King Harold II and the Bayeux Tapestry (Pubns Manchester Centre for Anglo-Saxon Studies)

Book Description

Harold II is chiefly remembered today, perhaps unfairly, for the brevity of his reign and his death at the Battle of Hastings. The papers collected here seek to shed new light on the man and his milieu before and after that climax. They explore the long career and the dynastic network behind Harold Godwinesson's accession on the death of King Edward the Confessor in January 1066, looking in particular at the important questions as to whether Harold's kingship was opportunist or long-planned; a usurpation or a legitimate succession in terms of his Anglo-Scandinavian kinships? They also examine the posthumous legends that Harold survived Hastings and lived on as a religious recluse. The essays in the second part of the volume focus on the Bayeux Tapestry, bringing out the small details which would have resonated significantly for contemporary audiences, both Norman and English, to suggest how they judged Harold and the other players in the succession drama of 1066. Other aspects of the Tapestry are also covered: the possible patron and locations the Tapestry was produced for; where and how it was designed; and the various sources - artistic and real - employed by the artist.GALE OWEN-CROCKER is Professor of Anglo-Saxon Culture at the University of Manchester.

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The Best Volume on the Conquest
I LOVED IT BUT WHY ONLY FOUR STARS YOU ASK
Short but excellent introduction
A Little Thin....
1066 and All That

1066: The Year of the Conquest
David Howarth
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First Millennium
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Great Tales from English History : The Truth About King Arthur, Lady Godiva, Richard the Lionheart, and More
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1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry

ASIN: 0140058508

Customer Reviews:

The Best Volume on the Conquest.......2007-05-25

This is not Howarth's best work, but it is the best work available on the Norman Conquest. Reaching into the murky depths of the 11th century, Howarth manages to sift through dry historical data in an exciting story format. While reading the book it's easy to forget that you know the outcome and you find yourself marching with the beleaguered King Harold to an uncertain fate in the autumn of 1066.

The book has a bias, but the author is straight-forward about it. He's very pro-Harold, anti-Edward, and sympathetic toward William, even if he is portrayed as the antagonist. The book is unusual in that it it gives more information than most about the events leading up to the Conquest, instead of grinding down in the minutia of October the 14th. Having said this it still covers the Battle of Hastings giving a feel for the event and indulging in a few speculations about some of the details. The author doesn't waste words however, as all this is done in a very small volume.

Anyone looking for a quick, easy, readable, but still scholarly work about the Norman Conquest will never find a better book than this one.

I LOVED IT BUT WHY ONLY FOUR STARS YOU ASK.......2007-02-06

this book, magnificent, incredible, couldn't put it down... vivid details, a real tour de force of historical significance... why only four stars... the author makes countless references to the bayeux tapestry an artistic account of pre and post conquest but not a single picture in the entire book showing us what the tapestry looks like... painful because the book is gripping and you ache to see what the author is talking about each time he makes reference to it... i'll look up the pic on line and print it out to look at it, but i'd have paid more just to have a color pic included in the book with appropriate captions guiding the reader to the references made in the body of the book

Short but excellent introduction.......2006-12-23

Howarth's book on the year 1066 is well-written, factual, succinct, and engaging. To my way of thinking, he walks the fine line between too much and too little detail quite adroitly, and the book is one you can easily read again and again (any time a little refresher of the basic facts is required).

I also like his use of a small, "typical" English village throughout the story. One tends to think of the Norman Conquest in large socio-political terms, but it's sometimes important to refocus one's attention on how (and when or if) it actually affected the smaller villages, where ordinary commoners lived out there lives in relative isolation from the royal court. Quite a refreshing perspective.

A Little Thin...........2006-11-11

What there is of this book is actually pretty good and I am considering changing to 4 stars. It's packed with historical facts yet reads well. The author has done the primary research and compiled essential data into an enjoyable read. As a primer on this era, this book is a good start.

My only complaint is that the author has parsed his data too well; this book is surprisingly short. Perhaps he did that in view of readers' interest but I would have preferred a few more details.

1066 and All That.......2006-08-06

"1066 and all that..." being the stock British phrase for the Norman Conquest, this book should have been titled "All That." You slog through so much extraneous, badly organized material (including Saxon and Scandinavian names)that it makes the stereotypical Russian novel look like a model of clarity. Up to about page 100 there's the occasional paragraph pointing out which way we're going and after that, golly, sometimes a whole page or two of clear storyline. There's actually some interesting stuff but 11th century history and politics were a mess and this book doesn't do much to clear things up.

A Needle in the Right Hand of God: The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry

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Context for the Bayeux Tapestry
Impressive!
Unusual insights, engaging writing

A Needle in the Right Hand of God: The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry
R. Howard Bloch
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1400065496
Release Date: 2006-11-28

Book Description

The Bayeux Tapestry is the world’s most famous textile–an exquisite 230-foot-long embroidered panorama depicting the events surrounding the Norman Conquest of 1066. It is also one of history’s most mysterious and compelling works of art. This haunting stitched account of the battle that redrew the map of medieval Europe has inspired dreams of theft, waves of nationalism, visions of limitless power, and esthetic rapture. In his fascinating new book, Yale professor R. Howard Bloch reveals the history, the hidden meaning, the deep beauty, and the enduring allure of this astonishing piece of cloth.

Bloch opens with a gripping account of the event that inspired the Tapestry: the swift, bloody Battle of Hastings, in which the Norman bastard William defeated the Anglo-Saxon king, Harold, and laid claim to England under his new title, William the Conqueror. But to truly understand the connection between battle and embroidery, one must retrace the web of international intrigue and scandal that climaxed at Hastings. Bloch demonstrates how, with astonishing intimacy and immediacy, the artisans who fashioned this work of textile art brought to life a moment that changed the course of British culture and history.

