Darren Baker

https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/richard-of-cornwall-the-english-king-of-germany-...

I was enthusiastically looking forward to this newly published book about Richard of Cornwall after very much enjoying The King of Almayne, by T.W.E. Roche; this is the thirteenth-century English prince, younger son of King John and brother of Henry III, who was elected “King of the Romans” (ie of Germany) and might have become Holy Roman Emperor, a fascinating case of England reaching into the politics of continental Europe with plenty of contemporary resonance.

Baker’s is the first biography of Richard since Roche’s, more than fifty years ago. It follows on from biographies he has previously written about Richard’s brother, Henry III; his brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort; and their wives, Richard’s sister and sister-in-law, both called Eleanor. The preface to the book promises a new portrait of a man driven by ego and greed, and perpetually in the psychological shadow of his brother (who incidentally was not all that bad).

Unfortunately the book itself is not all that good. It is largely a dry recitation of where Richard happened to be travelling to throughout the years of his long life, stifling the more dramatic moments and leavening the dullness of the facts as presented with sweeping and unsupported statements about Richard’s psychological state, failing to really substantiate the points made in the preface.

I also felt that given that this is the author’s fourth book about a member of the dysfunctional ruling family of thirteenth-century England, he assumes that the reader has knowledge of the earlier three, or at least of their subject matter, and important events and background are skipped or over-summarised.

I was frankly disappointed with this book, but it motivated me to download a copy of Noel Denholm-Young’s 1947 biography which everyone speaks highly of, and I’ll get to that sooner or later.… (mehr)

First, thank you to NetGalley and Pen and Sword for granting me the privilege of reading this book from my Wish List.

I enjoyed this book and have read well over 100 books on the medieval era so I consider myself an amateur expert on the subject. It is not easy to write a book on women during that time because not many records are kept, besides household accounts and birth records and to tackle two women was not an easy accomplishment but I feel the author did justice with the subject matter.

I found it very interesting to see the struggle that Henry had balancing the extreme love and admiration he had for his wife and the strong brotherly love he had for his sister as well as the dynamics between the two women themselves.

My only negative comment would be, as others have said, is that I sometimes got confused as to which Eleanor he was referring to.… (mehr)