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Reviews tagging 'Death'
The White Ship: Conquest, Anarchy and the Wrecking of Henry I's Dream by Charles Spencer
3 reviews
catherine_t's review against another edition
informative
tense
medium-paced
4.75
In November 1120, a ship sank off the coast of Normandy, just outside the port of Barfleur, in the English Channel. Aboard was William Æthling, King Henry I's only legitimate son and heir to the throne of England, along with many other nobles of the kingdom. All drowned (except one very lucky butcher who'd been aboard to try to get payment owing). This disaster changed the course of English history, leading directly to what later writers would dub "The Anarchy" and the Plantagenet dynasty ruling England for the next 300 years.
Charles Spencer takes readers through the years leading up to the White Ship disaster, beginning with the Norman Conquest, and then shows how the sinking of the White Ship resulted in a terrible civil war that saw loyalties shift and change like tides.
Spencer has a lovely conversational style of writing that keeps one reading. It's like listening to a knowledgeable friend chat about a subject he knows well. Highly recommended.
Charles Spencer takes readers through the years leading up to the White Ship disaster, beginning with the Norman Conquest, and then shows how the sinking of the White Ship resulted in a terrible civil war that saw loyalties shift and change like tides.
Spencer has a lovely conversational style of writing that keeps one reading. It's like listening to a knowledgeable friend chat about a subject he knows well. Highly recommended.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Infidelity, Sexism, Torture, Violence, and War
frantically's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.0
This was quite clearly named wrongly — we get very little on the White Ship tragedy itself and this book is moreso a biography on Henry I. and a few chapters on the anarchy after his death. The biographical part was very well done and I feel like I really got to know Henry, not just as a ruler but as a person. I could've done away with the anarchy part, though, it was too short to really show all the different political happenings and their complexity. Like others, I didn't know Spencer worked as a historian but I was pleasantly surprised :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death
Moderate: Gore and Sexism
Minor: Rape and Violence
srm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Infidelity, Medical content, and War
Minor: Death, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol