| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
19 Mar 2005 09:30:50 AM |
| Object: |
OT: Gerald Harriss |
A light on the past
http://books.guardian.co.uk/review/story/0,12084,1440233,00.html
Gerald Harriss prompts a closer look at late medieval England with his
stunning survey, Shaping the Nation, says Helen Castor
Saturday March 19, 2005
The Guardian
Shaping the Nation: England 1360-1461
by Gerald Harriss
750pp, Oxford, =A335
The labels we attach to the past shape the way we think about history.
Powerfully and problematically so, in the case of late medieval
England. Historians are fond of pointing out that "the Hundred Years'
war" and "the wars of the Roses" are misleading terms of convenience
which give a spurious coherence to periods of enormous complexity. But
it's still oddly disconcerting to find that this latest volume in the
New Oxford History of England series starts in the middle of one and
ends in the middle of the other.
Nor is Gerald Harriss's chosen century bounded by the familiar
roll-call of royal deaths. In 1360 the warrior-king Edward III was a
vigorous and commanding figure at the age of 48, still more than a
decade away from the descent into senility which preceded his death in
1377. 1461, by contrast, did mark the end of a reign, when the holy
fool Henry VI was deposed by his cousin Edward IV. But Henry lost his
liberty rather than his life, and was subsequently (if briefly and
unsuccessfully) restored to the throne by Warwick the Kingmaker.
Gerald Harriss
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