Reviews for The devil's crown

The average rating for The devil's crown based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-03-12 00:00:00 Treyvon Davis Description: The story of Henry II's turbulent relationship with Thomas a Beckett, Queen Eleanor, and his sons Richard and John. A tie-in with the BBC2 mini-series, the book includes extensive genealogical charts and an Index of Main Characters. -- Detailed but fast-moving narrative of some of the best-known figures in English medieval history. -- Complete coverage of the Crusades and other major military campaigns of the period. -- Intrigues of the royal family placed in the context of religious and political conflicts of the time. Brian Cox is just superb as Henry II, and we lose him at the end of episode five. The action is a gallop through - it has to be, there were so many events that need to be relayed. Although not as fine a script as A Lion in Winter, there are pithy one-liners galore here, and Jane Lapotaire was so effective as Eleanor that it was tough holding back the tears when the Queen died. Fully recommended. Brian Cox as Henry II of England Michael Byrne as Richard I of England John Duttine as John, King of England Jane Lapotaire as Eleanor of Aquitaine Christopher Gable as Philip II of France Ralph Arliss as Geoffrey, Archbishop of York Charles Kay as Louis VII of France Jack Shepherd as Thomas Becket Kevin McNally as Henry the Young King Lynsey Baxter as Isabella of Angoulême Freddie Jones as Bertran de Born Peter Benson as Blondel de Nesle Roy Boyd as Ranulf de Glanville Lucy Gutteridge as Alys, Countess of the Vexin Michael Hawkins as Richard de Luci Ian Hogg as William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber Ralph Michael as Hubert Walter Patrick Troughton as William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke Simon Gipps-Kent as Arthur I, Duke of Brittany Bob Goody as Guide Zoë Wanamaker as Berengaria of Navarre Lorna Yabsley as Alys, Countess of the Vexin Susannah Fellows as Rosamund de Clifford Ep.1 - If All the World Were Mine Ep.2 - The Earth Is Not Enough Ep.3 - A Rose, a Thorn Ep.4 - The Hungry Falcons Ep.5 - Before the Dark Ep.6 - Richard Yea and Nay Ep.7 - Lion of Christendom Ep.8 - When Cage-Birds Sing Ep.9 - Bolt from the Blue Ep.10 - In Sun's Eclipse Ep.11 - The Flowers Are Silent Ep.12 - Tainted King Ep.13 - To the Devil They Go

Review # 2 was written on 2017-01-19 00:00:00 Daryl Nicholas I am tempted to call this a good introductory book for those interested in the Angevin kings of England, but I fear I am too well-acquainted with their story to know if that is a fair statement. Instead, I will say that it is a competently constructed whirlwind of a book. What Barber does, is provide an admirably even-handed and condensed version of the lives of Henry II, Henry the Young King, Richard, and John. Very condensed in fact, since the entire thing is less than two hundred pages. By bringing it down to such a short length, it could easily feel like he is lobbing event after event and name after name at the reader. That said, as means for me to refresh myself quickly on some of the events, it definitely served its purpose. This book was composed as a companion to a BBC Documentary, and as such it is written in language for a popular reader. However, because of this it contains one of my greatest peeves in history books: an extreme lack of footnotes and end notes- there are literally none. A small further reading list is provided, but that does not tell you where any of his specific information was found, and I do wish that detailed (or even minimal!) specific source citations were provided.