Reviews for Henry Plantagenet

The average rating for Henry Plantagenet based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-08-31 00:00:00 David Grill A solid if not terribly informative biography of Henry II I can only give it two stars because it barely explored the relationship between Henry and his wife itself a crime nor with his sons or with the major powers on continental Europe a shame. I finished this book with not a lot more knowledge of Henry than when I started

Review # 2 was written on 2021-03-18 00:00:00 Tama Tamitaboy A good biography is obviously hard to find - hence why I found this (how long has it been in my piles hiding??) US copy of a 1964 (1990s print) biography! Not sure how, maybe one day, a decade ago, or far enough I can't actually recall, I saw this on Amazon & bought it. One of the great mysteries of the mind is that we can recall the most trivial things & forget important things - obviously I wonder why I didn't read it before!! Great writing, as well! Very well done, as the devil's brood, as he and Eleanor of Aquitaine's children are known (Richard, later Lionheart, for example, shot an arrow at his father, though that's something I picked up elsewhere, not a spoiler!) are known, can be a difficult group to get a feel for, and it's all so political and dry in reality that making such things interesting or at least less academic, as can the episodes with Becket, who was obstinate and one of those friends you should keep closer because they're not really friends... A saint should never be slated, though, I think, can I get lynched for it nowadays? I hope not! Here, it's all explained, sometimes a little boring or academic or confusing (we no longer have the link of Church and state that made such arguments possible), and I'm not sure it's made interesting, but at least the reader comes away knowing the author knew his stuff & tried not to bore the reader. I know there are better biographies out there, especially with new evidence and opinions out there all the time, almost 60 years later, but at times it's good to get back to the older writing as it's good to have differing opinions and impressions to compare and analyse, or just for the simple enjoyment of knowing what happened. Fiction has tried, & sometimes partially succeeded, in writing of this time, but there's nothing like the facts to get your teeth into how the past reflects & affects the present.