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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
Accessible book about a turning point in English history. Well narrated and relayed in a dramatic enough fashion that it doesn't come across as too dry
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
Suffers from a bad title that misleads the expectation. But a good overview of a turbulent period of English history. Something like "The Shadow of the White Ship" would perhaps have been better. Ironically the bit about the actual ship is arguably the weakest point as it strains to over-emphasise it and justify the title.
dark
informative
medium-paced
There are a couple of drier sections wading through the inevitable aristocratic bureaucracy, but otherwise a brilliant read.
informative
medium-paced
I have slightly mixed feelings about this one. I found it very interesting to start with; the book starts with the sinking of the White Ship and then reverts back to the Conquest, charting Henry I’s rise to power to the sinking of the White Ship, before moving on to the events that followed the sinking, including the events of the Anarchy.
I thought the early chapters about the Conquest and Henry I’s early years and rise to power were very interesting. However, I felt like the purpose of the book floundered a bit after this point. I think I struggled because very little of this book actually focused on the White Ship itself. There were only a few chapters on this topict; the majority of the book was about Henry I’s reign, followed by the Anarchy.
The early chapters being used to lay the groundwork for what a disaster the sinking of the White Ship was made sense to me, as did covering the events of the Anarchy. But given how short the chapters on the actual event itself were, I couldn’t help but feel that the book was mistitled. This read more like a book about Henry I and his reign.
I found the book a little superficial, I suppose, and I found it strange that the book focused so little on certain figures given how important they were. Empress Matilda only gets a few, brief mentions before finally being given a short chapter of her own; Stephen, too, gets a short chapter explaining his background. This felt a little odd, especially given how significant they were in this story.
By the end of the book I just began to wonder what the point of the book was; I didn’t feel like he spent enough time on any one topic, really, and the final chapters felt a bit rushed and rambling, and overall it ended quite bluntly.
I did find it interesting, but it just left me wanting to read a book about the Conquest on its own, or Henry I on its own. The actual chapters about the White Ship were interesting, but they weren’t enough of a focus. It was certainly readable and there were parts that shone through, but mostly this was just an okay read for me.
Content Notes:
Warnings:.
I thought the early chapters about the Conquest and Henry I’s early years and rise to power were very interesting. However, I felt like the purpose of the book floundered a bit after this point. I think I struggled because very little of this book actually focused on the White Ship itself. There were only a few chapters on this topict; the majority of the book was about Henry I’s reign, followed by the Anarchy.
The early chapters being used to lay the groundwork for what a disaster the sinking of the White Ship was made sense to me, as did covering the events of the Anarchy. But given how short the chapters on the actual event itself were, I couldn’t help but feel that the book was mistitled. This read more like a book about Henry I and his reign.
I found the book a little superficial, I suppose, and I found it strange that the book focused so little on certain figures given how important they were. Empress Matilda only gets a few, brief mentions before finally being given a short chapter of her own; Stephen, too, gets a short chapter explaining his background. This felt a little odd, especially given how significant they were in this story.
By the end of the book I just began to wonder what the point of the book was; I didn’t feel like he spent enough time on any one topic, really, and the final chapters felt a bit rushed and rambling, and overall it ended quite bluntly.
I did find it interesting, but it just left me wanting to read a book about the Conquest on its own, or Henry I on its own. The actual chapters about the White Ship were interesting, but they weren’t enough of a focus. It was certainly readable and there were parts that shone through, but mostly this was just an okay read for me.
Content Notes:
Warnings:
Spoiler
References throughout to violence, murder, death, executions, torture, public punishments such as flogging, blinding, mutilation including of children, child marriage, rape, sexual violence, war, war crimes, drowning.
informative
fast-paced
informative
medium-paced
3.5 Stars.
This is a really good introduction to the period of history around the Norman Conquest. I mostly liked the writing style and the focus on the Norman kings was done well. There are a lot of people with the same name though, so it got a bit of a muddle to keep track of all the Henrys, Matildas and Williams!
The chapters on the White Ship, and the ones about how medieval people viewed the sea, were the most interesting. I never learnt much about the Norman kings in school, but they seem like a bit of a crazy bunch! So much partying, drinking, sex, cheating, torture, violence.
I know this is non-fiction, so the focus is on facts, but I wish there had been a bit more about the "What If" aspect of the story of The White Ship. We see how things went when it sank, but what if it hadn't? Or what if Aetheling had survived?
The book dipped in interest for me in the later sections about the Anarchy and Stephen's reign in general, but that could have been because I already knew a bit about Henry II's rise to the throne.
Overall, an interesting read if you like your Medieval history.
This is a really good introduction to the period of history around the Norman Conquest. I mostly liked the writing style and the focus on the Norman kings was done well. There are a lot of people with the same name though, so it got a bit of a muddle to keep track of all the Henrys, Matildas and Williams!
The chapters on the White Ship, and the ones about how medieval people viewed the sea, were the most interesting. I never learnt much about the Norman kings in school, but they seem like a bit of a crazy bunch! So much partying, drinking, sex, cheating, torture, violence.
I know this is non-fiction, so the focus is on facts, but I wish there had been a bit more about the "What If" aspect of the story of The White Ship. We see how things went when it sank, but what if it hadn't? Or what if Aetheling had survived?
The book dipped in interest for me in the later sections about the Anarchy and Stephen's reign in general, but that could have been because I already knew a bit about Henry II's rise to the throne.
Overall, an interesting read if you like your Medieval history.
informative
slow-paced