Every age has cherished the Tapestry for different reasons and read new meaning into its enigmatic words and images. French nationalists in the mid-nineteenth century, fired by Tapestry’s evocation of military glory, unearthed the lost French epic “The Song of Roland,” which Norman troops sang as they marched to victory in 1066. As the Nazis tightened their grip on Europe, Hitler
sent a team to France to study the Tapestry, decode its Nordic elements, and, at the end of the war, with Paris under siege, bring the precious cloth to Berlin. The richest horde of buried Anglo-Saxon treasure, the matchless beauty of Byzantine silk, Aesop’s strange fable “The Swallow and the Linseed,” the colony that Anglo-Saxon nobles founded in the Middle East following their defeat at Hastings–all are brilliantly woven into Bloch’s riveting narrative.

Seamlessly integrating Norman, Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and Byzantine elements, the Bayeux Tapestry ranks with Chartres and the Tower of London as a crowning achievement of medieval Europe. And yet, more than a work of art, the Tapestry served as the suture that bound up the wounds of 1066.

Enhanced by a stunning full-color insert that includes reproductions of the complete Tapestry, A Needle in the Right Hand of God will stand with The Professor and the Madman and How the Irish Saved Civilization as a triumph of popular history.

Customer Reviews:

Context for the Bayeux Tapestry.......2007-04-12

Of all the great historical and artistic sites in the world, the Bayeux Tapestry is perhaps second on my list of places I would like to visit (Troy comes first). Actually not a "tapestry" (it is technically an embroidery) the Bayeux Tapestry, dating from the Eleventh century pictorially tells the story of William the Conqueror's invasion of England and victorious battle at Hastings. Exactly who sponsored its creation, designed it, and embroidered it remain mysteries, as does its ultimate purpose. Bloch's new book does not seek to supply sensational answers to these continuing controversies (as did, for example, Andrew Bridgeford's "1066: The Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry"), nor even to solve the perplexing mystery of the identity of the woman "Aelfgyva" who appears in the Tapestry. Instead, Bloch provides a fast-reading discussion of the historical and artistic context for understanding the Tapestry. He concludes that there are many Scandinavian/Norman elements incorporated into the the design (and Scandinavian textiles are the most closely related art works known), but that Anglo-Saxon illuminated manuscripts appear to supply the models for the style of illustration. And the author traces back important design elements to Byzantine silk weavings.

Bloch contends that the Tapestry was consciously created as a way to bring together the Anglo-Saxon and Norman peoples on both sides of the English Channel (although it seems to me that this view is suspiciously congruent with modern notions of multiculturism rather than Eleventh century realities). Regardless whether one accepts or rejects this viewpoint, the book's narrative provides an informative examination of the Norman and Anglo-Saxon worlds which gave birth to this unique artistic treasure.

Impressive! .......2007-04-03

Dr Bloch explains the tale of the Tapestry in a very clear and appealing manner. In particular, he describes the sequence of events depicted by the Tapestry itself as well as the political environment of early 11th century Europe that led to the pivotal Battle of Hastings. His insights are cogent and sound. I highly recommend this brief but thorough work.

Unusual insights, engaging writing.......2007-01-11

It's said that the Devil can quote Scripture to prove his own point - and something like that has been tried with the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the Norman Conquest of England. The French claim it as French. The English have claimed it as Anglo-Saxon. During World War II, Hitler tried to use it as a kind of Book of Genesis for the Third Reich. William the Conqueror, 7th Duke of Normandy, was the descendant of Vikings. ("Norman" derives from the Latin for "Northmen.") The Scandinavian connection appealed to Hitler's racial, mythic notions. Among the Tapestry's 11th century images of conquering warriors, he sought ancient origins for his supposed Germanic super-race.

In fact, maintains R. Howard Bloch, these competing claims are only possible because the Tapestry itself hardly takes sides between the conquered Anglo-Saxons and the conquering Normans, and seeks to reconcile those whom it portrays. Its point of view is neither clearly Norman nor Anglo-Saxon. Without dwelling on fixing blame, it shows both armies fighting bravely. ("French and English fall together," it says of the battle at Hastings.) All may go on to become King William's peaceful subjects. Bloch finds in the Tapestry's well-recognized ambiguities an intention by its designer to tell the story without maligning either Normans or Anglo-Saxons.

Sterling Professor of French and the Director of the Humanities Division at Yale, as well as author of several books about the Middle Ages, Bloch brings an unusual array of qualifications to this subject. His mother, formally trained as a textile engineer, was a craftswoman who covered the walls of their home with creative needlework; his father an expert in the manufacture of finished cloth. In considering the Tapestry, its purposes and the influences it reflects, especially those found in other woven, painted or embroidered fabrics, Bloch speaks the language of textiles as one born to it.

He points out from the beginning, as all writers on the Bayeux Tapestry must, that it isn't strictly a tapestry at all, but an embroidery, on a long (about 230 feet) linen strip; and that we have no other record like it. Despite the crude medieval drawing, the Tapestry vividly brings alive the sweep of events. The most photorealistic horses, for example, could not pulse with more vitality, or fall in battle more convincingly, than they do in these images. In the Tapestry's unfolding story, we see the Anglo-Saxon Harold Godwineson swear his oath of loyalty to Duke William. It doesn't tell us whether he had a choice, or was tricked. Is King Edward the Confessor of England, on his deathbed, revoking his promise of the crown to his kinsman, Duke William of Normandy? Promising it to Harold? There sits Harold in majesty, crowned -- if it was with indecent haste, the Tapestry doesn't say so -- the day after Edward's death. Duke William "is told of Harold," the Tapestry tells us neutrally, and he prepares to invade. There is the mysterious woman, Aelfgyva. With generations of scholars we wonder who she is, and why she is here. Is that cleric merely touching her head, or slapping her so that she'll never forget something she's witnessing? The images quicken their pace, reaching the bloody clash at Hastings and the Norman victory. Something is missing at the end of the Tapestry; perhaps the lost portion showed King William in majesty, matching the earlier crowned and enthroned Harold.

