Good book on the history of England and it's monarchs?

by gwizknows

Hi. I'm looking for a good book on English history and one on the monarchs. I'd like to know more about it, but I'm not sure which books to go for. Anyone with experience in this field could maybe point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it, thanks.

Curb_the_tide

I’m in the middle of Dan Jones’ ‘Magna Carta’ and it’s really good. I recommend any of his books on English history, I’ve also read ‘The Plantangenets’ and ‘The Wars of the Roses’. He writes narrative history in a way that’s easy to understand and provides a lot of background as well.

zebra_humbucker

Definitely start with The Plantagenets by Dan Jones. You'll think you're reading Game of Thrones, its quite simply, fantastic. By far the best history book I've ever read

Wagrid

The Penguin monarchs series provides a number of short, accessible introductions to the period that are very much worth your time. There is also the far more substantial cousin to the Penguin series, the Yale English Monarchs series. The stand outs of the Yale series are Henry V by Allmand, Edward III by Ormrod, Henry II by Warren (Henry II is, by a comfortable margin, the most important medieval English king) and Richard I by Gillingham. I have two caveats to recommending the Yale series. The book on William I by D.C. Douglas is quite old and thus you should be especially cautious of taking it as the last word on his reign. The other caveat is that Henry VI by Wolffe, whilst interesting, was basically immediately superseded by Griffiths monolith The Reign of Henry VI. Griffith's read of the reign proved hugely influential and Wolffe's was thus sidelined. That said, as introductions go, Griffith's is so dense it might be worth tracking down Wolffe's.

A fairly accessible book that I think quite highly of is Nigel Saul's For Honour and Fame: Chivalry in England 1066-1500. Saul stretches his argument that chivalry had a mollifying effect on the brutality of warfare in comparison to earlier societies further than the evidence allows, but beyond that it is a very good, very accessible book.

Another easy recommendation is The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284 by David Carpenter. Carpenter's book focuses primarily on England, and is an excellent overview of the period.