Audio-book Review
By Chet Yarbrough
Blog: awalkingdelight
Website: chetyarbrough.blog
English History Made Brief, Irreverent, and Pleasurable
By: Lacy Baldwin Smith
Narrated by: Peter Noble
Lacey Baldwin Smith (American Author, Former Princeton, MIT, and Northwestern University Professor, specializing in 16th-century England, died in 2013 @ age 90.)
Smith’s book lives up to its title, “English History Made Brief”. His book is a brief (considering the centuries he covers), irreverent, and entertaining opinion of England’s leaders from this island nation’s beginning through the reign of Elizabeth II. It seems prudent to recognize this history is an opinion because it is written by an American. Not that a British writer could have written a more accurate book, but that history is always colored by prejudices, fact selectivity, and source documentation of leaders’ actions and beliefs.
England began as a series of 7 main Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th and 6th centuries. Before that, the island was ruled by the Roman Empire. However, the Romans were actually late comers to England. Human remains date back over 40,000 years. During the Iron Age, around 600 to 1,200 B.C., the Celts self-identified as Britons. The Celts were farmers who lived in Europe from 1200 B.C. to around 43 A.D.
Somewhere in the 9th century, the Vikings invaded England and ruled through the 11th century with the exception of one Anglo-Saxon ruler named Alfred the Great who won the Battle of Edington in 878 which divided England between Anglo-Saxon and Viking territories.
Alfred is known for bringing Christianity to the island, along with administrative and military reforms. The Vikings continued to hold territory, but the beginning of the end is in 952 when the Viking, Erik Bloodaxe, is expelled and killed. Some Viking ancestors are said to have settled in eastern Britain and Ireland.
The Anglo-Saxons are a Germanic people that have a long history in English leadership. Alfred the Great and his successors, like Cnut the Great, dominated England until the Norman Conquest in 1066. Interestingly, the leader of the Norman Conquest, a French speaking culture that settled in Normandy, were descendants of the Vikings. In that sense, the Vikings return to control of England in the Norman Conquest.
The Norman Conquest is led by William the Conqueror who secured England by building castles and moats throughout the countryside. The Tower of London is constructed by William.
The first king of England that is of consequence after the Norman conquest is actually born an Englishman (1239-1307, reign from 1272-1307). He is Edward I.
Edward I of England is born in London, just as his father. However, his mother was French and was considered by some to be the woman behind the throne of Edward I’s father, an ineffectual English King. She was known for her beauty and intelligence while playing an active role in English politics. Edward I solidifies the authority of Parliament in England while conducting a brutal campaign against Scotland. Edward I, an unusually tall King, attained the sobriquet “Hammer of the Scots” in his rule. Edward I’s grandson becomes King Edward III who achieves several victories against France in the Hundred Years’ War.
In the 15th century, France and England vie for greater control of Europe. Henry V (reign 1413-1422) of England leads the campaign against France. Born in Wales, Henry V is also a castle and moat builder like William the Conqueror. Henry is known for his military campaigns in Wales and Scotland and for the creation of England’s legal reforms.
King Henry VIII (reign 1509-1547) breaks with the Roman Catholic church in 1534 and confiscates church property throughout England which makes the crown rich. Henry VIII is the most well-known of England’s kings because of his many marriages, the machinations of his divorces, and his sire of Queen Elizabeth I.
The studied countenance of Elizabeth I (reign 1558-1603) , Henry VIII’s daughter by Anne Boleyn, reigns with the skill of her father.
Though much of the wealth of the country is gone, Elizabeth uses her intelligence and political skill to endear herself to the people. Smith characterizes her as a great actress and intelligent ruler who learns her lines before speaking to the public. The Spanish Armada, a much larger military force, is defeated by her military leaders, Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake in 1588. Though there were elements of luck (like weather), the planning, ship design, and skill of the English military leaders defeat a much larger force that raises the national pride of England and endears Elizabeth to her people.
Though Queen Victoria has a long reign, (1837-1901), the greatest contribution she makes to England, in Smith’s opinion, is the wealth she leaves remaining monarchs.
Of course, Queen Elizabeth II, as the daughter of King George the VI and Queen Elizabeth, becomes Queen of England in 1952, with her coronation in 1953. Little is commented on by the author except to suggest that the monarchy became rather boring, except for the marriage of Diana to Prince Charles and its subsequent notoriety.
Technological change, the industrial revolution, and England’s colonization made it the richest leader of the western world. England becomes a parliamentary democracy rather than monarchy, while preserving the traditions of monarchy.
In general, Smith notes today’s English political leaders enact public policies that both aid and harm democratic capitalism, a struggle that is evident in all western democracies.
On the one hand, Smith acknowledges the great wealth and power England achieved with leaders who promoted capitalism. On the other, Smith notes the trials of workers that are too young to be working and identifies a working poor that cannot afford to live without hunger and deprivation. Education is underfunded and public health care is overburdened. England’s leadership position falls in the world. There is a lesson here for everyone who believes in democratic ideals but struggles with capitalism and its penchant for beggaring the poor and creating inequality among its people.
Smith shows how Democracy struggles with a capitalist system that is meant to provide economic opportunity for all without victimizing those who cannot cope with the nature of human competition. England, like America, has not found a solution.
REVIEWS AND VIEWS OF LIFE 