Professor Bloch understands the Tapestry with an appreciation of what may be called the southern angle: that the Normans who had campaigned in or been to the Italian peninsula, Sicily, the Holy Land, Constantinople, brought back with them both novel combat tactics and a network of cultural threads that linked their northern homeland with Byzantium and with the whole Mediterranean world. He points out not only the famly Scandinavian links of style and motif with the Tapestry, but those found in sumptuous Byzantine silks, proposing lights for what have been obscure corners of Tapestry interpretation. In so doing, he gives greater attention to the enigmatic borders of the Tapestry -- those often-cryptic passages above and below the main narrative -- than do some other commentators.

He argues that the Tapestry deliberately leaves crucial questions unanswered. It means to withhold one-sided judgments. The Tapestry does NOT tell us whether Harold swore fealty to William willingly, or whether he knew he was holding his hands outstretched over sacred relics, making the oath a much more serious matter. It leaves unstated, not alone what King Edward intended at the last, but what it was in his power to do. Though the evidence suggests that English hands made the Tapestry, it is NOT clear whose voice, so to speak, tells the story. The Tapestry, Bloch maintains, is not a work of partisan propaganda. King William, he says, wanted Anglo-Saxons and Normans reconciled under his unifying rule -- and wanted the wider world to acquiesce in his dreams of even wider empire. Without knowing for sure when or where the Tapestry was made, or by whom ordered, or where it was designed to be displayed, Bloch says, we can find all this on its face. It's an argument that anyone interested in the Norman Conquest, the events surrounding it and those that flowed from it, should want to consider; and it is engagingly written. I couldn't put it down. Its story is, of course, still relevant -- to, among much else, the fact that Prince William of England will someday be King William V because he'll be counting from King William I, the Conqueror.

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A masterpiece of Roman times examined
A masterpiece about a masterpiece

The Bayeux Tapestry
Lucien Musset
Manufacturer: Boydell Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry
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The Bayeux Tapestry
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ASIN: 1843831635

Book Description

The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the most extraordinary artefacts to survive from the eleventh century. A fragile web of woollen thread on linen, its brilliant colours undimmed after nearly a thousand years, this masterpiece is unique as a complete example of an art form beloved of the aristocracy in the Romanesque era - the `historiated' or narrative embroidery. The momentous story it tells is that of one of the turning-points in English and European history, the struggle for the succession to the English throne which culminated in the Battle of Hastings in the fateful year of 1066. The version told is that of the Normans who commissioned it - of Harold's perjury and its dreadful price, death and defeat in battle. Yet the sympathies of the English hands that designed and created it are equally evident. And the Tapestry itself is so close to the events it describes, and portrays them in such vivid detail, as to make it in its own right a historical source of the first order, not only for the political crisis of 1064-66 but also for the social history of eleventh-century life.This book presents a full-colour reproduction of the entire Tapestry, with a detailed commentary alongside each episode, equipping the reader to follow the story blow by blow and this marvellous work of art step by step. In addition, a preliminary study sets the Tapestry in its artistic, cultural and historical context. The late Lucien Musset, Emeritus Professor of the University of Caen, studied the Tapestry of nearby Bayeux for nearly fifty years. This erudite but highly readable survey distils a lifetime's scholarship into a wise and impeccably researched synthesis which enables the modern reader to appreciate what the Tapestry meant in the context of its time, at the start of the last millennium.

Customer Reviews:

A masterpiece of Roman times examined.......2006-03-18

THE BAYEUX TAPESTRY could also have been featured in our history shelf; but it's reviewed here for its appeal and importance to fiber artists as well. The Tapestry is one of the most notable achievements of the Norman Romanesque period, surviving intact for over nine centuries when even cities have fallen. It was entrusted by Napoleon to the citizens of Bayeux and today is displayed in a local gallery. The history of 11th century England and Normandy is surveyed along with the artistic importance of the Tapestry in a title which doesn't intend to revolutionize the study of the piece, but to survey reliable scholarship on the subject. Chapters take a scene-by-scene approach and analyze both historical and artistic elements of the Tapestry while Richard Rex's translation provides smooth enlightenment.

A masterpiece about a masterpiece.......2005-12-17

If one cannot see the Bayeux Tapestry in person (and I have been privileged enough to have done so), this book may well be the next best thing. Beautiful, two-page spreads highlight the colour, the detail and the magnificence of the what is perhaps the most famous tapestry in the world.

The Bayeux Tapestry itself is over 70 yards long - that is long enough to be hung from the window of a twenty-story building and still be able to touch the ground. Threads of wool embroidered onto the precious linen are brilliantly transformed into a work of art - were this an abstract representation or simple story-telling device, the work would still be famous and remarkable. Yet it has the added advantage of combining unparalleled craftsmanship with a pivotal story in history - the tale of the Norman Conquest, the last successful invasion of Britain.

