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Title: Henry I
University Press
Item Number: 9780300088588
Number: 1
Product Description: Henry I
Universal Product Code (UPC): 9780300088588
WonderClub Stock Keeping Unit (WSKU): 9780300088588
Rating: 4.5/5 based on 2 Reviews
Image Location: https://wonderclub.com/images/covers/85/88/9780300088588.jpg
Weight: 0.200 kg (0.44 lbs)
Width: 0.000 cm (0.00 inches)
Heigh : 0.000 cm (0.00 inches)
Depth: 0.000 cm (0.00 inches)
Date Added: August 25, 2020, Added By: Ross
Date Last Edited: August 25, 2020, Edited By: Ross
Price | Condition | Delivery | Seller | Action |
$99.99 | Digital |
| WonderClub (9297 total ratings) |
Jimmy Bob
reviewed Henry I on April 07, 2018This book was quite fascinating with all the events that led up to and within the Reign of King Henry I throne of England and Normandy. Like so many great books, great or very good authors have a story in the backdrop – C. Warren Hollister is one of those authors (sort of reminds me of Dr. Bernard B. Fall.) This book was originally completed in 1991; however, a major Southern California forest fire led to a portion of the campus of the University of California – Santa Barbara (UCSB) ruined, one of the casualties in this fire was the complete work of Hollister. At the time of the fire, it was housed on floppy disks, documents organized, and work completed along with multitudes of research compiled over many years. He was determined to recreate this work and in fact kept to his promise. Prior to completing the last 2 or 3 chapters of the recreated effort, Mr. Hollister passed away suddenly – enter Amanda Clark Frost. Her professional efforts completed the book a few years after the death of Hollister, the book is dedicated to C. Warren Hollister’s surviving wife. It is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.
I began this book by reading the Appendix – the first time I opened it, the appendix flipped open – for this book I am glad it had. The editors’ comment had focused on some criticism previously posted by Author/Historian Dr. David Bates (I read his work of the Monarch Series – Yale University Press – William the Conqueror), in a manner of speaking it revealed what I came away with on my previous read. The Foreword to this book and Editor’s Preface were both highly valuable in not only on this book, but the Author himself and his untimely death.
The first chapter clearly set the tone for this book, as is normally the case the first chapter of any Historical work can make or break the book in its entirety. “Setting and Sources†was the title of Chapter 1, as a student of History and Military History I was most grateful in this attempt to assist myself as reader for the pages that would follow. King Henry I was the youngest son of William the Conqueror, Robert Curthose, Richard and William Rufus were his older brothers – there were sisters older than Henry and not much is written on them other than who they later married or the abbeys they later joined. Henry was the one who seems to have had least flaws that would negatively impact the throne in an overarching sense of the time. Henry I was the father to no less than 20 “known†bastard children; one illegitimate son would join him in his Royal Court, while one daughter Juliana would pay a price with her two daughters and later attempt to kill her Father. Juliana would later repent to her Father, but after one reads what happened to her daughters it is no wonder she made the attempt that she had upon the Kings life. The year following her father’s death, Juliana would spend her days in an abbey as a Nun. Eustace would pass on in 1136.
There were in effect two events that occurred that I had hoped would have been better covered within this work. The first as mentioned above was Juliana and her husband Comte Eustice and their daughters, the other was the White Ship accident of 25 November 1120 in which Henry’s only legitimate son was killed (William Adelin.) The White Ship (so named as it was the first ship literally painted and in white by the ship builder Thomas fitz Stephen specifically for King Henry I) took the lives of all the passengers except for a butcher who was aboard the boat attempting to gain payment that was due on meat that previously prepared and provided for Royal Court visits. The White Ship has been (in modern times) compared to the catastrophe that occurred with the Titanic in 1912. It is better understood to have been a much worse event than the Titanic catastrophe – consider for a moment that there were survivors from the Titanic, on the White Ship there was one survivor – the butcher Burold from Rouen. Burold had clung to a spar during the night to survive where he was then able to make it back to shore. The White Ship passengers were the ruling class of their era to include the sole heir to the throne of King Henry I; Titanic had many of the Baron Class along with the many decent third-class passengers who had no hope of rescue. The day following the catastrophe Burold was brought across the Channel – Burold had heard William Adelin’s cousin calling for him as he was attempting to escape the crash area, his cousin pulled him under when he returned to save her – Burold was able to hear the event as it occurred, and this story has survived a near millennium. Whether this fact was provided to King Henry I the next day is unknown – when Burold was brought to the Court to inform King Henry, he refused as he was too scared – everyone else in the Royal Court was also too scared. In comes a 6-year-old boy who is then recruited to tell King Henry of the horrific accident of the night before. The script the boy memorized was appropriate for a 6-year-old, it lacked most if not all the above detail. The really odd thing I find in all of this is that King Henry used his own ship to cross the English Channel – he declined the new boat but allowed his son to race him back home, even more strange was the fact that Henry had departed at least 45 minutes ahead of William and the White Ship. Stephen, also the cousin to William Adelin, would become the next King after Henry’s death with a score of years fight with Matilda and Geoffrey of Anjou for the throne. Stephen had left the decks of the White Ship before it departed as history and Stephen’s account is that he had a bad case of diarrhea.
In an organizational sense, King Henry had the same skill sets of his Father. King William I had the Domesday Book (1086 AD) created, King Henry created the Exchequer (1111 AD) and the Pipe Roll (1130 AD); reading of the Domesday Book and the ensuing meetings that followed within the time were simply astounding – King Henry I, like his Father King William I took nothing for granted. His reign was essentially free from major conflicts from 1101 until his death in 1135. This historical biography was a terrific read and quite often was difficult to put down – I wanted the book to continue and I enjoyed taking the slow read on the life of a great King. I have only begun the surface of this History and have now many sources for long reading going forward – this is an amazing journey; however, it is after all History, a place where we all belong and once existed.
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