Customer Reviews

William the Conqueror

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Hilaire Belloc is perhaps the premier popular historian. His works are beautifully crafted and almost poetic. And this, his ode to William, the Conqueror, is no exception.

Herein, Belloc teaches us that William's conquest of England was really the exercise of a legitimate claim to the throne through heredity and, more importantly, represented a struggle between half-Christianized Danes and the great Catholic tradition of England and Normandy. With this great act, culminating in the epoch making Battle of Hastings, William's line established England in a Catholic tradition that was to survive until Ann Boleyn turned the head of the weak will Henry VIII and became the pivot of the English Reformation, a topic also wonderfully dealt with by Belloc in "How the Reformation Happened".

Belloc's writings are to savored, reflected upon, and quoted by his many fans. Prolific though he was, we always wish that he had written even more, and that his great works were more available. This particular work is made available through TAN publishers of Rockford, Illinois, a great little company that needs and deserves much support. Take care, and God bless.

I just finished reading this book, my fourth from this author (along with The Crusades: The World's Debate, How the Reformation Happened, and The Great Heresies). I found this to be the easiest to read so far, perhaps because I am becoming accustomed to Belloc's writing style. I am by no means a scholar or extremely well read, but there is a certain rhythm to his writings that I struggled with at first, but has since become very enjoyable to read.

I picked up this book solely because I enjoy reading Belloc, not out of any particular interest in William The Conqueror. However, before long I had become completely engrossed in the subject and eager to learn more. As other reviewers have said, the book traces the history and genealogy that resulted in William's seat on the throne of England. It starts with a brief description of the societal structure at the time and culminates with William's victory at the Battle of Hastings. The last 15 pages or so tell of William's time as King, although I'm certain that this abridged version leaves quite a bit out. Being only 76 pages long, the telling of the story is fairly brief, but there is a lot of information within those 76 pages.

Belloc incorporates the part that the Church played throughout the story, but I would have liked to have read more about this. One reason I enjoy Belloc is because of his unforgiving Catholic perspective, and I don't feel like this came through in this book as much as in the others that I have read.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in English/French history of this era (1050-1075) and especially in William the Conqueror's role. It's brief nature would serve as a good introduction to anyone with no prior knowledge of the subject, and I'm sure those already familiar with it will discover something new.

I don't see how anyone who isn't a serious history fan would like to read this. It is another Belloc masterpiece, although, not his best. It is only 76 pages and could be about 15 pages shorter. It would make a great teaching aid.

However, it is very lacking in the footnotes or bibliography.

I did not find this book very readable. I was looking for something at the jr. high level. This book spends a lot of time just going over the lineage, which I found dull. There were some interesting points about the structure of government, but presented in such a verbose manner that I found it hard to read. I only got about half way through it, although it is a rather short book.

I found this incredible tome of knowlege to be a quote-soakedand fact-packed adventure through Willy's hood. The "guy" got his ships from monks, sailed 'cros the channel because he be illegitimate, and laid a"bunch" down on Harold Godwinson because he be wastin' his time warrin with Vikings.