The story on Tapestry begins in 1064, with the English king Edward the Confessor, much loved and respected, trying to ensure a peaceful succession. The next two years would see other events transpire, ending with the death of King Harold, shot by an arrow in the Battle of Hastings. The details are fascinating, including the appearance of a comet (which turned out to be one of the periodic appearances of Halley's Comet) shortly after Harold's coronation - comets in this period were usually seen as signs of foreboding and doom, and certainly that was the case for Harold.

William the Conqueror is certainly the hero of this Tapestry, and the origins of the Tapestry are still a mystery. There are historical events throughout the Tapestry, and Musset's text looks at most of the Tapestry in 58 sections, going into great detail about what is presented in the embroidery. For example, Harold is shown dying with an arrow through the eye - history does confirm this type of death, and an early engraving of the Tapestry doesn't show the arrow wound for Harold, but given that perjurers and frauds were thought to die of wounds to the eyes, the later addition of the arrow may have been a propaganda move to help justify William's rightful claim to the throne.

Lucien Musset was a professor at the University of Caen, and had a life-long love affair with the Bayeux Tapestry, spending nearly 50 years in study and reflection. This book represents a stunning life-long labour of love, and one that is magnificent in both word and visual form. Musset's text develops historical, artistic and social themes for each of the sections, and adds a richness to the experience of surveying the Tapestry. It is not to be missed.

Was the Bayeux Tapestry Made in France?: The Case for St. Florent of Saumur (The New Middle Ages)

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Was the Bayeux Tapestry Made in France?: The Case for St. Florent of Saumur (The New Middle Ages)
George Beech
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1403966702
Release Date: 2005-05-12

Book Description

This book presents the hypothesis that the Bayeux tapestry, long believed to have been made in England, came from the Loire valley in France, from the abbey of St. Florent of Saumur. This is based on a number of different kinds of evidence, the most important of which is signs of a St. Florent/Breton influence in the portrayal of the Breton campaign in the tapestry, about a tenth of the whole.

1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry

Average customer rating:

Author sheds light on an ancient mystery
A thousand year old mystery in one of the worlds great works of art.
Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry
Committed and fascinating history writing
Incredible and interesting

1066: The Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry
Andrew Bridgeford
Manufacturer: Walker & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0802777422
Release Date: 2006-04-04

Book Description

For more than 900 years the Bayeux Tapestry has preserved one of history's greatest dramas: the Norman Conquest of England, culminating in the death of King Harold at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Historians have held for centuries that the majestic tapestry trumpets the glory of William the Conqueror and the victorious Normans. But is this true? In 1066, a brilliant piece of historical detective work, Andrew Bridgeford reveals a very different story that reinterprets and recasts the most decisive year in English history.

Reading the tapestry as if it were a written text, Bridgeford discovers a wealth of new information subversively and ingeniously encoded in the threads, which appears to undermine the Norman point of view while presenting a secret tale undetected for centuries-an account of the final years of Anglo-Saxon England quite different from the Norman version.

Bridgeford brings alive the turbulent 11th century in western Europe, a world of ambitious warrior bishops, court dwarfs, ruthless knights, and powerful women. 1066 offers readers a rare surprise-a book that reconsiders a long-accepted masterpiece, and sheds new light on a pivotal chapter of English history.

Customer Reviews:

Author sheds light on an ancient mystery.......2007-09-25

Andrew Bridgeford's "1066, the Hidden History of the Bayeux Tapestry," brings a fresh interpretation to an amazing, mysterious piece of cloth. This strip of linen seventy meters (230 feet) long presents an account of events leading up to William the Conqueror's successful invasion of England. The traditional interpretation is that the Tapestry was a costly trophy commissioned by a Norman baron or bishop celebrating the Norman victory. Bridgeford disputes that view. He finds conflicting messages stitched onto the fabric, messages that tend to support the French, rather than the Norman, point of view. He even finds support for the English, and perhaps a challenge to Duke William's right to the English throne. Such messages would have been punished by death, and whoever commissioned and stitched the Tapestry would have taken great risks. Nevertheless, the ambiguous message was embroidered less than a decade after William's invasion.

What were the real intentions of the sponsor who dictated the images and message stitched into the Bayeux Tapestry? The whole tale is here: ambiguous negotiations, fatal misunderstandings, Duke William's landing, the battle of Hastings, the death of King Harold in battle and the aftermath of war in a ravaged land. The Tapestry (an embroidery, really) was originally longer, but the final scenes are missing. Did fire, damp or rats carry the ending away? Or did fear suborn courage, causing an unknown hand to cut off a dangerous truth in a deadly world? That is one of a thousand mysteries inhering to the Bayeux Tapestry.

Nor is that all. The Tapestry brings us a dwarf who may have been a founding father of French literature; and reminds its contemporary viewers of an unlovely tale, of two queen-mothers thrusting their several sons forward, sometimes fatally, in their own lust for royal power. Why? How do these apparent sub-plots relate? It has been an abiding mystery, one for which Andrew Bridgeford may have supplied - if not the missing end of the cloth - then at least several answers.

By Robert Fripp, author,
Power of a Woman. Memoirs of a turbulent life: Eleanor of Aquitaine

A thousand year old mystery in one of the worlds great works of art........2007-04-09

Many years ago I saw the Bayeux Tapestry while on holidays in Europe. My lasting impression of the work is the sheer size of it. It was much larger than I would have believed based on the odd picture seen in a book I'd come across before leaving home. I now wish I'd been able to read a book like this one before I'd viewed the Tapestry (or embroidery actually).

