The Feudal Kingdom of England, 1042-1216

A History of England #3

by Frank Barlow

Now into its fourth edition, this highly-regarded text has been fully revised and rewritten. Since the last edition in 1972 much important work has been done on the period, not least by Frank Barlow himself -- with a major study of the English Church between 1066 and 1154, alongside what are now the standard works on William Rufus and Thomas Becket -- and all of this has been fully incorporated into this new edition.

Genres: History, Medieval History, Medieval, British Literature, Nonfiction

496 pages, Paperback

First published July 17, 1972

About the author

A Fellow of both the British Academy and the Royal Society of Literature, Frank Barlow was Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Exeter, where he taught from 1953 until his retirement in 1976. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1989 for his contributions to historical scholarship.

Reviews

[Matthew Murawski · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good reference, but a phenomenally dry narrative.

[Gayla Bassham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting but not well-organized and maybe overly detailed. A great overview, though, and I found the reign of King John and the birth of the Magna Carta -- about which I only knew a few paragraphs from the Western Civ class I took in 1989 -- genuinely gripping.

However, I regret that I am forced to dock this book one star because of the author's infuriating treatment of Matilda. Here are my notes on this section of the book:

OH MY GOD YOU DID NOT JUST CALL HER A VIRAGO OH MY GOD
Because apparently William I was a joy to be around.
We are now enemies, sir.
A “hard woman”? Dude, a moment of self-reflection, I beg you.
Let me guess, you would be happy for some woman to be queen, JUST NOT THIS ONE.

In short, the author views Matilda's ambition and assertiveness with a much different eye than he views the ambition and assertiveness of the plethora of men in the book who are also extremely ruthless in their pursuit of the throne. Which may have been acceptable in 1999 (although 1999 wasn't that long ago) but is not acceptable in 2020, at least not to me.

[Carole-Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a paperback edition of this.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good history. Learned alot

[William Ritch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent survey of Norman England. A lot of details. An excellent bibliography.

The only problem with this is for non-history majors there is a lot of technical terms that are not defined and had to be looked up.

[Julaine]

Date Purchased - check receipts. Source: U of A