Henry I
C. Warren Hollister
Read it Hard Back
weighing in strong at 554 pages, appendix and bibliography at 499.
The stage is set,
1087AD, the great Conqueror William from Normandy is dead. To his three sons he would leave the oldest
Robert with the family holdings of Normandy, Rufus, his second born son would
be granted the lands of England thus splitting the empire William formed; while
Henry would only be left with a pile of silver and gold with no place to lodge
it.
"And what,
Father, do you give me? The King answered him, "I give you five thousand
pounds of silver from my treasure." To which Henry said, "What shall
I do with treasure if I have no place to make my home?"
A landless rich
noble in a time when holdings distinguished and empowered you above all
else. His brothers immediately took war
to one another while Henry desperately sold his inheritance to Robert for some
modest holdings in Normandy that would then empower Henry to inevitably vault
to one of the most lauded English monarchs of all time at the misfortune and
ill management of his brothers rules.
This is the story of Henry I, his early rise, difficulties, battles,
political genius, and his interactions within his empire that would
revolutionize kingship and bring a foundation of thirty years of peace to
England, setting its course for the next three hundred years of interaction
within the continent. A time when
feudalism could no longer reward it's great magnates with new conquest and land
holdings, Henry changed the dynamic and prospered despite great tragedies and
the undermining of other great magnates and kings who continuously looked to
wage war on his frontiers.
Hollister displays a
very grand mastering of the sources and knowledge, and tells the story with
relatively little self-opinions expressed, and when doing so makes sure to
demonstrate other authors and sources with disagreeing points of view giving
the reader a full and distinguished picture.
In addition, Hollister does a fantastic job on shedding light on the
magnets that comprised Henry's court and some of his greatest adversaries,
further empowering the reader to understand the very complicated political
tapestry of the 1100 and 1200's through Henry I's reign. While the original work was destroyed in a
fire, Hollister was forced to re-write the entirety of the book, in which he
died before its completion. Amanda Clark
Frost finishes up the last couple chapters for Hollister so that it could be
published posthumously in his honor.
It's gripping,
exciting, interesting, and very well executed.
Highly recommended for anyone looking for a more detailed depiction of
Henry I's reign. While I certainly
wouldn't tell just anyone to start with this (I would recommend Dan Jones 'The
Plantagenents' first), this is invaluable to understanding the interactions of
the great magnates of 1050-1130 Normandy and England.