This book takes you scene by scene through this massive work of art - and a different picture slowly emerges than the one you might have read about in other books on the subject. This embroidery is the work of a conquered people - and to please their new masters it superficially shows their success in the conquest. However, the events, and how the artist chooses to highlight them brings out another story, and its not the same one that the Normans told of their "right" to conquer England. The Tapestry also brings into focus formerly obscure people that never feature in any other period work on the conquest - and the author of this book has done some research into these named individuals and dug up some very interesting information indeed.

If you have any interest in the Bayeux Tapestry or the Norman conquest of England in 1066 this is a book you should read. The author is a Lawyer by trade and not a historian but he has done dome very impressive and detailed research with this book. I didn't know much about either the Tapestry or the Norman conquest before reading this book, so even if you don't know much about this period this is still a good read as the author tracks down the mysteries in the Tapestry that many other writers gloss over.

Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry.......2006-03-23

Excellent transaction. Very informative book and exactly what I was looking for.

Committed and fascinating history writing.......2005-11-17

I found this to be a very interesting and worthwhile book. To briefly summarize, the author examines the famous Bayeux Tapestry, traditionally thought to be a work celebrating the Norman conquest of England in 1066, and comes up with a very interesting theory concerning its origins and meanings. I won't spoil the work for you by revealing what the author's theories are, but he does make (for the most part) an interesting case for them.

Although the author does describe the history of the tapestry itself, which is fascinating (an odd bit of ironic trivia: the Bayeux Tapestry nearly was destroyed on more than one occasion and suffered its greatest threat from the French themselves, during their revolution. The occupying Germans, during WWII, seemed to treat it with the most respect), the bulk of the book is taken up with scene by scene retelling of the Norman Invasion, using the art of the tapestry as a text. I found this section very enjoyable. It was rather like a favorite uncle going through a photo album and embellishing the pictures with fantastic stories. It was fascinating to see how much the author was able to read into the artwork of the tapestry, filling the woolen characters with action and personality. Bridgeford really was able to make the times, and the tapestry, come alive with action and life.

Are his theories true? I have no idea, and as the author himself admits, there will never be a way to know for sure about any of it. I can tell you this, though; he makes his case with vigor and it will really make you think about a time and people nearly a thousand years passed.

That's what good history writing is supposed to do.

Incredible and interesting.......2005-09-28

This book's theory that the Bayeux Tapestry offers up a different history of the Battle of Hastings then historians have put forth. It was so interesting and enlightening. The ideas put forward just got me thinking of even more possible points of interest displayed in the tapestry. A thought provoking read. Highly recommeneded!

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One of the best books on the subject I have read
Probably the best
A Highly Readable Volume

1066: The Year of the Three Battles
Frank McLynn
Manufacturer: Random House UK
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0712666729
Release Date: 1999-11-02

Book Description

If ever there was a year of destiny for the British Isles, 1066 must have a strong claim. King Harold faced invasion not just from William and the Normans across the English Channel but from the Dane, King Harald Hardrada. Before he faced the Normans at Hastings in October, he had defeated the Danes at York and Stamford Bridge in September. In this superbly researched study, Frank McLynn overturns long-accepted myths, showing how William’s victory at the Battle of Hastings was not, in fact, a certainty, and arguing that Harald Hardrada was actually the greatest warrior of the three. This is a masterly study, and reveals the truth to be more interesting than the myths surrounding this pivotal year in history.

Customer Reviews:

One of the best books on the subject I have read.......2007-05-06

This was a book I found hard to put down, and is probably one of the best books on the Anglo-Saxons and specifically the Battle of Hastings that I have ever read.
Maclynn's attention to sources, and critical analysis of those sources, is excellent. And I found the chapters covering each of the main protaganists illuminating. Covering the behind the scene machinations shows just how much Harold II had to contend with, how great a king he would have been had he not been killed, and the great disservice that has been done to him historically simply because the Normans were victorious.
You very much get the feeling as to who the victors of this battle should have been, the Anglo-Saxons, and it was so very close too.

Probably the best.......2006-02-01

Mclynn's book is the clearest and most profound of the many which have centred on the events of 1066. The background into the three 'big men' involved (Harald Hardrada, king of Norway, Harold Godwinson,Earl of Wessex and King of England, and William Duke of Normandy) is extensive, but written with real sense of the demands of narrative. This is not a dry academic treatise. It is a well paced, yet thoroughly researched book. I especially liked how he went deeply into the political machinations of the time. These were not simple people. They were canny, shrewd, calculating, and Mclynn exposes the dealing and double dealing that went along with magnate status in the eleventh century. He tackles several historical traditions and beats the snot out of them, Harold's death by arrow in the eye being one. An immensely readable book,and one of the most well thumbed in my collection

A Highly Readable Volume.......2003-09-10

I cannot praise this slim volume too highly as a resource for the study of the 11th century in upper Europe. Dr. McLynn is a superb writer, balancing the need for exhaustive details and character insights with a narrator's gift for storytelling. Focusing on the three major players of the invasion of England in 1066, William of Normandy, Harald Hardrada, and Harold Godwinson, he not so much writes concerning the actual battles of 1066 as about what led to them, leading the reader on an epic journey through political intrigues and lavish landscapes, from Norway to Byzantium. And if he uses the word "contumaciously" far too often, one can forgive him in favour of the grandeur of the tale.

What I especially admire is that McLynn has no fear of discounting or disagreeing with popular impressions. His take on 1066: the housecarls' favoured weapon was not the double-headed axe (although they used it), but the pike, of which they had many varieties; Harold was not killed by an arrow to the eye; the supposed superiority of the Norman military engine versus that of Anglo-Saxon England was nonexistant, as seen in Harold's 1063 war that brutally smashed the feared Welsh. These tidbits and more await the reader of this highly recommended work.

