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Review
''An excellent, impressively sourced work of history which cleanly dissects the big issues of fourteenth-century politics, society and historiography.''
Alex Burghart, Medieval Studies
‘This is much more than a fine biography. It is a wide-ranging and deeply imaginative portrait of fourteenth-century aristocratic society, based on intimate knowledge of both the primary and secondary sources: a fitting culmination to years of research into one of the most controversial and flamboyant characters in English history.’
Chris Given-Wilson, Professor of Late Medieval History, University of St Andrews
‘David Green’s fascinating new study of how this most iconic but enigmatic figure exercised his power acutely analyses the cultural and social as well as political factors that shaped his turbulent century.’
Michael Jones, Emeritus Professor of Medieval French History, University of Nottingham
‘In this thoroughly readable book, David Green provides a vivid picture of England in the late fourteenth century, centred on the career of the Black Prince. The nature of aristocratic power provides a central theme, while war, plague and religion receive full attention. The book also throws many fascinating sidelights on the period, from the scandalously low-cut dresses of the Princess of Wales and the military finery of the Black Prince, to the increasingly macabre tombs of the period, with their images of decaying skeletons contrasting with worldly splendour.’
Michael Prestwich, Professor of History, University of Durham
"Green's book is well-researched and lucidly written. It provides a welcome addition for anyone who needs to learn more about the life and career of the Black Prince. It also offers a valuable and accessible survey for readers seeking information on a wide range of fourteenth-century themes, from politics to chivalry."
Barbara Gribling, University of York
Product Description
The Black Prince was one of the most important figures of the medieval period: he claimed the major battles of the Hundred Years Wars. Dying before his father, Edward III, he left his young son, the future Richard II, to an uncertain destiny. Despite his untimely death, the Black Prince played an integral role in English, Welsh, Spanish and French political life in the middle years of the fourteenth century. This was a period of intense political, social, economic and religious change, witnessing the outbreak of the Hundred Years War, the impact of repeated outbreaks of the Black Death, the notable growth of parliament's importance and England’s first major heresy. The consequences of such events were extremely significant and wide-ranging and contributed to the transition from the medieval to the early modern world.
The Black Prince was right at the centre of such transitions. His life and career both influenced change and was representative of its effects. He serves therefore as a crucial figure in his own right and as an example that can be used to illuminate the forces at work in the middle and later years of the fourteenth century. This book both provides a biography of the prince and insight into the medieval world at large.
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Customer Reviews
What can I say? It's only a book - but it's a book that will probably tell you everything you wanted to know. Even if you HAVE read everything else on this subject, 'The Black Prince' is certainly worth a look if not a buy!
So what about the book? Well, I bought it thinking it would be a biography of the Black Prince, and was initally disappointed to find that it absolutely is not that. It is probably best described as a collection of essays on subjects which are of relevance to the Black Prince, but would fit uneasily in any conventional biogrpahy. Thus Green deals with issues such as the effects of the Black Death, religious changes, the concepts of nobility, aristocracy and chivalry and developments in warfare. Having said that, he has a lot of good stuff in these essays, and if you concentrate hard you will not only learn a lot about those particular subjects, but get a pretty good biography of the Black Prince too - just not in chronological order. So it is quite hard work, but worth it.
However I do slightly wonder what audience it is aimed at. I don't think, despite the essay style of it, that it is aimed at an academic audience; and this is borne out by Prestwich's slightly "damning with faint praise" review which describes it as "thoroughly readable" (and even to me some of the points made seemed overbroad for the academic context). But is is not really for the novice general reader either - I have a reasonable general reader's base in C13 history and a little in C14 and C15 and I had to concentrate to enjoy it - Green assumes quite a level of knowledge about the events of the Black Prince's life, alluding to events and dates in passing, which can be frustrating to the general reader. So overall it is probably best regarded as a companion to a conventional biography, to take the general reader a little further into the larger issues which swirled around the Black Prince's life, and to point the way to further reading (the endnotes are excellent and detailed and could give you plenty of material to work up a real course of reading). However if you have an interest in the Black Price, it is definitely worth having.
There is room for a better writer to carry out research on this subject and write a better book.
I could have done with a lot more detail and was disappointed.
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