Who's Who in Late Medieval England
579677
Pretty complete on the information pertaining to each individual. I found to be fast reading and will be used for reference on birthdates, etc. while working on my family tree.
3143525
The author has certainly done some serious research. I tended to get a little lost (needed a program to tell the players - everyone has nearly the same name, people identified by their titles as opposed to their names, and titles changed hands due to deaths, attaintures [sic], and the whim of the King). I was unhappy that the story did not continue into the reign of Richard III (otherwise known as Duke of Gloucester), and the author is obviously not a fan of R III (I'm a Ricardian). A very good read, but with flaws.
4153631
Frank Barlow hit the target dead centre with this small but impressive book. The layout is chronological and the writing flows easily and naturally from chapter to chapter. The book covers not only the Godwins but the early 11th C before their rapid rise during the brief Danish rule. While most books focus on Harold Godwinson this text fills out the familiy's role in the final years of  Anglo-Saxon England. Taken together with his other book "Edward the Confessor" (with whom the family was not always in accord) a reader will come away with as clear an understanding as is possible, considering the sources and distance in time, of what happened and why.
1373063
A large portion of this book is about Lady Jane Grey/Dudley, the 9 day Queen of England.  However, it doesn't just deal with her.  It puts her in her social context within her scheming familiy and how they delt with Royalty and the Tudor court.
It also gives an interesting follow up of what happened to the rest of her familiy following their ill fated bid to get Jane on the throne. It's an interesting book, all the more so because it deals with a group of people, not just Lady Jane.
3371984
Edward VI, son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour became King of England in 1547, aged 9, and died in 1553 aged 16. Edward's reign is often viewed as almost incidental in the Tudor dynasty: most of his regnal period was influenced by self-serving advisers.

Edward was not merely a cipher.  His role in the work of government was limited, but not non-existent.  Henry VIII had originally intended that England be governed by a council of regency during Edward's minority.  As a consequence of the struggle for power, as Henry was dying, Edward Seymour emerged as Lord Protector.  In a court riven by factionalism, Seymour dominated until he himself was forced out and subsequently executed, by John Dudley (later the Duke of Northumberland).  While it is difficult to catch significant glimpses of the boy behind the king, Mr Skidmore does provide images that show that Edward was not always sickly, and had considerable promise both academically and athletically.  There is also evidence that Edward's influence on the religious change taking place was quite profound.  Henry VIII's reformation was driven purely by expedience and was institutionally based.  Edward, by contrast, was influenced by reformers and the 1552 Prayer Book marked a shift from doctrinal conservatism to a Church of England which was more fundamentally protestant.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in knowing more about the short reign of Edward VI, the reasons why he named Lady Jane Grey as his successor and the development of the Church of England.  Edward's reign cannot be looked at in isolation: far too many of the dominant political figures featured in the previous reign.  However, reading Mr Skidmore's book sheds new light on a significant period of English history.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith
1567142
Nicely presented with good notes and background information.  A look into an important time and some idea of what people thought of their own history.  If you are interested in the Sagas and especially about the time just before and including the Norman Conquest you'll want to read this.
909419
I adored this book when I was a child, so much so that a lot of it got stuck in my memory.  The book has a one page biography of each of England's reigning kings and queens since 1066.  The biographies are in verse, and are highly memorable, as are the portraits that accompany each bio.  Recently, when reading a book about Edward !!, a few lines began to tinkle in the back of my mind  -- "Favours he lavished on/Pretty Piers Gaveston/ Giving him duchies and riches and rings".  An internet search led me to this book, and how delighted I am to have found it again!  A wonderful present for a young person with a passion for English history, or for an old person who was such in the long, long ago.
3661031
As others have noted, the period and events covered are complex and involve many people. This is a great deep-dive into the accession struggles of the 14th-15th centuries for fans of the period with a basic knowledge of the Wars of the Roses in place. For those just getting engaged in this period of British History, other more facile and high-level historical overviews would be a better first-choice.
2686711
I just received my copy of this book today and am very pleased with it. It is 137 pages plus some index pages and a couple other end of book pages. I'm not sure what Nancy Sparrow's agenda is for rating this book with one star and claiming it is only 3 pages long. If you enjoy learning about the medieval period, you will like this book. It has lots of information organized by season and lots of color photographs of medieval paintings. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Middle Ages, especially if you want lots of good pictures from the period.
1602359
Good mystery, enjoyed the medieval setting and characters.
4611865
An exhaustive compendium of who was born, where and when, for genealogy researchers of British royalty. Not reading matter, strictly for data contained.
3320577
This book tells the history of the development of Medieval archeology.  By means of well-written text, and well-chosen drawings and photos, the author explains how interest in the Medieval past developed from its infancy, and morphed as a result of contemporary social and economic trends.

The book also contains information regarding the major Medieval archeologists and their contributions to the field.

Mostly covers England, but also contains information regarding all of Europe.  Great bibliography, too!

Highly recommended for people who are interested in Medieval history.
4131212
EXCELLENT STUDY OF A LESSER-KNOWN FIELD.
The title is somewhat misleading - a subtitle indicating that it is about the "dark ages" of England would have been informative. Nevertheless, this is an excellent study that explores English history from the period of the Roman Conquest through the Norman Conquest. The author's method was to review the times, actions and impact of nine figures of history - Boadicea, Arthur, the Sutton Hoo man, Offa of Mercia, Alfred the Great, Athelstan, Eric Bloodaxe, Ethered Unraed, and William the Conqueror. Wood presents all that has been previously written (and related archaelogy) of these persons in an integrated manner. The sources are clearly evaluated and a concise, reasonable summary presented. Since the book was written as a companion-piece to a BBC television series, it is easy-to-read and will be of interest even to the casual student of history.
922741
An interesting account of the other Norman Conquest in Southern Italy and Sicily. I first became interested in the Normans in the First Crusade, but could find out little about where their last stop had been. This crowd left home base even earlier than William had left for England. Now, if I could just find out more about Rollo, the first to set up shop in Normandy.
2214660
This was a good book if you are interested in a social history of the middle ages. There is a little bit of the book devoted to the political history of the middle ages , but most chapters deal with areas such as middle age art, the Church, what is was like to be a noble, a serf etc. There is a chapter on the black plague
3823351
There's a little bit on King Arthur but the name itself isn't entirely accurate. It's more about the historic time period of the Anglo-Saxon wars, and less about who King Arthur was, or if he was.
2134295
Number eighteen in the series, The Anglo-Saxon Age is a very useful tool for those taking History 316 or 351, covering the Middle Ages, as well as Early Western Civ.  Not many people know the exact dates for the Anglo-Saxon period (roughly 410, with the Roman withdrawal, to 1066 with the arrival of William the Conqueror), and even less know of some of its kings with names like Aethelbald, Edmund, and Eadgar.  Well, it's all here in this little book, touching on what all the kings did, including an index and necessary timeline during this turbulent period when only the kings and their closest subjects truly knew who was king to their kingdom.

Originally published on October 21st, 2002.

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