Harold and William: The Battle for England, A.D. 1064-1066
Average customer rating:

Dissatisfying

Interesting, if extremely slanted

Forgotten King Harold

Harold and William: The Battle for England, A.D. 1064-1066
Benton Patterson
Manufacturer: Cooper Square Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
General | England | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Medieval | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0815411650

Book Description

Dramatically tells the story of 2 rivals in their battle for the crown and the destiny of England.

Customer Reviews:

Dissatisfying.......2007-01-19

"Harold & William" is an easy read. It's a fairly concise (200 pages) telling of the story of the personal rivalry behind the Norman conquest of England -- a rivalry between England's last Saxon king (Harold) and the Duke of Normandy (William, later William I). The root of the rivalry lies in the alleged oath by Harold to support William's claim to the English throne after Edward the Confessor's death and Harold's own election to the throne later on, causing William to seek it by force. The story is further complicated by Harold's younger brother Tostig, who for his own reasons persuaded the King of Norway to make an invasion attempt that same year, just weeks before William's landing. "Harold & William" is a good introduction to the story.

As a work of scholarship, the book fails to stand up. Documents are scant and unreliable, but Patterson makes no attempt to analyze them or compare evidence. Rather, he just tells the story as he has interpreted it, and his own words of sympathy for Harold in the introduction demonstrate a strong subjective viewpoint. As for the facts, he simply states that he made what he believes are the "most reasonable" interpretations. Basically, he hasn't contributed anything to the subject other than what he feels. It's largely undocumented opinion.

In the book's defense, one might say that Patterson was never trying to write an annotated, definitive work of scholarship. He was just trying to tell a story. However, the book doesn't really succeed on this level either, because Patterson is not a strong enough writer to make it particularly gripping. It isn't infused with the page-turning passion that a good journalist or best-selling mystery writer would write with.

The book's saving grace is the story itself, because it IS compelling. But there are better books to read. As a place to start, I would suggest David Howarth's "1066: The Year of the Conquest." He too sympathizes with Harold, but he goes through all the facts (what few there are) before laying out his own view--and manages to do so concisely, without dragging down the tale.

Interesting, if extremely slanted.......2002-06-05

In the introduction to this work, Mr. Patterson tells us a few things that apparently do not bias his viewpoint - namely that he is a descendant of the long-deceased King Harold of the 11th century AD, and that the wrong man won at Hastings on that fateful October day in 1066. Needless to say - I was a little surprised and turned off immediately. He goes on to say that huge gaps occur in the historical record, and his novel-esque narrative will have the holes filled by his best guess of what happened. Okay - perhaps it's not a crime, but we're trying to peddle this as history, when, if you do read the text, it is not.

I am familiar with most of the sources used as references (although strangely enough there is NO CITING AT ALL), and the incredible amount of detail into which Patterson occassionally delves is quite astonishing. In all - this is entertaining, but dont' take the man's word for law. His is a story tainted heavily by bias and a great deal of guess-work where it is not necessary. As the old axim goes (and I use it to argue that "history" need be neutral): Don't try to be a great man, just be a man, and let history make its own judgments. Mr. Patterson - present us with the happenings, but don't tell us who "should" have won. You are quick to pass judgment upon something you profess is largely lost in the abyss of the past.

Forgotten King Harold.......2002-05-02

The reason history is so fascinating is because, quite often, momentous, world-altering events occur as the result of smaller, trivial ones. England, one of the greatest world powers in history, would not have evolved as it did without William's successful Norman invasion of the island in 1066. William's invasion may not have been successful but for the fact that his enemy, Harold, the king of England, was required to fight a desperate battle at Stamford Bridge three days earlier against a large invading army from Norway. And Harold would not have had to fight these Norwegians but for the falling out he had with his brother, Tostig, who left the country in a jealous fit one year earlier, and returned with this army to exact revenge.

It is a fascinating story, and recounted expertly in this straightforward but all-too-brief history. Brief, I should add, because there are simply not enough sources from which to draw, but the author does a fine job with what is available.

The reason that there was a conflict in the first place was that the former king of England, Edward, did not leave an heir. For inexplicable reasons--although he was unusually enamoured of the Normans--he decided that the best person to succeed him would be William. He sent Harold, his wife's brother-in-law and his most likely successor, to Normandy to solicit William, and somewhere in there--the author persuasively argues that he was coerced--Harold swore an oath of allegiance to William. But two years later Edward--on his deathbed--requested Harold be his successor, and Harold was subsequently approved by the witan, England's national council. William, enraged, immediately began preparations to invade.

In the meantime, Tostig, Harold's brother and ruler of Northumbria, was having a tough time ruling his subjects. It was so brutal, in fact, that the entire area was on the verge of rebellion. It says something about his rule that the demands of the Northumbrians were in fact met. Tostig was removed, by his brother no less, and became thereafter and until his death, a scourge of England, leading eventually to his alliance with a foreign power, and his accompaniment of this power on their invasion of England.

Perhaps the most fascinating character in the book is Harald Hardraada, the Norwegian leader. After fleeing the country for his life as a young man, he went to Russia where he won the favor of the Novgorodian King. He then enlisted as a mercenary for the Byzantine empire, where for eight years he fought their battles in Sicily, North Africa and the Middle East. He then returned to Novgorod where he married is love, returned to Denmark where he formed an alliance, used this power to forge an alliance with a Norwegian usurper, and eventually became King of Norway himself.

