Scan barcode
A review by sophronisba
Shakespeare's Kings: The Great Plays and the History of England in the Middle Ages: 1337-1485 by John Julius Norwich
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.25
If you want a brisk recap of 150 years of English history, this is the book for you. It is framed around Shakespeare's history plays, though, so if you are not familiar with them some of the allusions will be lost on you. They were often lost on me, and I have read the history plays and seen them performed -- in some cases, more than once! But Norwich assumes that they are as known to you as they are to him, and he knows them very well.
Norwich does keep the book lively; he has many opinions and he is not afraid to share them. He despises Henry VI, to the point that I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for the unfortunate king. Norwich regards Henry's reign as "perhaps the saddest half-century in English history," and even after Henry dies he cannot resist getting in one last jab: " One would love to think the doomed King showed as much spirit at his end as his last great vituperative speech suggests; alas, it seems unlikely."
I wished he had not confined himself to such a narrow theme. For example, Margaret of Anjou is much more interesting than her husband, the hapless Henry VI, and I really wanted to hear more about her. For the record, I was also not impressed with Norwich's dismissal of Elizabeth of York's claim to the throne because she was an "eighteen-year-old girl." She might have been very capable -- did he not read his own discussion of Margaret of Anjou? -- and she could hardly have been worse than Henry.
Norwich does keep the book lively; he has many opinions and he is not afraid to share them. He despises Henry VI, to the point that I was beginning to feel a bit sorry for the unfortunate king. Norwich regards Henry's reign as "perhaps the saddest half-century in English history," and even after Henry dies he cannot resist getting in one last jab: " One would love to think the doomed King showed as much spirit at his end as his last great vituperative speech suggests; alas, it seems unlikely."
I wished he had not confined himself to such a narrow theme. For example, Margaret of Anjou is much more interesting than her husband, the hapless Henry VI, and I really wanted to hear more about her. For the record, I was also not impressed with Norwich's dismissal of Elizabeth of York's claim to the throne because she was an "eighteen-year-old girl." She might have been very capable -- did he not read his own discussion of Margaret of Anjou? -- and she could hardly have been worse than Henry.