Charles I [Paperback]

Hilaire Belloc (Author), Dr. Clyde Wilson (Preface)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0971828636 | ISBN-13: 978-0971828636 | Publication Date: May 1, 2003

A striking portrait of Charles I, this book also looks closely at the role that the burgeoning financial powers played in shaping European politics and the effects that these powers had on the English monarchy during his reign. Belloc also explores the consequences of these effects for Europe generally. At the same time, it is a detailed study of the man who was Charles I with all his strengths, all his weaknesses. Belloc’s sense of history sheds light on how those strengths and weaknesses contributed to action or inaction by Charles and how those actions affected England and the rest of Europe.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a timely republication." -- The Wanderer, July 24, 2003

About the Author

Hilaire Belloc began his academic career with a lecture tour of the United States in 1892. He became a member of the Fabian Society in the early 1900s and met George Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells, who helped him obtain work with newspapers such as the Daily News and The Speaker. Eventually he became literary editor of the Morning Post. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1906. He also wrote several novels, such as Mr. Clutterbuck's Election and A Change in the Cabinet, along with historical works such as The French Revolution and History of England. Belloc also published a series of historical biographies: Oliver Cromwell, James II, Richelieu, Wolsey, Napoleon, and Charles II.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Ihs Press (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971828636
• ISBN-13: 978-0971828636
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,491,856 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Belloc on the Killing of the King, November 26, 2005

By 

Michael Tozer (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Charles I (Paperback)

Peerless historian Hilaire Belloc here describes with his wonderful and virile prose the saga of Charles I of England. In a way, the regicide of Charles at the hands of Protestant revolutionaries prefigured the later acts of the Jacobins in murdering Louis XVI and the Bolsheviks in murdering Czar Saint Nicholas II. The three revolutionary activities had in common their culminating scene, that being the killing of the King. Of course, there are differences. The Bolsheviks killed not just the saintly Romanov, but his entire family, and left behind their occult sigil on the blood stained walls of the cellar in which their ghastly deed was performed. In any case, Belloc begins the saga here with the life and death of Charles Stuart, his regicide being one of the culminating acts of the Protestant Revolution and one of the initiating acts of the international conspiracy against authority that is still, sadly, ongoing. For the serious student of history, this is a must read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More Argument than Biography From Belloc in this Interesting Book, January 4, 2012

By 

Kevin M. Derby (Florida) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Charles I (Paperback)

In 2003, IHS Press--under their Gates of Vienna Books line--released the legendary Hilaire Belloc's book on Charles I which was originally released in 1933. This is not a biography by any means. While Belloc offers some of the details of the doomed Stuart monarch's life, he is more concerned with presenting his case that the shattering of Christendom--a unified Catholic Europe--with the rise of the Protestant faiths and the dawning of monied interests led to social chaos and the English Civil War. Belloc is a vivid writer who offers a powerful and flowing narrative.

Readers who are not familiar with Belloc should note that he is a not a conventional historian. He is more concerned with writing an entertaining and informative book that he is with getting tenure. Belloc is a writer, not a bureaucrat. While this can sometimes be frustrating--he does not offer footnotes for example--Belloc's writing is often refreshing and he makes no secret of what his biases are.

The IHS version has a brief forward from Clyde Wilson touching on Belloc. While Wilson is a scholar of the Old South and not 17th Century England (full disclosure--I studied under Wilson in grad school), his focus is more on Belloc than Charles I. Michael Hennessy offers a much more in-depth look at Belloc and Charles I in his fine introduction.

While this book is not for everyone, and Belloc is not always fully persuasive in making his case, it is still readable almost eight decades after it was first published.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History for the philosopher, August 24, 2009

By 

Tom Blair "dancer" (Perkiomenville, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Charles I (Paperback)

This book is a wonderful historical (perhaps meta-historical would be more accurate) account of the overthrow of England's Charles I, and the larger English Civil War. It is not like any modern history. It makes you ask larger questions.

Reading this I became quite conflicted - coming to see the regicide of Charles Stuart
(St. Charles The Martyr) as the culmination of the Protestant Reformation. Yet always previously thinking that had been a triumph for the Saxon peasantry over Norman monarchy. I'm still conflicted - about the history - but not about this book.

Belloc also paints a portrait of how money overtook heredity as power over people's lives. And how money worked against the nation. This is highly relevant today.

Belloc is a captivating writer perfect for someone with a philosphical approach to history. This is a subject that was of little interest to me when I started but now is fascinating and relevant.