In the summer of 1066 we find him an eager participant in Tostig's plan to invade northern England, but after an initial success, he is surprised by Harold at Stamford Bridge, and both he and Tostig are killed after a long, bloody battle. Three days later--three days--William's forces land in England, and Harold, with his depleted army, makes the long march south. The rest, as they say, is history, and poor Harold has become nothing more than a footnote.

Book Description

Beautifully illustrated, the first full-length biography of Harold Godwinsson, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England whose death at the Battle of Hastings ushered in the Norman Conquest.

Customer Reviews:

A great achievement.......2003-12-08

This book has enough detail and judicious use of sources to be of great use to the academic historian, while the author's lucid writing style and the sensible structure of the book will no doubt make it accesible to the interested layperson. Well done!

If your looking for a good book on Harold, this is the one.......2003-08-26

In terms of English history,not much is ever really said about Harold. Those who are looking for an informative and surprisingly entertaining work on the Monarch should look no further.

Ian Walker has left no stone unturned in the telling of Harold Godwineson and his family. Starting from his grandfather and father and ending with his grandson becoming the prince of Kiev.
After reading the book, you come away with a sense of the time that he lived in and more importantly a sense of the man. Walker is also very good at surmising how certain decisions and choices that were made having an effect on the people at the time. Case in point the effect of how Harold's contemporaries veiwed his oath breaking to William. Few historians are able to do this.

The author does love his dates and locations, but he is very thorough when it comes to extended family. Also and most importantly, he writes with a point. Instead of going off on a half page tangent, Walker writes in brief and consise paragraphs. When a major player such as William, Tosti or Harald Hardrada comes along, he writes a full chapter.

I have been looking for a book on this king for long time and this has surpassed my expectations. A definite "must-have" for English Monarch and Anglo-Saxon enthusiasts.

Thoroughly enjoyable and informative study........2003-02-10

Everyone who takes English history probably remembers 1066, William of Normandy, the Battle of Hastings, and King Harold; essentially the date, the location and the leaders of the combatant armies. Some may remember that the fight was over the right of succession to the throne of England after the heirless death of King Edward the Confessor. A few may even remember that Edmond Halley's famous comet made an appearance just beforehand, creating great consternation that was immortalized in the Bayeux tapestry. For most, Harold's reign seems almost a foot note, hardly more than an intermission before the main event of the Norman conquest. With William and his successors come castle building, classic knighthood, feudal society, all the "romance" of the middle ages. Harold is so often treated as a cipher to all of this that the true drama of this transitional age is often lost on the student. Harold is just "the loser."

Ian Walker's book brings this period more into focus. He approaches his subject by examining, not only Harold's own life and career, but that of his grandfather and father, creating a sense of the venue for the events of the Conquest. Harold is no longer just "the loser." He is a powerful and intelligent warrior, dealing as often in diplomacy as in bloodshed, able to play the chess game of power politics in a very turbulent time. He was in fact "the last Anglo Saxon king," and his time, like the withdrawal of the elves from Tolkien's Middle Earth, is the end of an era. His predecessor Edward was the last of the line of Alfred the Great, the king who had wielded the tiny Anglo Saxon kingdoms into the one kingdom of England. William and his successors would turn the island into a developing nation state striving for a place in a world among other rising nation states.

I found particularly interesting the author's approach to the period as one of a family biography. Harold was not just a famous figure in history, he was a member of an ambitious extended family. Like the Borgias in a later time and place, Harold's father and his grandfather played major roles in English political life during the years preceding the Conquest, as did he and his brothers in their own time. Walker follows these careers, because it is the net created by their liaisons that defined the period. Pull out any of these lynch pins, and the history of the era would have been vastly different. Interesting too were the careers of Harold's children, who went on to carry the family into succeeding generations of international leaders. I have often wondered what the fates of descendants of famous people have been. What did happen to Cleopatra's surviving children for instance? At least in this instance, more is documented about Harold's children which gives a sense of closure to Walker's book.

Thoroughly enjoyable and informative study.

Fantastic!.......2000-12-03

This is a great book for anyone interested in the mysterious and obscure events of England in the year 1066. Walker does a great job, trying to bring Harold Godwinson to life.

Five stars!.......1999-04-27

This was an excellent, intense account of a unique king's biography. I read this book to get more info on William the Conqueror, but now I'm obsessed with Harold II. A must-read for history buffs.

Average customer rating:

Zzzz
It's a novel
I wish I could rate it higher......
Rambling
Free anglo-saxons - Brutal battles - Doubtful title

The Last English King
Julian Rathbone
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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The Godwins: The Rise and Fall of a Noble Dynasty (The Medieval World)
1066: The Battles of York, Stamford Bridge and Hastings (Battleground Britain)
A Very English Agent
Housecarl
Birth of a Nation: The Further Adventures of A Very English Agent

ASIN: 0312242131

Book Description

On September 27, 1066, Duke William of Normandy sailed for England with hundreds of ships and over 8,000 men. King Harold of England, weakened by a ferocious Viking invasion from the north, could muster little defense. At the Battle of Hastings of October 14, he was outflanked, quickly defeated, and killed by William's superior troops. The course of English history was altered forever.Three years later, Walt, King Harold's only surviving bodyguard, is still emotionally and physically scarred by the loss of his king and his country. Wandering through Asia Minor, headed vaguely for the Holy Land, he meets Quint, a renegade monk with a healthy line of skepticism and a hearty appetite for knowledge. It is he who persuades Walt, little by little, to tell his extraordinary story.And so begins a roller-coaster ride into an era of enduring fascination. Weaving fiction round fact, Julian Rathbone brings to vibrant, exciting, and often amusing life the shadowy figures and events that preceded the Norman Conquest. We see Edward, confessing far more than he ever did in the history books. We meet the warring nobles of Mercia and Wessex; Harold and his unruly clan; Canute's descendants with their delusions of grandeur; predatory men, pushy women, subdued Scots , and wily Welsh. And we meet William of Normandy, a psychotic thug with interesting plans for the "racial sanitation" of the Euroskepics across the water.Peppered with discussions on philosophy. dentistry, democracy, devils, alcohol, illusions, and hygiene, The Last English King raises issues, both daring and delightful, that question the nature of history itself. Where are the lines between fact, interpretation, and re-creation? Did the French really stop for a two-hour lunch during the Battle of Hastings?

