirky places and people, his own travels to the region throughout the course of his life, starting from his childhood and extending to the writing of this book, and the sorrowful and tragic history that this region suffered through centuries of conflict where the people of this land were repeatedly visited by fire, sword, rapine, pillaging, and a complete denial of their freedom to decide what kind of lives they wanted to live by those imperial powers who thought that they knew better where these nations belonged to be governed from and by.
This particular volume is, like the other volumes in this series, a sprawling one of nearly 500 pages of text. It opens with an ominous quote from Thomas A Kempis, "On the day of Judgment we shall not be asked what we have read, but what we have done," and from there, it proceeds through fourteen chapters to chronologically examine the history of this tormented region from prehistory to the contemporary rise of the EU. The book begins with a humorous discussion of the author's relationship with France and a note on his inconsistent but sensible use of place names and their spellings. The first chapter then covers the scope of the region from prehistory to Charlemagne, including the region's first appearance in recorded history under the Romans. After that, the author winds his way through early medieval history (2), the high middle ages (3), the late middle ages (4), going to the problems of Napoleon (10, 11), the Franco-Prussian War (12), World War I (13), and World War II (14), after which there is a postscript, acknowledges, a bibliography, and an index. The contents of this book range from political and military history, which for this region is pretty grim material of bloody battles, horrific sieges, and hostility towards the native inhabitants of the land by one massive army of imperialistic outsiders or another that comes off as somewhat genocidal. In addition to this, there are discussions of religion, art, literature, as well as economic history and a discussion of science and technology and its effect on the region and its people.
In reading this book, the reader is likely to have conflicting feelings. The author himself appears to feel a high degree of pride and interest in the region he discusses here. He seems to have, like many of his readers are likely to have, a wistful fondness for small states where people can be free without massive and oppressive governments. He describes his own efforts to travel and appreciate the countryside from its quirky borders, the baffling geography and history, museums, graveyards, and even the remnants that have survived from long-ago times. The bears of Bern get repeatedly mentioned, and despite my own more limited travels in the region, it is amusing to hear his takes on some of the same places in the area that both him and I have seen--especially his thoughts on the Chateau du Chillion and Montreux in general. In reading this book, one gets the sense that it is hard for small peoples and small nations to survive in a world that worships size and power, and that this area and so many others would be far better off if people did not seek to destroy the world in order that they might control it. Over and over again in this book, one sees the resourcefulness of common people of small realms seeking to make do as the world fights in their midst, trading off areas in marriages or treaties, filled with the sullen hostility of lost glory that they desire to reconquer while the regions inhabitants simply move on and persist in the face of more than a thousand years in which the area has served as the borderlands of the larger French and German world, neither of which have tended to let things remain as they are for long.
August 12, 2025
Interessant, dacht ik, een boek over “Europa’s grote breuklijn, van de Lage Landen tot aan het Juragebergte”. Ik verwacht dan een geschiedenis over het middendeel van het rijk na Karel de Grote, over wat dit cultureel en historisch bindt en verdeelt. Maar helaas, het wordt een grote teleurstelling.
Het boek begint in Stavelot, waarvan Winder stelt dat hij er kort eerder nog nooit van gehoord had. Schrijft deze man een boek over Lotharingen? Wat is dit? Winder geeft opzichtig aan Frans noch Duits te spreken, want op school deed hij liever andere dingen. Wat is dit voor puberaal excuus? Voortdurend beklaagt Winder zich over het gebrek aan betrouwbare bronnen over de vroege Middeleeuwen, maar zijn Romeinse interpretaties lopen naar eigen zeggen via Asterix. Is dit een schoolwerkstuk?
Hoe verder ik lees hoe erger het wordt. Alles lijkt geschreven om een feitelijk historisch discours of analyse te vermijden. Er mist een raamwerk, een conceptueel kader om het betoog aan op te hangen. In plaats daarvan is het een boek vol normatieve oordelen, niet-onderbouwde stellingen (bronverwijzingen ontbreken), drogredeneringen, anachronismen en grenzeloze eigenwaan. Vandaar vermoedelijk “een persoonlijke geschiedenis “ in de ondertitel, als een soort rechtvaardiging om er niks meer van te maken. Dit is prutswerk, verpakt in pedanterie.
