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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Cat Jarman's The Bone Chests takes the investigation of the chests of bones held in Winchester Cathedral as a starting point to explore some of the events that began to form what we know now as England. (Blurbs and so on talk about "British" history, but it really isn't. There's a handful of references to Scotland and one that I can remember to Wales, and pretty much no reference to Ireland at all.) Jarman discusses the figures that may now lie splintered and scattered in the bone chests, the kings, queens and bishops that shaped what we think of as the Anglo-Saxon period.
I had been hoping, I'll admit, for a lot more discussion of the analysis of the actual bones. But that's relegated to little slices in between the overall narrative of "this is how England was formed, through this king and that king and sometimes a queen or two". That's something that I've read elsewhere -- sometimes with slightly different details, it's true, but in general, a history I was fairly aware of already. But a focus on the bone chests and the process of sorting through them, trying to identify who is there and what we can find out about them -- that would've been really interesting.
So it was okay for what it was, and it's certainly very readable, but I was hoping for slightly more focus on the promise of the title.
I had been hoping, I'll admit, for a lot more discussion of the analysis of the actual bones. But that's relegated to little slices in between the overall narrative of "this is how England was formed, through this king and that king and sometimes a queen or two". That's something that I've read elsewhere -- sometimes with slightly different details, it's true, but in general, a history I was fairly aware of already. But a focus on the bone chests and the process of sorting through them, trying to identify who is there and what we can find out about them -- that would've been really interesting.
So it was okay for what it was, and it's certainly very readable, but I was hoping for slightly more focus on the promise of the title.
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
reflective
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
medium-paced
informative
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
informative
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
In Winchester Cathedral sit a set of bone chests, boxes supposed to contain the bones of a series of Anglo-Saxon monarchs. Over the past ten years, archaeologists have used cutting edge techniques to try to discover whose bones these are and in this book Jarman relates the story of these searches alongside the history around each person.
I loved this book as it can be read a a simple history of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy but it is interspersed with wonderful facts about the science of bone dating, mapping injuries and looking for familial links. Then this is also overlaid with stories about the bone chests themselves, from their inception and movement between the churches of Winchester and beyond, to their destruction during the Civil War to more modern tales. Altogether it make for a multi-layered exploration of the subject from a knowledgable writer.
I loved this book as it can be read a a simple history of the Anglo-Saxon monarchy but it is interspersed with wonderful facts about the science of bone dating, mapping injuries and looking for familial links. Then this is also overlaid with stories about the bone chests themselves, from their inception and movement between the churches of Winchester and beyond, to their destruction during the Civil War to more modern tales. Altogether it make for a multi-layered exploration of the subject from a knowledgable writer.