The Amateur Historian's Guide to the Heart of England: Volume 3: Nearly 200 Medieval & Tudor Sites Two Hours or Less from London

by Sarah Valente Kettler, Carole Trimble

Using London as their home base (since they love dinner and the theater too), the jolly Amateur Historians take you on merry romp that travels back in time to the sites and history of some of the most fascinating areas of the English Midlands. Magnificent Windsor Castle and neighboring Eton College, the ancient educational institutions of Oxford and Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford are the anchor sites. In addition, the book explores the history of the great medieval castles of Kenilworth and Warwick, tours the glorious cathedrals and abbeys of St. Alban’s, Dorchester and Reading and drops in for a look at the many medieval and Tudor manor homes, churches, almshouses, barns and other buildings in the region. Centuries will drop away as * Walk with Edward III in the first ceremonial procession of the Order of the Garter, held in 1348 at Windsor Castle; * Slide down a rope of sheets with the Empress Matilda in her dramatic 12th-century escape from a siege of Oxford Castle; * Fight--and die--with Richard III as he struggles to keep England’s throne at the Battle of Bosworth; * Dine with Elizabeth I on one of her numerous visits to Kenilworth Castle, one of the many properties that she gave to her favorite courtier Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester; * Pray with Mary Queen of Scots as she waits at Fotheringhay Castle for her cousin Elizabeth to decide her fate. These and many other exciting adventures await readers in the pages of "The Amateur Historian’s Guide to the Heart of England."

Genres: Travel

410 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2003

Reviews

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked this up for two reasons, the first being to gain a little background on so many of the places that Eleanor, Henry, Edward, Richard, Henry, and so on spent their time, and also to get an idea of places to visit on future return trips to England.

The information itself is great, though the authors' opinions interjected throughout were not interesting to me - perhaps mainly because of their pro-Richard slant, definitely anti-Tudor, despite it being about Tudor sites. It will be nice when these so-called Ricardians can just accept the fact that he was guilty of having his nephews killed so he could usurp the crown. Funny they CONSTANTLY refer to Henry VII as an usurper, but never to Richard the same way.

I get that the charm is supposed to be that they're 'amateur historians' but come on. There were several points throughout where they say something is a fact, when it's actually very much still up for debate. The info about the sites themselves is great, but the extra I could do without.