- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Penguin; paperback / softback edition (4 May 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0141015977
- ISBN-13: 978-0141015972
- Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 13 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 732,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Blondel's Song
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Product Description
Literary Review
‘Richly absorbing and revealing . . . wonderfully vivid . . . Rarely have I come across such a deeply satisfying book’
Sunday Times
‘[Blondel's Song] reaches beyond the confusing accounts of the chroniclers with conviction and momentum’
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
David Boyle writes capably and accessably about the life and exploits of Richard 'lion-heart'. Having chosen this book to read for travelling to Austria it did the job admirably not just of filling in the hours but informing and colouring the trip, especially the description of the flight across Styria in the middle of winter. I also found his principle argument about the political and surrepticious roles played by troubadors and other wandering entertainers fascinating and wish there was more to read on the subject. However, because David Boyle doesn't aim for a specific readership some of the material seems merely narrative, bordering on decorative, and on the whole there are few momments of shattering new insight. Also- and he is certainly not alone in this- he at times slips up and it is possible to see how he has a strong liking for his subject which rigorous historians might frown at. All of this perhaps serves to make the work more approachable and comprehensive. My own personal criticism is that he buys too readily into the myth of the 'age of chivalry'and at times overstates Richard's role. Readable, but perhaps a little cosy.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The main title of this book is a bit misleading as the role of Blondel is fairly marginal and I am not sure I am convinced by the author's theory that the story is essentially true. But as an account of the main events of the reign of Richard the Lionheart this is well written and in the process gives us a vivid picture of cities and travel by sea and land during this period.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
LOTS OF INTRIGUING INFORMATION
14 Feb 2012
Format:Hardcover
Over the past month I've read 6 books on Richard Coeur de Lion. If you're looking for detailed coverage, I suggest the wonderful RICHARD AND JOHN by McLynn and the equally wonderful WARRIORS OF GOD by Reston. David Boyles book, BONDEL'S SONG, has two unique qualities that enrich this overview of Richard's life: It's full of tidbits of information that I've found nowhere else, and the author's descriptive talents bring to life characters and street scenes. Take this example of the Crusade town of Acre: `'This is a city of men, spies, heretics and assassins, of plots and skullduggery, where poisons were openly on sale in the street and where even the priests rented their houses out as brothels because it was just so lucrative.'' During the First Crusade, the holy Crusaders, after storming Jerusalem, put all the inhabitants, men, women and children to death. After one battle during this, the Third Crusade, Philip of France and Richard divided up the captives. When Saladin stalled in paying ransomed, Richard had his, all 2,600, tied together and then hacked to death. `'Their stomachs were cut open in case they had swallowed precious stones, and their bodies were burned and the ashes sifted through to widen the search.'' (Proof, again, that more harm has come from religions, over the centuries, than good. When will Man give up belief in such silliness as He has the myth of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy?) (King Philip, by the way, freed his captives.) In other books I've read, Richard's capture while heading home covers a page or two. Here, it goes on and on, each page a stirring evocation of his ordeals and suffering. (On the other hand, pages and pages describe how the troubadour Bondel, after whom the book is named, discovered where Richard was being held captive -- only to then learn that the story is apocryphal.) Saladin said that Richard was a fool for his recklessness. Showing off to his men during a siege he was shot with a crossbow. Dying, he asked the captured archer why he had killed him. `'With your own hand you killed my father and two brothers and you intended to kill me.'' Richard forgave the boy and freed him with a sack of gold. Outside the tent, the lad was stopped and skinned alive. A wonderful 5-star book.
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