Title: The Medieval Anarchy: History in an Hour
Genre: History Year: 2012 Pages: 60
Origin: read on the Kindle for 99p
Nod Rating: 1 nod out of 5
The Medieval Anarchy is one of those periods in history that get little to no coverage. The Tudors and the Nazis control the airwaves and the book shelves, proving to be the kings of historical popularity. But there are fascinating eras and figures off the beaten track for those adventurous readers ready to discover.
The Anarchy goes under other names, including the Worm’s favourite: Nineteen Years of Winter. It was an English civil war, breaking out on the death of Henry I (a son of William the Conqueror) in 1135. He bequeathed England to his daughter, Matilda, but on his death the key nobles fled to Henry’s nephew, Stephen, who seized the crown (there really should be more King Steves in history). Backed up by her husband and his French held lands, Matilda launched a war against Stephen to gain her inheritance, taking the best part of two decades until a stalemate resulted. An agreement was reached, with Stephen passing on the kingdom to Matilda’s son (another Henry); an event that occurred on Stephen’s death in 1153.
Jones does an adequate job of recounting the narrative of the civil war, stating some of the chief battles and main players. She consults the Anglo Saxon Chronicle which stated: ‘The earth bare no corn, for the land was all laid waste by such deeds; and they said openly, that Christ slept, and his saints. Such things, and more than we can say, suffered we nineteen winters for our sins’.
The Anarchy is little known when compared to England’s seemingly de-facto Civil War, the one waged in the seventeenth century that resulted in the beheading of Charles I. But there is value within this era, including England’s first queen and leading female in politics (Matilda) as well as disagreement and discord between the chief nobles of the country. Both of these features are given greater credence in that popular of dynasties, the Tudors, that it is a shame that similar attention cannot be paid here.
Ultimately, the book does what it says in its title: History in an hour. Such a remit, then, does not bode well for those wanting an in-depth analytical look into the past and the key events that happened. However, the Worm finds it hard to find a difference between this particular book on the Anarchy when compared with a Wikipedia article. If anything, the Wikipedia articles holds greater treasure for the interested reader, allowing hyperlinks to all and sundry (and the Wikipedia-surfers amongst us will attest to whittling away hours clicking on link after link). Therefore, the reader is best keeping their one pound and logging onto the information-highway for all their needs. People still say “information-highway”, right?
