Twelfth century England is a fascinating period of history, in part due to the tensions between the official statuses and practical roles of many people, including bastards. Although technically disbarred from inheritance as they were the product of illicit unions, during this period, Dr Turner shows how bastards could come to wield significant power. This is a very thorough and informative volume on the history of royal bastardy in 12th century England.

The focus of this scholarly work is primarily on Henry I, a monarch noted for his numerous illegitimate offspring. It is a look at the role these offspring played in the greater scheme of the political aspirations of their sire. Key take-aways included the "high level of loyalty" each displayed toward the legitimate royal family, their inclusion within the family circle, and their assessment on an individual basis.

3.5 rounded up

Turner adds some important consideration to the field with his examination of the children of kings from liaisons outside of marriage as the idea of illegitimacy hardened.

The gems here are the examination of the individual illegitimate sons. The illegitimate daughters don't receive the same attention. This can be written off to their role as political brides, but there are ways to examine that more closely. We do here of one daughter who partnered with her husband to rebel against the king. I would have liked more on this! How were the relationships with the king changed (or not) with the other political marriages of his illegitimate daughters?

Overall, this reads like a dissertation that wasn't sufficiently edited to make a readable popular history book. Many places were slogs or repetitive. But, it is short and there is some great info to round out the picture of authority in England and France during this time.

In The Royal Bastards of Twelfth Century England, James Turner explores the lives of the illegitimate children of Henry I of England, Count Geoffrey of Anjou, and Henry II of England and the roles that these illegitimate children played and fulfilled during their fathers’ reigns. Turner goes beyond the more famous ones like Reginald of Cornwall and Robert of Gloucester and explores the idea of illegitimacy in the context of the twelfth century. Turner also examines the positions and allegiances of kings’ illegitimate children during periods such as the Anarchy or the revolts of Henry II’s legitimate sons against their father in this first comprehensive study on the topic. Turner’s familiarity with the topic, coupled with his historical expertise, makes this text reputable and a fascinating read. Turner’s prose and level of detail bring these historical figures to life, and he does acknowledge where (and perhaps why) the records fall short and leave out gaps in the story. Turner’s knowledge of twelfth-century English politics and the connection with the concept of illegitimacy provides a fascinating perspective on why some illegitimate children of kings played a bigger role than their less well-known half siblings. Overall, the book is a fascinating read full of historical information and a fresh perspective on royal bastards from a tumultuous period in English history.

An interesting historical book about the other royals. An interesting read for those wanting to know more about the royals of old England.

I received an ARC of “The Royal Bastards of Twelfth Century England: Power and Blood” by James Turner from NetGalley and Pen & Sword Books Ltd. in exchange for an honest review.

When I discovered that a book on the subject of illegitimate royal children was going to be published—with a title that sounds like a BBC documentary series, no less—I could only dare to hope that I would be able to read it. After having spent some time reading this book, I consider myself lucky to be able to review it.

When I pick up a book written by an academic, there are certain things that I expect: solid academic writing, citations in the form of footnotes or endnotes, a good index, and a comprehensive bibliography. And when I know that their monograph is published by a non-university press, I also expect the writer to ensure that the writing is friendly to the general public (i.e., jargon free ). Being trained in a subject other than British history, as a self-acknowledged “general public reader” I can say that Turner successfully met all of the above requirements. That being said, it should be acknowledged that this book will likely appeal more to educated readers.

Turner arranged this book into 6 different chapters, focusing primarily on the reigns of Henry I and Henry II and their numerous illegitimate offspring during the twelfth century. That era in the United Kingdom has always fascinated me, as has the subject of bastardy.

The author gives readers a tour of English bastardy during during the reigns of Henry I and Henry II when illegitimacy was still being codified as a legal status. During this time, however, the king’s illegitimate children did not inherit royal status (e.g., the right to inherit the crown), but their social connections to the king could provide them with lucrative positions in both the secular world and in the churches.

What I really like about Turner’s book is that he evaluated the parent-child relationships objectively. For example, instead of portraying illegitimate offspring as powerless, Turner constantly reminds readers that these relationships were dually beneficial (Tucker 2023: 36, 65, 82, 173). Both kings relied on these ‘unofficial’ children to shore up support not just for themselves, but for their legitimate children as well. In return, the illegitimate children were often provided with advantageous social positions (dukedoms, earldoms, etc.), money, and marriages. However, the author clarifies that this give-and-take didn’t diminish the illegitimate children’s agencies and even provides examples, such as Henry II’s son, William Longespée (Tucker 2023: 162-175).

