Monarchy: From the Middle Ages to Modernity

Having admired Mr Starkey's previous works both the written word and his televison work, I found this book very disappointing. Rather than a detailed history of our Royal Houses from the middle ages what he gave us was just a bland and non discript overview. There was no passion in his writing and he did reveal anything new about the various kings and queens that we didn't already know. There were parts of the book which I found interesting but then just pittered out and went onto the monarch's successor without fully exploring his subject.
Mr Starkey obviously loves his subject matter, it is just a pity he didn't do justice to it this time around.

Interesting Slant on British History (2/2 people found this helpful)

Being of a confirmed republican slant, this doesn't seem like the best history book for me. I did see some of the Channel 4 programme that this is based on, which was enough to whet my appetite.

However, David Starkey writes clearly and intelligently on how Britain (mostly England let's be honest) has been shaped by monarchy and in turn shaped their Kings and Queens. It moves at a fair clip and is very readable. This book runs form Henry VII to Victoria with a short chapter on the 20th century.

I think he documents the difficulty of balancing the monarch's power with the subjects and the vacillation between monarch, nobles and later parliament and the volatile mix that religion brought into this.

It's also interesting to speculate, for example, would England still be a Catholic nation if Catherine of Aragon bore a surviving son? Henry VIII was almost completely opportunistic and heedless of the consequences , and his legacy was religious schism which essentially lasted until the civil war.

Well worth a read.

A detailed glimpse on the politics and polcies that shaped our Kings and Queens. (8/8 people found this helpful)

David Starky's Monarchy - from the middle ages to modernity, is just what it says on the 'tin'... This book explains in sometimes mind boggling detail the true politics and practices that put our monarchs on the throne... someone always had an ulterior motive...(usually power or money or religion) nothing new there!! for those of you that thought that our Royals always inherited the throne by birthright think again!!. This book also has lots of detail about the life and times of England... very interesting and well worth reading.

A Gripping Tale of The Transfer of Power through the Ages (9/9 people found this helpful)

David Starkey provides a gripping tale of the various claims to the English and later British throne that there has been throughout the century. What Starkey achieves so well in this book that he does not merely catalogue every King and Queen from King Henry VII to Queen Victoria but rather how the power of the monarchy passed to each Dynasty in turn. A great read and one which is highly recommended for anyone reading about the English monarchy for the first time.

Wonderful intro to this period (8/8 people found this helpful)

I can seldom remember enjoying a history book more - it is a wonderful sweep through the tudors to the present day, and would heartily recommend it for anyone interested in history but without an academic background- it reads so well.
My only concern is that David Starkey wrote a wonderful introduction to the origins of the monarchy (literally the book of series 1 of monarchy)but has jumped several hundered years, how I would have liked him to introduce me to the early mediaeval period. I also wonder where the promised Henry VIII biogrpahy has gone - it was listed for publishing later this year but is no longer listed - that was going to be the highlight of my year!

Monarchy: From the Middle Ages to Modernity

David Starkey

Reader Reviews:

Disappointing (1/1 people found this helpful)

Interesting Slant on British History (2/2 people found this helpful)

A detailed glimpse on the politics and polcies that shaped our Kings and Queens. (8/8 people found this helpful)

A Gripping Tale of The Transfer of Power through the Ages (9/9 people found this helpful)

Wonderful intro to this period (8/8 people found this helpful)

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