1 comments about The Pastons: A Family in the Wars of the Roses (First Person Singular).

1. Unmatched by any history book, these letters constitute a rich and intimate glimpse into the 15th century.

   Spanning several generations of the redoubtable Paston family, they are a unique record of their rise to eminence in their native Norfolk, and of the life during the upheavels of the civil wars between Yorkists and Lancastrians.

5 comments about Bastard Prince: Henry VIII's Lost Son.

1. This book is a must read for those interested in Tudor Royalty.It reveals an entirely different view of Henry VIII and the problems[real and imagined]he faced concerning his desire for a legitimate male heir to the Throne of England.The politics surrounding Henry VIII and his Court are well researched and presented in a clear way which involves the reader with the Duke of Norfolk and Anne Boleyn's backers and Family[Seymour] as they fought for power and the favor of the King.



2. Henry VIII while famous for his six wives, did not stop there: among his many extracurriculars was Elizabeth Blount, a young lady who bore him a son, Henry FitzRoy, who was later made Duke of Richmond. The Bastard Price was born well before Ann Boleyn had come on the scene, was publicly acknowledged as the "natural son" of the King and showered with titles and offices. As such, it would not have taken much - or at least it would have taken less trouble than it might have seemed, certainly less trouble than Boleyn marriage brought - to "legitimize" Richmond and thereby solve the most pressing crisis of the late 1520s and early 1530s, namely, Henry's failure to sire a male heir. Murphy does a reasonable job of walking us through the permutations and combination of this would-be scenario, and one is left pondering the possibilities: could the English Reformation have been averted through a bit of subtle intrigue and a quick marriage to Blount? Though the story is interesting, the book itself is a bit slow and assumes quite a deal of background knowledge.



3. Among the more grandiose plans amongst the ministers of Henry VIII's administration was to legitimize Henry FitzRoy and marry him to his legitimate half-sister Mary (i.e. Bloody Mary). It has been rumored amongst historians that this idea was in fact direct from the King's mouth. According to 16th century standards, siblings who shared the same father (but perhaps not the same mother) were considered 'full-blood' siblings. Siblings who shared the same mother but different fathers were those considered "half". Just a little tidbit of historical nonsense.



4. I love Henry...love any book about him, his wives, his children, I have all of them. This one caught my eye because it was written about one of his children you rarely hear anything about other than his mother's name and that he died relatively young. I was excited to start reading, but found the presentation wasn't grabbing my attention, and I found myself not being as interested in the information presented as I thought I would be. I suppose you could call the presentation as text-bookish. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy non-fiction, especially historical non-fiction, but this one just didn't keep me interested.



5. Dying at the age of 18, Henry Fitzroy is, in the end, a person of little or no historical significance. There was the potential that he could have become historically significant, but he didn't; this may make him a little interest to general history readers. On the other hand, as the king's acknowledged son, there is also considerable documentation about his life, and it did intersect with some of the flashpoints of history. For the reader interested in the period, his story fleshes out the life and upbringing of a high-ranking male. Murphy also checks upon some of the minor, disputed details of the question of the succession.
   
   What is very interesting about biographies like this is that they bring out the details of the period better than biographies of the famous. The latter are so filled with political and social events that very often the subject isn't developed as a person, even when there is copious information. In a way, that is a shame. It would be nice to have "personal" biographies of such people where the already heavily documented major historical events are a background to their daily life. I had read a great deal of information about the Tudors before I learned that Henry played cards with (and lost to!) his cellarer, or that Anne Boleyn, obviously a woman after my own heart, insisted that he move his fighting cocks so that she could sleep in in the morning.
   
   One problem that I do have with Murphy is that she struggles so hard to make him seem more important. If his neighbors were bringing him gifts when he was 12, I think it is more likely to ingratiate themselves with him and his father, not because he was personally doing a fabulous job of managing his estates. His life wasn't one that was eccentric or fascinating or wittily told that I would recommend it to everyone, but I think that people really interested in the period will find it improves their general understanding.

No comments about The Times History of London (Times (Times Books)).

No comments about An American Family: The Kennans: The First Three Generations.

No comments about Emigrants from England 1773-1776.

No comments about The Hamlin family;: A genealogy of James Hamlin of Barnstable, Massachusetts, eldest son of James Hamlin, the immigrant, who came from London, ENgland, and settled in Barnstable, 1639. 1639-1902,.

1 comments about The History of London in Maps.

1. One of the things that make maps so valuable is the way they communicate information about the times and the culture when the map was made that were totally unintentional by the mapmaker. Most of our culture is invisible to us. We live and move in it and the things we do, say, build, and leave behind just seem to us the way things are. And they are; for now. However, in a hundred years or even further into the future there will be aspects of our time that will seem absolutely foreign to our descendents and some things that will resonate with their own view of themselves.
   
   So it is with the wonderful maps in this book. London has long been one of the great cities in the world and its history goes back to Roman times and even earlier. In this book we start in mid-Tudor times. It is so fascinating to see how close to the river this great city was and how small it is compared to the monster city of today. We get to see other maps leading up to the Great Fire of 1666. There we see how much of the city was destroyed and the various proposals for rebuilding and what was actually built again.
   
   Not all of the maps are of the whole city, we see how certain key areas were designed and built. There are also interesting details of land use, in what order the countryside was swallowed into the city.
   
   There are also health study and social reform maps especially in the Victorian era. Transportation proposals and the birth of Trafalgar Square make for interesting reading, as well. A famous aerial view done from a balloon is also included and makes for very interesting viewing.
   
   There is such a wealth and variety that I cannot describe them all, but I consider this book a treasure. I have never lived in London, but visited it more than a dozen times and am familiar with many of the areas included in these maps and it is wonderful to learn more about the development of those areas.

2 comments about Edward the Confessor (English Monarchs Series).

1. Though the subject of this book may seem a bit daunting and even boring, I promise you that Frank Barlow has done a fabulous job. He has brought to life the enigmatic and somewhat obscure lives of the most important Englishmen of the late 11th century: Edward the Confessor, Earl Godwin, Edith Godwin's daughter, King Harold II, Swegn Godwinson, and Tostig Godwinson. A must-read.



2. Wow - this man knows his history! If you are a serious historian interested in Edward the Confessor - this is your Bible! The reading is extremely dry - don't think you'll find more here than the facts, but there are facts galore! Barlow begins with an indepth look at Edward's background and the background of the political situation in England. He ends with the impact of Edward during the reign of Henry III and covers literally EVERYTHING in between. Then for good measure, he adds nearly another 100 pages of appendicies, time lines, maps, tables and illustrations. I'm very impressed with the author's knowledge of the subject. I only hold back that last "star" because I regret that the author didn't make it a bit more "friendly" to read. It is dry and moves slowly and is not probably a book that would generate interest in Edward the Confessor so much as it is a book to verify facts for those already interested. I personally prefer history and historical fiction that can introduce a reader to a subject and make them want to read more. I'm afraid that his work will be too daunting to many and makes Edward sound extremely dull - which he truly was not.

3 comments about The Bulkeley genealogy, Rev. Peter Bulkeley: Being an account of his career, his ancestry, the ancestry of his two wives, and his relatives in England and New England.

1. Of the many genealogical works on family ancestry, this surely ranks as one of the most thoroughly researched and well reasoned. The amount of time and effort in reviewing original source documents, their analysis and due weight given to the questions at hand are indeed impressive.



2. Bulkeley is the best High school in the beat!!!!!!!!
   holla back



3. This book provides a very good line of ancestry for the Bulkeley family. I used it to trace my ancestry back to 1200. Anyone who is doing a tree for this family line will find it very useful.

No comments about Connecticut: A Bibliography of Its History (Bibliographies of New England History) (Vol 6).