Amazon.co.uk Review
Frank McLynn was Research Fellow at St Antony's College, Oxford and is currently visiting Professor in the Department of Literature at Strathclyde University. He is author of several biographies including,
Carl Gustav Jung, which was shortlisted for the 1997 NCR Award. He also won the 1985 Cheltenham Prize for Literature with
The Jacobite Army in England.
1066 is a triple biography of three great men: William of Normandy, Harold Godwinson and Harald Hardrada who led a Norwegian invasion of England near York in 1066. Frank McLynn overturns previously accepted myths centred around the Battle of Hastings in this superbly researched book. He shows how William's victory at the Battle of Hastings was not the sure thing that was previously thought and how it is unlikely that Harold died with an arrow in the eye. McLynn argues that Harald Hardrada was actually the greatest warrior and most flamboyant of the three, though he lost a battle through unforeseen circumstances to the fortunate and courageous Harold. 1066 is a compelling book in how it shows the truth to be more astonishing than the myths of this time and skilfully explains how they wrongly ended up in the history books. --Pat Naylor
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Everyone knows what William the Conqueror won the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but in recent years it has become customary to assume that the victory was virtually inevitable, given the alleged superiority of Norman military technology. In this new study, underpinned by biographical sketches of the great warriors who fought for the crown of England in 1066, Frank McLynn shows that this view is mistaken. The Battle on Senlac Hill on 14 October was desperately close-run thing, which Harold lost only because of an incredible run of bad fortune and some treachery from the Saxon elite in England. Both William and Harold were fine generals, but Harold was the more inspirational of the two. Making use of all the latest scholarship, McLynn shows that most of our 'knowledge' of 1066 rests on myths or illusions: Harold did not fight at Hastings with the same army with which he had been victorious at Stamford Bridge three weeks earlier; the Battle of Senlac was not won by Norman archery; Harold did not die with an arrow in the eye.
by Peter Rex
by Ian W. Walker
