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168 reviews for:
The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I's Dream
Charles Spencer
3.89 AVERAGE
168 reviews for:
The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I's Dream
Charles Spencer
3.89 AVERAGE
informative
challenging
informative
slow-paced
This was my 27th book finished in 2023.
This book was kindly given to me by my friend Phil, and I ended up reading it during my short stay in Miami, FL and the next week in Mexico. I left it in my hostel in Mexico City.
There was a LOT of extra material packed around the actual tragedy. I love history, but even I thought this book was dense and hard to follow sometimes. I just felt it could have been a bit more concise. A bit hard to get through if you've hardly any prior knowledge of the time period.
This book was kindly given to me by my friend Phil, and I ended up reading it during my short stay in Miami, FL and the next week in Mexico. I left it in my hostel in Mexico City.
There was a LOT of extra material packed around the actual tragedy. I love history, but even I thought this book was dense and hard to follow sometimes. I just felt it could have been a bit more concise. A bit hard to get through if you've hardly any prior knowledge of the time period.
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
informative
reflective
medium-paced
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
tense
medium-paced
informative
medium-paced
This was quite clearly named wrongly — we get very little on the White Ship tragedy itself and this book is moreso a biography on Henry I. and a few chapters on the anarchy after his death. The biographical part was very well done and I feel like I really got to know Henry, not just as a ruler but as a person. I could've done away with the anarchy part, though, it was too short to really show all the different political happenings and their complexity. Like others, I didn't know Spencer worked as a historian but I was pleasantly surprised :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Gore, Sexism
Minor: Rape, Violence
informative
medium-paced
Excitingly written and thoroughly enjoyable history writing. This tells the story of the island of Britain and of Normandy between the Norman conquest and the start of the Plantagenet dynasty and does so with style and panache. If you're reading on the Kindle, the "X-ray" function can be useful in sorting out all the Matildas, Henrys, Williams, and Richards (there are lots!) and working out who blinded or mutilated who, but the author does a good job of this himself in fairness.
That history outdoes "Game of Thrones" is clear but, like GoT, anyone below the rank of knight or bishop doesn't really get a look-in here despite the horrors that were inflicted on whole populations who were ultimately paying for the "games".
That said, the book is a great achievement, making the complex and shifting politics and fighting into a real page-turner.
That history outdoes "Game of Thrones" is clear but, like GoT, anyone below the rank of knight or bishop doesn't really get a look-in here despite the horrors that were inflicted on whole populations who were ultimately paying for the "games".
That said, the book is a great achievement, making the complex and shifting politics and fighting into a real page-turner.
When the ship carrying the only son of Henry I of England was dashed on the rocks outside Barfleur harbour in 1120 a great swathe of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy was lost. This led to 'The Chaos', a civil war between the descendants of William the Conqueror that was only ended by the ascension of Henry II and the start of the Plantagenet dynasty. This shipwreck was a turning point in English history in the early middle ages.
Whilst the book is called the White Ship, the shipwreck itself only occupies a few chapters. What Spencer does in place the tragedy in the context of the political machinations of western Europe in the early twelfth century. As a book about the Normans it is very good, the story follows William from Normandy to England and then focuses on the rivalry between his sons. This period is not often written about in an accessible form for the lay reader and I really enjoyed it.
Whilst the book is called the White Ship, the shipwreck itself only occupies a few chapters. What Spencer does in place the tragedy in the context of the political machinations of western Europe in the early twelfth century. As a book about the Normans it is very good, the story follows William from Normandy to England and then focuses on the rivalry between his sons. This period is not often written about in an accessible form for the lay reader and I really enjoyed it.
challenging
informative
slow-paced