h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

One of the gaps in my education is the history of England from 1066-1485. Actually, make that from when the legions left in 410 to Bosworth in 1485.

I kind-of know the pieces, but have some horrible gaps (I didn''t know Harold Godwinson wasn't a member of the English Royal Family, for example, which casts an interesting light on the Conquest) and I can't put the pieces in the right order, (who was the father of the Black Prince, and why was John of Gaunt so important?).

So - are there any good introductory books to the period. Given that it's 1000 years, I guess I'd need two or three, but I want a *series* so there aren't any gaps between them.

In the bad-old-days I'd have simply bought the standard O'Level or A'Level text books for the period(s) and read them, but I want a political / ecclesiastica history not something about what the peasants ate for breakfast.

Any recommendations?

Ben

Not exactly what you asking, but I'll post in case it interests you. Did you watch the recent beeb series presented by David Dimbleby, 'Seven Ages of Britain'? It's basically from Roman times to the present. The first two episodes more or less cover the period you mention. It's really about the history of all manner of artistic treasures, including things like early 'bibles', not just iconography. The series does also cover a degree of political changes..because many of the precious objects are connected with power of various kinds, and only the wealthy and powerful would own such objects. It maybe on DVD now?

I thoroughly recommend it.

Can't really recommend any specific titles but I can warn you away from anything written more than ten years ago.

Until very very recently that whole period from the end of Roman occupation up to the Norman conquest (and beyond) was considered 'the Dark Ages' and every history book reflected that idea.

Because history is written by the victors and real truth is suppressed by the clergy anything that happened between the time of Rome bailing out and the advent of the printing press (literacy and freedom of expression) has been purged from memory or obscured.

The legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood are examples of stories strong enough to have survived in spite of the suppression. Even if all the factual details have been erased by 'writ of clergy' the stories have survived and inspired later Britons and English speakers and others round the whirled (sic).

Lately there have been major archeological discoveries - in Great Britain and on the Continent - that cast new light on early Britain. Apparently it was a good enough place with enough wealth and produce and culture that people kept raiding and trying to invade and conquer throughout the entire period.


~jwf~

Tom Holland's Millennium covers a big chunk of that period, from the legions leaving to 1066 for England as well as slightly different periods for other European countries.

I'm a big fan of Holland's work and the thing I reckon he does best is take a distant bit of history and make it directly relate the present day. He's also a consummate story-teller.

Pelican had a series on the history of Britain which was pretty good. Very old now, though.

From what you're saying, your best bet might be a second-hand bookshop for an old textbook ... but something modern with 'political' rather than 'social' or 'cultural' in the title ought to do the trick (ie skip out what peasants had for breakfast).

Mol

I like the Tom Holland suggestion (which is in fact on the table in front of me, it belongs to Z so I'd not really noticed it ) I also like the Pelican suggestion, Mol. And it's always a treat to go go the Oxfam Bookshop.

Don't worry, jwf, I know the Dark Ages weren't really Dark, that's one of the reasons I want to start at 410 rather than 1066, because Saxon England is so darn interesting.

Z suggested the Simon Schama book, which he has as an audio book, so I may start with that one, since it won't cost me anything.

But I am still up for suggestions. The Oxford series are just a bit too detailed for me, which is a shame. I feel a trip to Waterstones coming on....

Ben

A few books I've read are The year 1000, The year 1215 and Europe: A history. The first two deal mainly with England, but the third deals more with the rest of Europe. It's a big book.

I'm happy to lend you them if you'd like.

'The Isles' by Norman Davies is pretty good*. Covers the entire history of Great Britain, but it does cover the middle ages pretty well iirc.




*up until the 19th century. Then it's crap.

That's the fella!

Norman Davies is the author of Europe: A history. It was annoying me that I couldn't remember his name. Ta Pedro!

My initial thought was the Pelican series as well. Sure it's old, but it's a summary of the major events and dates, which seems to be what is desired, not a nuanced interpretation of more subtle interrelationships, something which is fairly specifically mentioned as being undesirable in this context.


Of course, for that period just after 410 there is the recent stuff coming out of place-name studies which seems to suggest that the whole Vortigern inviting the Saxons, Angles and Jutes in as mercenaries thing is myth and that, in fact, English was the language of England for hundreds of years before the Romans ever crossed the Channel.

Good suggestions, all of them.

Anhaga, you are right, I want something simplistic to give me the chronological framework and *then* I can go for nuance and socio-cultural subtleties.

Post-1985 for instance already I know that Charles II didn't have to deal with the fall-out from the French Revolution, but I hadn't realised until this morning that there were only 70 years between Agincourt and Bosworth because in my a-chronological head Henry V is "medieval" and Henry VII is "TudorznStuartz".

Also, I loose track of which ones were mad and which ones were gay. Richerd II, Edward II, Henry II - what's the difference?

Ben

I've got a couple of books from my uni days I could lend you if you like. They might be European not British though, I'd have to check. I also have some 'short histories of' which are surprisingly good for an overview, if concise.

But when I had to gen up on this myself recently, I just hied it down to the library and pulled a few books of the shelves. Some of them were quite aimed at the A level market, but not texts books. They were, in fact, perfect because they were more in depth than things like the 'short histories' but did give an overview rather than going into detail about two years in a dye collective in Chester or whatever. They also weren't particularly hung up on peasents. In fact, there was one very interesting book which put the connection between the kings of England and their holdings in France post conquest very nicely. I'll see if my library records throw any light on the name of it.

As for the A level stuff, things like this? http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780192801333.do?keyword=medieval+history&sortby=bestMatches

Oh and the other advantage of getting something like that oed one is that 'what historians think' is quite big in the history syllabus these days so it won't just tell you dates and names, but give you an overview of the trends of interpretations, with names, so what with that and the bibliography, you'll have plenty of follow up material.

Why didn't I think of my local library? I'll go there tomorrow.

I have quite a bit of this stuff on my audible library - and there's quite a few pop - history books on this period around the house.