Customer Reviews

The Verneys

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

 

 

This is one of those books that I wanted to love. I can't say anything negative about the writing or the scholarship on display here. It's solid, lucid and once in a while even witty. So why was this book such heavy going? I've managed to read three-quarters of it and I don't have an explanation.

The Verneys themselves are an interesting bunch. One became a pirate on the Barbary Coast. The wife of another went insane. They struggled through the turmoil of the English Civil War. And they kept every letter they ever received. With many of the same ingredients this should have been as riveting a read as Stella Tillyard's Aristocrats but for me it was not. The closest I can come to an explanation is that the Verneys actually offer too many facts. We know many of the details of their lives yet comparatively little about their inner lives.

This is a well-written book. If you are a student of the English Civil War or 17th Century England this is well worth your time. For the general history reader I would advise reading a few pages of this at random before buying.

Well I found this a fascinating family and a revealing history of 17th century Britain. The author supplements the family letters with a through explanation of the period and the Verney's close involvement with it especially the English Civil War. Also, the book gives one a personal involvement with this delightful family. I would put the book down then quite soon be drawn back to it wondering what the Verneys were up to now. Can't get better history than this. Kudos to the author!

As I finished this book, I turned to the next selection on my summer reading list, Peter Clarke's "The Last Thousand Days of the British Empire." Clarke records a comment by Winston Churchill reflecting his frustration with not being able to meet with President Roosevelt as much as he would have liked, relying on letters instead: "What an ineffectual method of conveying human thought correspondence is." While that is likely true in the abstract, even for one of Churchill's remarkable writing talents, the thought will likely not occur to you as you read "The Verneys."

I must say that I bought the book without knowing much about it, willing to take a chance because of my interest in 17th Century England. And then I was a bit distressed to realize that the work is based almost entirely on the correspondence by and among the Verney clan, a formulation that I have seen yield some very dry and much less than compelling historical accounts. I needn't have worried.

Tinniswood has done a simply remarkable job of bringing this fascinating family to life. Perhaps this is not that surprising given the fact that letters were the email of the day, and it was not only normal but expected that people wrote letters as we dash off our electronic messages, regularly more than once in a single day, and just as often as we, they were not as careful as they should have been, frequently ruing the products of their haste. Several of the Verneys, intentionally or not, enhanced the historical record by retaining drafts of their letters, so that the modern researcher has the benefit of both ends of many of the communications.

But all this is not to detract from Tinniswood's accomplishment. It's one thing to have all these documents available to you, and quite another to be able to weave them into a compelling narrative. My only cavils are that the author assumes on the part of the reader a fairly extensive knowledge of the period's major developments such as the Civil Wars and the Restoration although I'm reasonably certain that a tyro will be able to navigate. The other is the occasional insertion of editorial comments which are all the more bothersome by reason of their unpredictability and inanity.

The Verneys were not one of the preeminent English families of the period. But they were sufficiently close to, and involved in, the most significant political and commercial activities and developments of those years to fairly represent the trials and triumphs of their class. Full marks to Author Tinniswood for guiding us into their world in a most entertaining and edifying way.

This is history at its best - it's readable, compelling and thoroughly enjoyable. Tinniswood's book achieves many goals in one - a fascinating social history, meticulous biography, powerful family saga, and not least it is a really good and engaging read.

The tale begins with Sir Francis Verney who ran away from his teenage wife in 1608, sold off much of the Verney property, converted to Islam and became one of the most feared pirates on the Barbary Coast. Carry on to read about Bess, who ran off with a clergyman; Cary, a heavy gambler, and Henry who was obsessed with horse racing; not to mention those involved in the English Civil War; Mall, who became pregnant out of marriage, or one of the later relatives who was hanged at Tyburn. A really good and compelling portrait of seventeenth-century England, and especially the Verney family. The history is based predominantly on the extensive records of the Verneys, particularly hundreds of letters kept by Sir Ralph Verney (1613-96) who presided over Claydon House in Buckinghamshire for over 50 years

In one respect, I'm jealous of the Verneys. I keep every letter I receive too (they are ever fewer and further between in this age of e-mail), but will historians write about me? Well, if I really wanted them to I should have gotten knighted, or at least had children.

And therein lies the respect in which I am not jealous of the Verneys. The main character, Sir Ralph Verney, and his wife went through seven pregnancies and yet only one of Ralph's children, Jack, outlived him. That one had to travel all the way to what is now Syria to make his fortune before returning home in his late thirties and finding a wife at the age of 40. Guess there's hope for me yet. (His wife was 15 -- I won't hope for that.)

