Customer Reviews

A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain

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Edward I is the great thirteenth century king who forged Britian into an empire-be it for a short time. It was a great thrill, and I could hardly put the book down. It ranks as a close second to Ian Mortimer's books, if not equal to them. It was great.

Edward was obivously a compact subject to cover. Hollywood made him into the ruthless Edward Longshanks, a man who hated freedom and an arrogant thug. The real man was very different. If Edward hated freedom, why did he allow Parliament to florish as it did? If he was arrogant, why did he travel with so many men in the Holy Land. Hollywood protrayed Edward so wrong, it was hard to bring the real man back into the picture.

However, Marc Morris succeded where many failed. He picked up on Mortimer's new theory, and analized the man from is own time. He protaryed Edward as the glorius soldier and lawyer, the heroic crusader, and the old lion in the saddle in 1307, when he died at 68, yet on another campaign to conquer Scotland. Scotland was Edward's greatest ambition and the thing that alluded him the most, but it is fair to say that he came the closest to bring Scotland under England before 1707. Edward's was a great personality.

Marc Morris's book soared to the heavens. It got me interested in 13th century Europe, and I'm hungary for Michael Prestwich's book on Edward I

One of the best history books that I have ever read. The author has a very casual, informal writing style that immediately engaged me and held my interest to the end of the book. He presented facts & details in a way that was easy to remember.

As a student of English history all my life, A Great and Terrible King will now have a prominent place on my book shelf. Mr. Morris has done a wonderful job illuminating one of the greatest names in medieval history. It is well written and researched. Having traveled a good deal though northern Wales in the 1990's, I saw many of Edward's castles but had little appreciation for what I was seeing. The haunting Denas Bran made a strong impression on me when I first saw it, now even more so. The massive Caernarfon castle now makes perfect sense. One of the more interesting aspects of this history is how much the Arthurian myth influenced culture, political policy as well as diplomacy for the Edwardian court.

If you enjoy a good read that will bring to light one of the most interesting characters in history let alone English history, get this book.

This book is surely one of the most absorbing histories written about a medieval king. Edward supplies plenty of material for a good story. His flamboyant and unpredictable personality, the conquest of Wales and his multiple attempts to subdue Scotland are the stuff of novels. In writing a good story Morris sometimes goes beyond what the careful historian might say. He often gives motives to Edward's actions as if he were a character in a novel. This helps the reader follow the story but it is not always so clear that Morris is right. For example, after the Battle of Evesham, Morris shows how Edward's promises were easily broken and how some viewed him as a lion and some viewed him as a panther - shifty and untrustworthy. That part is well-documented. Then he says, "Saddled with such a reputation, all Edward could do was continue with his conciliatory stance and hope thereby to disprove his opponents' negative assumptions." But it is not clear at all that concern about his reputation and disproving his opponents' assumptions motivated Edward in 1265-66. Morris does this many times in the book. It is the kind of thing that many historians would not claim. On the other hand, trying to get inside Edward's head makes the king a living human being for the reader. It seems to this reader anyway that the vast majority of his claims about Edward's motives are backed by strong evidence. Edward wore both his emotional strengths (like his determination) and weaknesses (such as his prejudices) on his sleeve. And, in spite of the commonly accepted prejudices of his day, Edward's constant need for money to fight his wars led in return to more documents that helped to form our concept of rights.

So, despite at times going beyond the dry "facts," this book is one that will satisfy readers interested in medieval English history. There is plenty of historical detail, all well-documented, and the book is hard to put down. The maps are excellent. Every site in Wales and Scotland mentioned in the text can be easily located on the maps. That helped a lot, especially with the number of times that Edward fought in Wales and Scotland. I highly recommend the book.

The Good:

DETAIL: This book has been well-researched and is engaging to read. It is not easy to do this when writing about medieval historical figures, but Morris almost makes it look easy. It's all fine and good to see Edward I portrayed in Braveheart and come away with the idea that he was a ruthless monarch, but if you want to learn more about this ruler - how complicated his life was, how much he devoted himself to religion, family, and to uniting Britain - this is a great book to examine.

STORYTELLING: I learned loads of useful facts and stories about Edward in this book. It was interesting to see how many times he almost died young: Crusade, fall from collapsing floor in a cathedral, illness, etc. I especially enjoyed the chapter about Edward using the Arthurian legend and staging a reburial of King Arthur to prop up his throne. Great insight into medieval propaganda and maintaining one's power through the use of myth and legend. Most of the time, it's good, highly-interesting history to read.

OVERALL: I think Edward could just as easily be called the Hammer of the Welsh in addition to the effigy on his tomb: HAMMER OF THE SCOTS. There's a lot of compelling, little-known history in this book and it's worth telling.

The Not-So-Good:

1) Some grammatical errors, especially in the first 1/3 of the book. Try to overlook these.

2) A bit dry sometimes. This is not quite an exhaustive history, but there are sections where you'll find yourself wishing Morris would move on to something else. The book is written chronologically, which is a great strength, but there are inevitably going to be a few dry spells. This is especially so if you're not already familiar with some of the history from that period or with English geography.

3) Although I think it is good that Morris tries not to judge Edward, I get the feeling that he's a bit apologetic toward Edward's often violent behavior. True, he was a man of his time, but a lot of people (innocent and otherwise) were killed because of this man maintaining and expanding his power. It shows when nobles were starting to get restless with all the war Edward brought. That said, Morris still provides the history of Edward's ruthlessness and should be applauded for doing that. The apologetic attitude might come from the fact that his sources are the king's scriveners.

4) Did those gloves on the cover come from Home Depot?

Knowing very little about this period of history, I was totally drawn into it through this book. Excellently written; fully engaging. A thorough all-round treatment of complex characters and the complex times they lived in. Anyone who is interested in medieval times, monarchy, a decent biography, history in general should find this book a great addition. I loved this from first to last.

Marc Morris' account of Edward I brings to life one of Britain's greatest-ever monarchs in a way that is awe-inspiring, considering that Edward lived more than 800 years ago. Morris is everything a historian should be - a meticulous researcher, a brilliant storyteller, and most importantly, an objective observer. This book reads like a novel and helps us to understand not only what Edward did, but also why he may have done it and the context in which he did it. From the Battle of Evesham to the subjugation of Wales and the Wars of Independence with Scotland, Morris does the most possible justice to a man who most only know as the ruthless, cruel comic book caricature portrayed in Braveheart. Anyone who is interested in learning more about medieval British and European history should read this book. I cannot wait to see what Mr. Morris writes next!

Loved this book. It's clear the author is immersed in his command of knowledge regarding this seminal English monarch. I could read anything by him.