Just Finished Reading: A Brief History of Britain (1485 – 1660) - The Tudor and Stuart Dynasties by Ronald Hutton (FP: 2010)

The very first thing I thought when I picked up this book was that it looked a bit thin. How, I thought, can the author cover and do justice to 175 years of British (not just English!) history in 290 pages. It’s not exactly as if those years were times of quiet contemplation after all! Only the large scale we had the end of Plantagenet rule with the death of Richard III at Bosworth and the rise of the Tudors who are arguably the most famous and loved of our monarchs. Both Henry VIII and his daughter Elizabeth I tower above so many other people during the Early Modern period that it’s difficult to see anyone else – though some very impressive people are scattered through their time. Then there’s the English Reformation caused by Henry’s split with Rome and the inevitable conflict between Catholic and Protestant both at home and abroad including the threat from Catholic Spain which sent her famous Armada against us. Of course Elizabeth being the ‘Virgin Queen’ didn’t leave an heir and had to be followed by James Stuart in 1603 and Charles Stuart in 1625. In the following 17 years tensions between King and Parliament led, in 1642, to a long and bloody Civil War and finally to the declaration of a republic, known as the Commonwealth in 1649 led by Oliver Cromwell who has been a figure of hate and admiration ever since depending on the political stance (and nationality) of the people involved. With the collapse of the Commonwealth in 1660 Charles II was restored to the throne in a matter of weeks and the brief experimentation with republicanism passed into history.

This is only the very briefest of overviews. Mixed in there are plots, wars, revolutions, battles, deaths and much else besides. It was it seems a very dangerous time to be around be you monarch or commoner. So you can imagine that the author certainly had his work cut out for him. What is all the more surprising was that not only did he cover all the bases in sufficient detail that I had a real appreciation of what happened, why it happened and what the consequences where but I was also treated to the authors thoughts on the state of religious observance in Britain, the many effects of the Reformation on the nation and his musings on historical narrative itself. It was all pretty fascinating, if understandably brief, stuff. Hutton has a very good writing style which is at one and the same time chatty and authoritative. It’s almost a case of learning lessons without knowing you’re doing so. It is, in effect, edutainment – but in a good way! Like all good books this left me wanting more. Therefore, I’ll be filling in the gaps, or at least some of them, in the coming months with histories of the Tudors, the Reformation and the Civil Wars – yes Wars, not War. That’s one thing I learnt from this book. What I thought was a singular event (not counting the earlier Wars of the Roses as such) was anything but. But I can address that in more detail later. Needless to say my passion for my own countries history continues and continues to grow. Much more to come!