Customer Reviews:

Zzzz.......2007-07-11

I really, really wanted to like this book. But I just couldn't. I'm not going to re-write all of the negatives others have posted. Take my advice and believe the other posters. Don't spend a lot of money on this book if you must buy it. And a warning: there is an incestuous relationship between Harold and Edith in this story. Yuck!

It's a novel.......2006-04-01

Please don't be put off by other criticisms of this book. The most important thing is it that is well written. People looking for it to fit into the trashy proliferation of reworked, under-researched historical fiction might find it too subtle or non formulaic for their tastes. It's funny and it makes several interesting points. If you are religious (christian) you might not like some of the points it makes so don't waste your time reading it and then choosing to dislike it for other reasons. It paints a vivid picture of life at the time and, as I wasn't around in the 11th century, I can't say whether it's an accurate look at people, places or events. I can tell you that, as with his other books, it's done with style, wit and some humor.

I wish I could rate it higher.............2004-07-06

The Last English King has the primary ingredients for an outstanding historical novel: Harold Godwinson, Edward the Confessor, William the Conqueror and the epic events which culminated in the Battle of Hastings. This is the Norman Conquest, 11th century England, political power-play and court intrigue at it's best. Yet, somehow, Julian Rathbone manages to take these ingredients and present something of a flop.

He selects Walt, a Godwinson housecarl (bodyguard), as his protagonist who fails to die with his king at Hastings and, guilt-ridden, wanders the breadth of Europe seeking to find himself. Along the way, he meets a defrocked monk who communicates in anachronistic psycho-jargon, an illusionist whose 11th-century repertoire would put David Copperfield to shame, and a wealthy, bewigged gem dealer whose intense interest in these transients is never fully explained. This wandering troupe is the audience to which Walt tells his story. Indeed, disconcertingly, an audience is all they ever become.

Rathbone chooses to employ a strictly modern vernacular which takes something away from the period setting. But, it is in Walt's recounting of events where this novel begins to find some merit. As with most historical novels, the reader can extract swaths of information about the life and times in which it is set. The Norman Conquest is a compelling story and even Rathbone's somewhat nonsensical premise cannot destroy it.

Still, The Last English King manages to conclude itself with a final nod toward mediocrity. Walt's tale finished, he abruptly bids adieu to his traveling companions in Asia Minor and hops aboard an adjacent ship loading for England. If readers haven't spotted the artifice of this traveling band of "ears" and the utter superfluousness of their trek, they will now and they will likely be disappointed.

I'd love to rate The Last English King higher because it's easy to see what it could have been. As it is, it is largely forgettable and, given the subject matter, this is a shame. 3 stars.

Rambling.......2004-06-12

The book rambles. The historical bits are fascinating but the fictional bits get in the way. I ended up skipping here and there to read the interesting bits.

Free anglo-saxons - Brutal battles - Doubtful title.......2004-03-27

The title "the last English king" is quite doubtful: In the battle with Hastings (1066) the last anglo-saxon king Harold Godwinson fell. The following norman rulers continued to call themselves kings of England. The term England was deduced from the tribe of the "Angeln". The English nation in the today's sense should result however only later from the fusion of the different peoples (Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Norwegians and french Normans).

Walt, the ony survivor of King Harold's body guard, reaches on his migrations until small Asia. There he, who had lost his right hand at the battle of Hastings, tells his story till the end of the battle to his way companions . He describes the complicated relationships between the former scandinavian and anglo-saxon kings, as well as their connections to the normans. Beyond that the reader gets a view of social conditions of the time before William the conquerer, in which old traditions of legislation, administration were determining taxes and iurisdiction. The king had to succeed in relation to regional rulers and was dependent on their support in the Witan. Beside the noble ones and their attendants the national defense was incumbent on the duty of a people army of all free men (Fyrd). Some church dignitary did not take it too exactly with the canonical right and had wife and/or a loving. The feudalism of the invaders, which they along-brought from normandy, prepared, in the shoulder conclusion with the Roman church, an end for these conditions. A taut and centralistic leaning system suppressed from now on the in former times quite free population and it exploited with taxes and deliveries. The military affairs of the conquerers, which beside armored, noble riders (knights), who had already proven their superiority against the sign barrier from foot people at Hastings, based on the structure of strong castles whose sould lend those the norman England a singular impact force.

The open and honest epilog of the author puts aside the discussion more numerously speak and conceptual anachronisms. In modern Prosa the written, nevertheless as the one which can be designated historically, novel avails itself of a crude, sometimes brutal and vulgaeren language. The battles of Stamford Bridge (against the Norwegian king Harald Hardrada) and Hastings are described in drastic way in detail and are nothing for readers with tender mind. While the passages, which are concerned with events from anglo-saxon view interesting and informative are, work those from Walt's journey something fatiguing.

Additional visualization by a historical map and a family tree of the kings, would have amounted to to a better understanding and the novel revaluations to know. Summa summarum the novel is to be evaluated with three amazonstars.

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