The Thirteenth Century, 1216-1307

Oxford History of England #4

by F.M. Powicke

Focusing on a formative age in English history, this book covers the long reigns of Henry III--whose authority was challenged by Simon de Montfort bringing England to civil war in 1264--and Henry's son, Edward I, remembered for his efforts to subjugate the Scots and the Welsh, but also as "the
English Justinian" because of the wide range of new laws issued during his reign. Powicke studies the successive involvement of both kings with the crusades and France, the powers and position of the clergy, and the development and administration of the Royal Household.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Medieval, Medieval History

848 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 1962

About the author

Sir Frederick Maurice Powicke, historian who taught at Belfast, Manchester and Oxford. He specialised in medieval history.

Reviews

[Lauren Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alas, my eyes did glaze over. It wasn’t because the book was bad or poorly done but because he insisted on going into so much more detail than a book with this breadth could take. I just feel like a book with a lot of detail should have a narrower focus or time period.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was interesting and you really get a sense of the complexity of the environment and the workload of King Edward. It is a very long book and incredibly dense with detail.

I found three things that made it difficult to consume.

The language is not contemporary. You really notice that it was written in the early part of the 20th century. Even though that doesn't appear old it does make some of the sentence construction, phraseology and word use hard to comprehend at times.

There was a degree of assumed knowledge of the period that meant even though this is a detailed history I still had to look things up to figure out what was being discussed.

So many people, towns and provinces are involved that there really needs to be many more maps. There are three in the book but they don't even provide enough detail for the regions they cover to be able to follow what is happening in the book.

The best three chapters were the ones about the Welsh and Scottish wars and then the final chapter where rebellions break out everywhere and a dying king has to try and deal with all of them in order to maintain his kingdom.

[John Huddy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fantastic book if you suffer from chronic insomnia or require a sedative for acute back pain.

Otherwise it's hard to imagine how an author can make such an exciting and progressive period of British history so unbelievably dull. I've attempted it twice now and nodded off on both occassions.

I have read over a thousand years of British History in this series, all of which are excellent apart from this. I would recommend OUP took their books to the dentist and had this one extracted.