Customer Reviews

Henry V (English Monarchs)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Prof. Allmand's biography of Henry V is the first coherent work on the subject for our generation. It is also the best bio on Henry V in the past 60-70 years. Allmand gives a fairly bare-bones analysis of King Henry V's brilliant but short life, and then expands in later chapters on several themes such as the royal family, law + order, and the like. Allmand's work is scholarly but does not drown the reader in details. Is a good read and moves along in a coherent manner. If you are looking to learn more about the man Shakespeare called "the Mirror of all Christian Kings" Allmand's deft work is a good place to start and a valuable resource.

As brilliantly portrayed by Mr. Allmand, Henry V personifies not only the fearsome and powerful character of a dark ages monarch, but also that one of a business-sound and strategy-aware leader. Whereas Shakespeare stresses Henry's prowess as a soldier and a hero, Allmand throws in unbeknownst traits: goal-oriented business planner, egalitarian political strategist, tireless academician, merciless warrior and fearing christian. Even though Mr. Allmand's prose teems with passive verbs and endless sentences, sometimes puzzling and even confusing the reader, his book is one of its kind.

I had some trouble rating this book. As a historical, factual, and detailed record of Henry V's reign, it is excellent. It is an outstanding reference text. However, as an enjoyable read, it's painfully boring. It's obvious from the text, that the author poured over many 15th century documents and he lists many of the facts from those documents in excrutiating detail. For example, listing dozens of the more prominent citizens of the realm, how much each of them contributed in taxes, etc. The author follows the same course on many other topics in order to paint a complete picture of Henry's reign and to describe certain historical trends. The book is complete and informative, but it's not an enjoyable read. The author is an excellent historian but not a great writer. He brings no life or excitement to the narrative. So four/five stars as a reference text, 2 stars as a history book that I'd actually like to read.

Allmand's Henry V follows the pattern of most of the Yale English Monarchs books in having the first part being a chronological narrative and the rest an analysis of different aspects of the reign. So the first 182 pages are Henry's life, with much of it in France. The last 261 pages are analysis. Henry had an amazing reign. He took it upon himself to do "justice" and conquer France and had the English nation unified behind him until near the very end of his short life. His victory at Agincourt against huge odds, no matter what one thinks of the war itself, is one of the most famous in English history and a brilliant exercise in medieval military leadership. But Allmand, while getting all the details correct, has a surprisingly flat narration of these events. Henry was one of the most charismatic leaders in the Middle Ages but the excitement of his exploits is never gotten across to the reader. The details are never woven into an engaging storyline which, if anything, the chronological part of the book should be. It is adequate but Henry himself was, if anything, never just adequate.

After reading the first part I expected the last 60% of the book to be dry as dust. But it is decidedly not. Almost all the chapters are sharply written and bring both details and life to Henry's reign. This twist, flat narration of events and highly interesting analysis of the details, is unusual to say the least. The real heart of this book, its finest moments, are in the middle. His chapter on "Lollardy and Sedition" is the best I have seen on the early "heretics" in England. It makes much more sense of the religious aspects of the reigns not only of Henry V but of Richard II and Henry's father, the fourth Henry. It also sheds much light on the events in England a hundred years later. It is analytical history that is well done and interesting. The same goes for a chapter with the exciting title of "Order," which turns out to be about Henry's attempt to control what today might be called "gangs" in rural England. These groups of thugs and corrupt gentry came complete with their own liveries (or symbolic clothing), again not unlike today's militias or gangs. The book does a great job of talking about Henry's successes and failures in trying to regain central authority after Richard and Henry IV lost much of it. His chapter called "Sigismund and the Council of Constance" is a first rate discussion of the schism in the Church and England's role in ending it. What Allmand does in almost all these chapters is set Henry's role into context which really helps. The book repeats itself somewhat in the last couple chapters and it helps to keep in mind that, for example, his brother John and "Bedford" are the same person. But overall the last 260 pages are an example of superb historical writing in which analysis is NOT dull but highly enlightening. Good stuff.

Allmand also does an excellent job of seeing both Henry's strengths and weaknesses. It would be easy either to hero worship this ambitious and dynamic leader or to treat him as a thoughtless and self-centered adventurur who invaded a country that (we now see) he never had a chance of completely controlling. But Allmand is careful to present both sides and only at the very end does he give a modern perspective. If you want a thrilling narrative of the Battle of Agincourt, this is not the book. But if you want an insightful analysis that will shed light on the larger picture of life in Henry's time and his role in those events, this is a good choice.

I did not look foward to the prospect of using 3 of Christopher Allmand's books for an essay, but it was well worth it. This is by far the best biography of Henry V I have yet found. As acedemic rather than popular history is can be tedious in places, but it is worth the effort for a well-rounded, complete and objective view of Henry's life and reign.

Allmand examines Henry's actions and motivations, thier consequences, and Henry's nature, to reveal a man who is deserverly regarded as great, but was like also imperfect in many respects. Henry was a lover of justice, who valued loyalty. Because of this his response to disloyalty could be harsh and cruel, especially towards people he had been close to, and felt personally betrayed by.

Unlike some popular authors (Ian Mortimer as a notable example) Allmand does not use Henry's negative traits to bash him for any innate badness, or having an incurably cruel, brutal and vindictive nature.
Instead Allmand gives the reader a true measure of the gifted commander, astute poltician and charismatic leader, who retains to essence of greatness in spite of his flaws shortcomings, which are not hidden or glossed over. In short Allmand's portrait of Henry shows as man who was, as all of us, only human.

As mentioned in a previous review, Mr. Allmand's narrative is not strictly chronological. Roughly the first half of the book is the chronology of Henry V's life (yes - Henry dies half way through the book), while the remainder touches on various aspects of royal life and a description of the late 14th and 15th centuries (for example, the second half of the book discusses Henry's military establishment, his relationship with his family, court life, and the Lollard movement).

Personally, I did not care for the bifurcated structure. I believe Allmand could have incorporated the themes from the second half of the book into his chronological life of Henry in a seamless manner. As written, the book is disjointed and can be difficult to follow in some places.

Overall, this is a good read, but not great.