Jack was not intended to enter the peerage, although he eventually did. That was supposed to be left to his older brother Mun (or Edmund, after Sir Ralph's father); but Mun predeceased Ralph along with both of his male children. His third child, a daughter, died childless, although married (indeed she had been married several years when she died at 21. The extended marriage negotiations which occur at several intervals in the book make one very glad for the ritual of dating, which is just more fun all around). Jack lost two wives, but does not appear to have lost a single child -- which by the standards of the late seventeenth century makes him extraordinarily lucky. Indeed, a careful reading of "The Verneys" will make any reader glad he lives in the 21st century.

"The Verneys" is a true story in which eldest sons take up their father's land and (if any) a title upon his death, along with everything which is their father's, and then take over the lives of the rest of their relatives. This was standard procedure at the time and has been invoked to explain the British Empire itself (the sum, supposedly, of the endeavors of younger sons from Britain proper). Ownership of land was everything and brought with it the opportunity to live a life of ease, as most of your income would consist of rent paid by your tenants.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the most sympathetic characters in the book are usually those other than the eldest sons in each generation, although Tinniswood tells the story in such a way that Sir Ralph himself is a strong contender for most sympathetic. Sir Ralph's youngest sisters marry poor men for love and escape into obscurity, whereas his nearer sisters make radically unhappy marriages with handpicked suitors. The ultimate fate of the family as it moved on from the seventeenth century is told in a preface, which is there to tell the story of how historians came into the possession of the tens of thousands of letters from the generations which make the book. The book is an ideal companion piece to "The World We Have Lost" or any other book about early modern England; or it can be read by itself, to introduce a reader to the era. I give it four stars.

I first got a glimpse at the Verneys when I watched the DVD "A History of Britain" by Simon Schama. Who showed the Family Busts when he covered the English Civil Wars of the 17th Century.
This well written book, which is based upon the huge collection of the Verneys papers. (I understand that they were huge pack rats and could not throw away any written note) Which covers the high points of a upper class family that is trying to make its way thru a very troubled world.
The Author altogether has written a very compelling book that makes you very interested in a group of some very real characters of the local gentry.(Especially Tom who was a real cad in the full meaning of the word)Not wanting to give too much away, this book is well worth the coin and time for those who are interested in the time and place.

Last year I read Blood and Roses: One Family's Struggle and Triumph During the Tumultuous Wars of the Roses. In it, the author used a collection of family letters to bring to life a 15th century British family, the Pastons, who struggle to keep their estate and their recently achieved social prominence. This book, The Verneys, interprets a similarly in tact collection of family letters to draw a portrait of a family from the landed class 200 years later.

Through these families, we learn about the daily life of the gentry of their respective times. In the 15th century, the Paston's number one son loses his birthright in a dubious deathbed testament. This change in fortune wreaks havoc on him and his nuclear family. For the Varneys of the 17th century, the system of primogeniture plays out to the unhappiness of its presumed beneficiary. Sir Ralph inherits the responsibity of preserving the estate, paying debts and managing a never-ending parade of requests for assistance from most of the other disinherited relatives.

In both books, property is a major issue. (Could it be because there are supporting legal documents that survive, or because this is the major preoccupation of the families?) In both times, ownership is vulnerable to the whims of the crown; however, by the 17th century, the rule of law has evolved such that there seems to be a more defined process for claims and no pitched battles of gentry v. gentry to try take land by force.

The Verney sons who do not inherit have some options, whereas if John Paston has any, he does not recognize them. Second sons of the 17th century can seek fortune in colonizing Barbados or in trading in the Ottoman Empire and/or seek wealthy brides on their own.

The women in either century have no legal options. Considerable time and resources are spent treating them as commodities. As noted at the end, many of Verney women, who seem to support the system, defy it. The issue of the imagery of women, and their actual behavior is certainly worth a wider study.

Tinniswood gives more interpretation than Castor and does not quote the original letters to the extent that Castor did to tell or confirm the story. This makes The Verneys a smoother and more pleasurable read for the pleasure reader. Both books will be important for future researchers.

I received this as a Christmas present from my wish list and it was a great read. Most times we only get to read about the higher eschelons of society so it was interesting to here how the gentry lived. I enjoyed the details of family and home life and believe it or not, the little items remembered in wills. I was surprised by the discussion of how mental disease was viewed and how an insane person was treated by family. This is a different view of 17th Century England and the strains the Civil War placed on families.

I expected this book to be of great interest to me, since I read everything I can find about the history of England. But I guess I am not the scholar I thought I was. This book was written in such a way that by the third page I was beginning to feel bogged down. I was taken by the fact that my family name was mentioned on the first page, and I thought "This is going to be a good read." But I couldn't get thru it. I would advise anyone who wants to get this book, try to find a copy and flip thru it first. If I had done that, I would have passed it by.

I received this book as a Christmas present & wondered why ?? I like a good mystery..but 17th century England folk, give me a break...this is one item that will definitely be re-gifted to a friend who is a history buff & will probably be delighted to receive it..yes, I did read what was on the cover & it appears to be a good read but not for me.