Winder vindt echt overal iets van. De aandacht voor Godfried van Bouillon is aanstellerig, musea zijn saai of stoffig, hij heeft het over “kleffe katholieke verering”, het herbouwen van de Dom van Keulen is een “beschamende janboel” omdat het zo lang duurde. Het is werkelijk te vermoeiend om te lezen. Bovendien springen grote delen van het verhaal van de hak op de tak, het is houtje-touwtje patchwork. Voor iemand die volgens de cover “in de Engelse uitgeverswereld” werkt zou je toch een coherenter geschreven en veel beter geredigeerd boek mogen verwachten. Zelfs voor een schoolwerkstuk is dit ver onder de maat.
Wie echt iets wil begrijpen van de geschiedenis en de culturele samenhang van het Karolingische Middenrijk heeft niets aan dit boek.
Het boek begint in Stavelot, waarvan Winder stelt dat hij er kort eerder nog nooit van gehoord had. Schrijft deze man een boek over Lotharingen? Wat is dit? Winder geeft opzichtig aan Frans noch Duits te spreken, want op school deed hij liever andere dingen. Wat is dit voor puberaal excuus? Voortdurend beklaagt Winder zich over het gebrek aan betrouwbare bronnen over de vroege Middeleeuwen, maar zijn Romeinse interpretaties lopen naar eigen zeggen via Asterix. Is dit een schoolwerkstuk?
Hoe verder ik lees hoe erger het wordt. Alles lijkt geschreven om een feitelijk historisch discours of analyse te vermijden. Er mist een raamwerk, een conceptueel kader om het betoog aan op te hangen. In plaats daarvan is het een boek vol normatieve oordelen, niet-onderbouwde stellingen (bronverwijzingen ontbreken), drogredeneringen, anachronismen en grenzeloze eigenwaan. Vandaar vermoedelijk “een persoonlijke geschiedenis “ in de ondertitel, als een soort rechtvaardiging om er niks meer van te maken. Dit is prutswerk, verpakt in pedanterie.
Winder vindt echt overal iets van. De aandacht voor Godfried van Bouillon is aanstellerig, musea zijn saai of stoffig, hij heeft het over “kleffe katholieke verering”, het herbouwen van de Dom van Keulen is een “beschamende janboel” omdat het zo lang duurde. Het is werkelijk te vermoeiend om te lezen. Bovendien springen grote delen van het verhaal van de hak op de tak, het is houtje-touwtje patchwork. Voor iemand die volgens de cover “in de Engelse uitgeverswereld” werkt zou je toch een coherenter geschreven en veel beter geredigeerd boek mogen verwachten. Zelfs voor een schoolwerkstuk is dit ver onder de maat.
Wie echt iets wil begrijpen van de geschiedenis en de culturele samenhang van het Karolingische Middenrijk heeft niets aan dit boek.
August 14, 2019
There are good reasons for writing a history/travelogue covering the Low Countries and the borderlands of France and Germany. These areas are rarely covered in English language histories, except when intruding on the histories of the major players. The travails of the 15th century Duchy of Burgundy certainly needs more exposure.
So this book is ok… I like Winder’s writing style and his bubbling enthusiasm as he constantly tells us that he has been forced to excise material. He get’s a little bit free with his (uncited) judgements but there’s something about opinionated Englishmen that seems to work for me.
The problem with this books is that there’s a lot of cathedrals (oh for a trip through a Guinea pig circus as in Danubia), a sprint through several centuries of warfare and weird exclusions. Expressly choosing to ignore a significant portion of The Netherlands (particularly Amsterdam) sucked a lot of vitality out of the book for me. Winder at least argues the point why he did, and it is his book, but I'm not sold.
There is also a surprising amount of negativity in this book, particularly about Protestantism, the Dutch, and anyone named Karl. Winder often appears to be seeking to make the great and glorious more human but it can get a bit snarky, as though he wants them to wallow in the mud with the rest of us. I guess I can only tolerate so much Pommie pessimism.
It is an interesting book, but be prepared for some disjointed passages with some marginally worthwhile detours. Winder infuses it with his personality and there are some very touching moments, particularly in the epilogue.
So this book is ok… I like Winder’s writing style and his bubbling enthusiasm as he constantly tells us that he has been forced to excise material. He get’s a little bit free with his (uncited) judgements but there’s something about opinionated Englishmen that seems to work for me.
The problem with this books is that there’s a lot of cathedrals (oh for a trip through a Guinea pig circus as in Danubia), a sprint through several centuries of warfare and weird exclusions. Expressly choosing to ignore a significant portion of The Netherlands (particularly Amsterdam) sucked a lot of vitality out of the book for me. Winder at least argues the point why he did, and it is his book, but I'm not sold.
There is also a surprising amount of negativity in this book, particularly about Protestantism, the Dutch, and anyone named Karl. Winder often appears to be seeking to make the great and glorious more human but it can get a bit snarky, as though he wants them to wallow in the mud with the rest of us. I guess I can only tolerate so much Pommie pessimism.
