- Paperback: 252 pages
- Publisher: Faber and Faber (Dec 1955)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 057105370X
- ISBN-13: 978-0571053704
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,246,715 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Less than a hundred years after the Norman conquest of Britain, young Thomas grows up in London, while Stephen and Matilda (rather endlessly) battle it out for the crown of England. By the time young King Henry takes the crown, Thomas has been trained as both a clerk and a knight, and becomes the King's Chancellor. From these beginnings the tangled web between the King and the later Archbishop of Canterbury grows.
Duggan is often described as writing 'with a fine sense of irony', or words to that effect. I don't think it's irony - healthy cynicism, more like. Duggan writes with conviction, and the story is obviously based on solid reasearch - but it remains a good story, and it is a well-written one, too. Even his descriptions of their thought processes - a writers' trick I generally dislike - are convincing. And what is more, it feels very much of their time, with an explanation of all the vassal/overlord as well as spiritual leader/king connections, plus the complicated web of power strands that bound the Kingdom; and of the mostly mental, but sometimes quite physical, battle of temporal versus religious power.
Sometimes Duggan's books can be a bit tiresome, with too much introspection by the main vharacter, but this is not one of them. It is long, and very detailed in its explanations, but the story beats true, the interactions are fascinating, and it is a very good historical novel altogether.
Duggan is often described as writing 'with a fine sense of irony', or words to that effect. I don't think it's irony - healthy cynicism, more like. Duggan writes with conviction, and the story is obviously based on solid reasearch - but it remains a good story, and it is a well-written one, too. Even his descriptions of their thought processes - a writers' trick I generally dislike - are convincing. And what is more, it feels very much of their time, with an explanation of all the vassal/overlord as well as spiritual leader/king connections, plus the complicated web of power strands that bound the Kingdom; and of the mostly mental, but sometimes quite physical, battle of temporal versus religious power.
Sometimes Duggan's books can be a bit tiresome, with too much introspection by the main vharacter, but this is not one of them. It is long, and very detailed in its explanations, but the story beats true, the interactions are fascinating, and it is a very good historical novel altogether.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a great book. It does start slow- Duggan outlays Thomas' early life in rather flat and mechanistic style.
But it builds.
Once the young Henry is introduced things begin to pick up. Thomas 'of Cheapside' is forwarded to a post with the king's household and his personal friendship with the king gains him the most illustrious position in the royal administration- chancellor.
It's all downhill from there however.
As ever, Duggan is effortlessly well-informed and very believeable. The swift-moving dynamics of the two personalities, the learned archbishop and the passionate king, is the dramatic arch of this story, although insights and curious details of the period abound.
Its a mark of how closely I came to engage with the characters that as the book builds to its lowering, tense, blow by blow account of the murder of Thomas, I was spellbound- nervous at the growing menace of the out-of-control knights, and the poor monks as they ran madly for any place of safety. When Duggan describes Thomas' last stand with only one faithful clerk beside him, I was actually getting a little choked up!
Perhaps its Duggan's style of writing- it is understated and articulate with a fine eye for character and mood. Its also part of a narrative of English history that doesn't seem to get much airplay these days- a rather whiggish, nationalist and clearly anglo-centric narrative true enough- but finely wrought, and profound, and echoing down to our own times, in this case.
But it builds.
Once the young Henry is introduced things begin to pick up. Thomas 'of Cheapside' is forwarded to a post with the king's household and his personal friendship with the king gains him the most illustrious position in the royal administration- chancellor.
It's all downhill from there however.
As ever, Duggan is effortlessly well-informed and very believeable. The swift-moving dynamics of the two personalities, the learned archbishop and the passionate king, is the dramatic arch of this story, although insights and curious details of the period abound.
Its a mark of how closely I came to engage with the characters that as the book builds to its lowering, tense, blow by blow account of the murder of Thomas, I was spellbound- nervous at the growing menace of the out-of-control knights, and the poor monks as they ran madly for any place of safety. When Duggan describes Thomas' last stand with only one faithful clerk beside him, I was actually getting a little choked up!
Perhaps its Duggan's style of writing- it is understated and articulate with a fine eye for character and mood. Its also part of a narrative of English history that doesn't seem to get much airplay these days- a rather whiggish, nationalist and clearly anglo-centric narrative true enough- but finely wrought, and profound, and echoing down to our own times, in this case.
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