Customer Reviews

The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens (Mammoth Books)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is an essential Book of the British Monarchy that has helped me tremendously in doing research about all the Kings and Queens throught the history of Great Britain. It is thorough, well documented, it has essential maps and background information, not only about the Kings and Queens, but also about significant events throughout the history of this great nation. This is a book that reaffirms the importance of Great Britain in Western Civilization. The Kings and Queens from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II are told with interesting form, as well as the Kings and Queens of Ireland, Wales, Scotland and major chieftans who had their own kingdoms in Britain during the early Middle Ages. An outstanding book that is an absolute must to anyone who wants to research the history of Great Britain.

First let me state that I love this book. I read it all the time, though I haven't come close to finishing it due to its size.

I love this book because it is interesting. It has every British ruler you can think of piled in there, from the most recent to the semi-mythological ones of bygone days. And this includes the ruling families of those who came to power in Britain. The most obscure rulers are covered.

The book is incredibly well indexed. I can find any ruler easier than it would be to look his name up alphabetically. Even better than that, I don't have to know the name of a ruler to find him. There are charts, graphs, geneological tables, maps, everything.

However, there is one major flaw with this book. As the "Royal Book of Records" in the beginning might suggest, the book might more be considered gossip than fact. The RBoR is fantastic, listining the Top 10 rulers for all sorts of things...strangest deaths, earliest marriages, most kids, you name it.
But the whole book kind of takes on this theme.

I would not have known that the book isn't the most reliable of sources if I hadn't gone and tried to use it on my papers for university (Dalriada, Pictland, Vikings, Anglo-Saxons mostly).
Which I did, and subsequently got marked off on. Every point that I cited with this book got marked off.
But I still can't help loving it.

I found this book of particular interest because I could go through it and compare the historical records of kings with the records left by Shakespeare. Macbeth, for example, was well-loved, and Richard III probably wasn't all that bad.

This book includes references to mythology and legend: there's an entry for Arthur, for example. It doesn't, however, accept that things are true because someone says so; it attempts to distinguish between fact and fancy. It's handy in that sense to have this book close at hand when reading historical fiction set in early England.

It's written from a definate British perspective, obvious because it cut's George III more slack than an American book would. Still, considering it's their monarchy, I guess they get to write the book.

Interesting both to history buffs and laymen. Not to be missed by Anglophiles.

I couldn't agree more with the one-star review from Sept. 2001. From a quick glance in a store, I was impressed by the book's apparent scope; once I owned it I could see, based on a good general knowledge of British royal history, how poor, undocumented, and second-hand the information was. Ashley gives roughly the same weight to legends as to actual historical figures: perhaps not surprising, now that I find he's published many other "Mammoth" books of fantasy literature but nothing else dealing with historical facts. It's hard to imagine that anyone involved in publishing or marketing it understood that scholarship needs to have at least some role in works of this kind. Because I don't believe in trashing books, however sorry their content, I donated my copy to a local book sale. If you care about history, skip this book to avoid a similar disappointment.

Book received on time, and it is good shape for a used book. Text in book overemphasizes the pre-Norman phases of royalty in England. But, given I know little about that period, it is probably good for me. Others might want to consider that emphasis.

This is an amazing book, it's very informative and gives all the information you need to know about British Kings and Queens (Plus More). It starts on some of the pre-roman leaders that we/they know about trying to destingress between myth and fact, then going on to the Roman emporer's and governers that ruled the country (part off). Then it goes on to all the small kingdoms from the SW corner of England and wales to the Islands of Scotland. Then gradually going on to the the bigger kingdoms and the uniting of the crowns to become Great Britain then the UK. These plenty of information, on all the monarchs, as well as sites with royal connections, royal family tree's with the connection's between them all (not just the traditional look, a very comprihensive one) and a full (as full as historians/fact know) list of all the monarchs ( and roman emporers and governers of britain) of the UK, with dates and notes. It also shows the Kings, Queens, Prince's, Duke's, leaders etc of other places, fron Norway to Anjou and France to Hanover for example.

This book has everything you need to know in it. A must have and if I could give it more stars I would.

This is perhaps the most comprehensive one volume digest of British monarchs and spans 2000 years of rulers of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and smaller kingdoms withing Britain. There are over a thousand entries.

It has a section on LEGENDARY OR SEMI-HISTORICAL KINGS OF BRITAIN which includes the possibilities of who the legendary King Arthur was based on, as well as the King Lear we know from the Shakespeare play.

In this section he refers to the History by Geoffrey of Monmouth, whom Ashley does not see as a very incredible historian.

According to Geoffrey's History the legendary first king of Britain was Brut or Brutus who was supposed to have reigned about 1100 BCE. But Ashley says that although Geoffrey's is almost certainly a creation of his own imagination, there is no reason to disbelieve the concept of tribes of Celts arriving in Britain at this period and one strong leader emerging.

The first likely British king to have been documented is Beli Mwar (circa 100 BCE). It is possible to trace most British and Welsh rulers back to Beli.

Alfred the Great (871-899 CE), the best known of the West Saxon kings earned the epithet of the 'Great' not only because he held the Saxon nation together against the Dane invaders but because he improved the strength, culture and quality of his realm.

The section on kings of England tells us tat King William I The Conqueror or The Bastard, after his conquest of England, marched in 1069 against the rebels under Swein and Edgar. The author tells us that "harrying of the north was the most extreme example of despoiling and genocide that England has ever seen and for which William was never forgiven. He may have conquered them but he never ruled them".

We learn that the facts about Scottish king MacBeth are not reflected at all in Shakespeare's play.

As for Richard III, while Shakespeare may have greatly exaggerated his villainy, the facts bare out that he almost certainly did order the murders of the young princes of the tower, as examined in The Princes in the Tower.

This book is a reference work, and can be referred to whenever reading up on British history, or historical fiction. It is also an interesting read in itself.

It is crammed with interesting facts such as the existence of the heredidatary disease porphyria which has infected the English royal family for centuries.

The Royal Book of Records in this digest is particularly fascinating.

Since this book was written Elizabeth (Queen since 1952) has overtaken Henry III of England (56 years) and James VI of Scotland ( 57 years) . If Elizabeth is still reigning in 2012 she will have overtaken George III (59 years)and if she is still reigning in 10 September 2015, she will have overtaken Queen Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch. If she is still reigning in 2016 she will have overtaken Meurig of Gwent to be the oldest reigning monarch ever on the island of Britain.

The digest takes us up to the tragic death of Princess Diana in 1997.

The monarchy has been in crisis many times before and while today it is going through difficulty one can only hope that such an ancient venerable institution it will survive.

It is up to the new generations to help the monarchy find a new place in the affections of the people.

When I discovered my geneology search led me to the British Royal Line, I began seeking a good historical resource for further details. I was delighted to find detailed facts about members of the Royal line, along with clearly diagramed and written geneology which aided and enriched my search. This book turned out to be a terrific resource.

From the semi-legendary Beli the Great to Elizabeth the second, this book deals with many, many legends, battles, usurpations, and schisms. This book even gives astounding amounts of information about obscure and obsolete historical elements, such as the kings of Magonsaete. I found this as being my favourite history book of all time!

Ashley gives us a mini-history of Europe as well as a chronological listing of its monarchs. An invaluable resource for history students as well as genealogists!