My favorite part about Tucker’s book is that he spent a great deal of time discussing the social relationships that many of these children—both sons and daughters—had with their parent (e.g., Geoffrey and Henry II).

When many people thing of kings in former ages, an image of an all-powerful ruler who answers to no one will often materialize. But even in the twelfth century, as Tucker points out, kings were engaged in a power struggle with the church. Tucker barely discusses Thomas Becket’s murder in the book, and this was fine for me. The power struggles between Henry II and Becket have already been, and will no doubt continue to be, discussed in detail elsewhere. But what Tucker hones in on is how this ongoing friction with the church led kings to use their leverage to provide clergy positions for their illegitimate children. In doing so, they not only provided those children with the financial means to support themselves, but also created—or attempted to create—a less hostile foe for the royal family by, “…strengthening and advancing royal dynastic interest…” (Tucker 2023: 64).

As if this book couldn’t get any better, the author also included numerous black and white images. In the file that I viewed, these images were all at the end of the file, but I hope that they will be distributed more evenly throughout the book when published. Overall, this was an excellent read and I highly recommend this book!

A interesting look into seldom mentioned people in a transitional time , these people are seldom mentioned but played a surprisingly big part in the politics of the time.

I am totally obsessed with the royal history especially any kingdom out of Europe and then this book The Royal Bastards Of 12th Century England written by Dr. James Turner was a study in the royal family dynamics when a king Head illegitimate children it wasn’t given a second glance and although they couldn’t reign as king this didn’t mean the daddy couldn’t bestow grand title to them and in the cases of their daughters arrange their marriages I find the royal family uses a children like a chess player strategically plays chess and it’s also very interesting and another reason why I highly recommend this book it reads like a Who’s Who in who was almost in 12th-century England. I received this book from NetGalley and pin and sword press But I am leaving this review voluntarily please forgive any mistakes as I am blind and dictate my review.

A very detailed publication. It is not a light reading. Nevertheless, I recommend it because the book will enrich you in several ways.
You will get an overview of the bastards in a purely non-tabloid way.
You will learn how royal genealogy works in a time of scarce sources.
And you'll ask many questions you might not have thought to ask before. That is - how is it that the bastard William the Conqueror doesn't mind, but being a bastard one generation later does?

Thank you to NetGalley and Pen and Swords History for a free digital review copy. This is my honest review.

A highly scholarly work on the relationship between royalty and their illegitimate relatives, this book was clearly extensively researched. The audience is more doctoral candidate than regular history lover trying to understand the inner workings of the twelfth century royal court and even then I think the reader would agree that there was a little more repetition than was probably needed.
An interesting read, but sometimes the repetition got old.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review

This was such a fantastic read! It can be difficult to make history interesting but this book was excellent.

I am giving this review 4 stars for how education this book was. However, this is a book that would be better suited for reference material rather than enjoyment reading in the future. I was overjoyed when my wish was granted on Netgalley for an early copy of this book. I adore this time period and try to learn as much as possible about how people lived during these changes in their country. What I did not enjoy was the way the information was presented. It read like a dry doctorate college level essay without much passion. It seemed like the author wanted to use as many syllables as possible per word, use as many large words as possible, and to come off as this rather high level thinker. I enjoy large words. I was raised in a household where large words were encouraged and understood. This book was over the top with such words. Where a sentence could have been maybe 10 words became a tedious read with double the amount. I often found my eyes glazing over in boredom and my mind wandering every few sentences. This book could have been such a passionate and exciting, yet still informative, read. It was nice being able to find the people that I have the most interest in popping up in the book, but more often than not I found myself skimming the pages.

Centering on William The Conqueror,Henry I and Henry II's bastards,their spouses,cousins and wider relations within their royal courts.The writing was scholarly,well researched but I'd say slightly disorganised as I failed to keep relationships straight.I'd have much preferred chapters on each individual rather than setting them within a chronological timeline which was hard to follow.I also felt the author began to be repetitive with his conclusions about these illegitimate offspring stating the same thing over and over again within the chapters.It was informative though and I'd definitely recommend it to students of the twelfth century but not particularly to a general reader.

I want to thank Netgalley and the author for gifting me the novel. I love anything to do with history and this time period. This was a great due to I have not heard of someone of these cases. Highly recommend.

A heavy and academic look at the careers and rights of illegitimate Royal children, and presumably noble and common children as well. This book is hard to read, but the content is interesting to anyone who is a hardcore fan or academic.