It is an interesting book, but be prepared for some disjointed passages with some marginally worthwhile detours. Winder infuses it with his personality and there are some very touching moments, particularly in the epilogue.
October 29, 2020
After Germania and Danubia, both of which were wonderful, the arrival of Lotharingia was eagerly anticipated. Simon Winder writes history infused with personal recollections, whimsy and a traveller's eye as he narrates.
I suppose that writing about an area as diffuse and fragmented as Lotharingia (the area of Charlemagne's empire that was awarded to his third grandson) is more difficult than for his previous books. Germany started as a mass of small states which coalesced, under Prussian influence, and Austria was an empire. Lotharingia was effectively a strip of land the started at the North Sea and ran down to the Mediterranean covering all types of terrain, religious belief and nationality. It is the story of a buffer designed to prevent assault by either the French or the Germans depending who was dominant at the time. It is also the story of the emergence of Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and the constant struggle to maintain control of Alsace-Lorraine.
Fragmented as it is this is still a delightful book filled with observant descriptions of places and people as he charts the ever changing boundaries within Lotharingia. There are enough quirks of people, place and time to make this a thoroughly enjoyable read.
I suppose that writing about an area as diffuse and fragmented as Lotharingia (the area of Charlemagne's empire that was awarded to his third grandson) is more difficult than for his previous books. Germany started as a mass of small states which coalesced, under Prussian influence, and Austria was an empire. Lotharingia was effectively a strip of land the started at the North Sea and ran down to the Mediterranean covering all types of terrain, religious belief and nationality. It is the story of a buffer designed to prevent assault by either the French or the Germans depending who was dominant at the time. It is also the story of the emergence of Holland, Belgium, Switzerland and the constant struggle to maintain control of Alsace-Lorraine.
Fragmented as it is this is still a delightful book filled with observant descriptions of places and people as he charts the ever changing boundaries within Lotharingia. There are enough quirks of people, place and time to make this a thoroughly enjoyable read.
July 26, 2019
Lotharingia, the part of Europe lying between what are now the agreed cores of France and Germany, the part of the continent that doesn't readily fit into the national character of either country. This is a very small-scale history, full of anecdotes and insights as to the connections between the various actors and events that have criss-crossed this area. I read it shortly after reading The Shortest History of Germany, to which I think it makes a very agreeable companion and contrast while picking out a lot of the same themes, especially the difference between the eastern-oriented, Prussian and Hohenzollern Germany and the western-oriented Rhineland.
It's personal history, though, which means that the author's life breaks into the narrative quite intrusively. I've only given the book four stars because of this writing style, which detracted (for me) from the otherwise excellent research and observations.
It's personal history, though, which means that the author's life breaks into the narrative quite intrusively. I've only given the book four stars because of this writing style, which detracted (for me) from the otherwise excellent research and observations.
July 7, 2021
The most frustrating history book ever written. It has an interesting premise, and a loosely chronological structure...after that, however, it's anything goes. Never has a book gone off on so many tangents & digressions. Never has a book tried to contain so much minutiae...and apologize for not being able to expand upon the very same minutiae. The icing on the cake is the strange snobby/snarky attitude applied to the material. There is much goodness to be found in here...but the overall presentation makes this one of the most interminable reads that I have encountered in some time.
April 28, 2020
A brilliant history of Lotharingia—roughly made up of the Netherlands, Belgium, Burgundy, Luxembourg, the Rhineland, Alsace, Lorraine, and small bits of western Switzerland and northwest Italy. As the author notes, it is a personal history rather than an academic one, with insights gleaned from many trips to the places covered in the book as well as solid scholarship. The detailed narrative is enlivened by Winder’s dry wit and self-deprecating humor, as if someone had combined the best of Bill Bryson, Andrew Carroll, Sarah Vowell, and Simon Winchester in one author. Highly recommended for readers who enjoy non-fiction that reads like fiction.
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September 12, 2019Did not finish. The droll and ironic style of writing history didn’t captivate me. The episodic style, the self-directed adhortations (“I need to finish this book so let’s move on to...”), and stereotyping of Germans, French, English etc. put me off from what could have been a fascinating book.
July 6, 2025
A fascinatingly gripping telling of this special region of Europe. I was never bored during this book and it does cover a lot of ground. I always found an interesting fact or a new spin on an old historical event. I very warmly recommend this book to history lovers.
November 28, 2020
I love his books, and I think the one is my favorite.
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