Blood Royal

I received an ARC through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review!

I think that the title of this book is pretty obvious. It takes you through history from roughly 500-1500's marriage ties in basically any country you can think of. The first part of the book covers the life cycle, so birth, marriage, having kids (or not having kids), and death. The second part looks at other topics like lineages, family trees, becoming a saint, etc. I found it to be a very informative book with areas that were very new to me and areas that were very familiar. This is a book I definitely want on my shelf!

Even a glance at the big moments in British history will reveal the significance of royal blood not only to the dynastic politics of inheritance and succession but for the state as a whole. The most obvious being the religious, cultural, and economic effects of Henry VIII's desperation for a son. Never mind the number of women and men who died for his choices. 

What Robert Bartlett does here is write this story on the grandest of scales, illustrating the interconnectivity of royal houses throughout Europe during the medieval period. The amount of research that must have been needed for this is impressive. The inclusion of stories from the whole of Christian Europe and Byzantium as evidence for Bartlett's arguments can be considered the book's strength and its weakness, sometimes giving it an overwhelming and list-like feel at times. I'd say it's perhaps not one for the general reader, though this might be more reflective of my own lack of subject knowledge than any issue with readability. It's incredibly detailed, comprehensive, and offers an intriguing way into the variety of female experience during the period. While it's certainly not an east read, it is engaging in its own way and I'm glad that I'll have it as a reference for future studies. 

ARC via Netgalley

It is an interesting look at both men and women in the medieval world and not just about one or the other. Talks of heirs, queens away from home, alliances, burials, use of astrology and more. An introduction to different people and situations. Good for those who like this time period.

Robert Bartlett writes books that are thoroughly researched and well written. This book "Blood Royal" is everything you ever wanted to know about European royalty. Not just Britain but the continent too. What I love about this book is it has a lot of material about women. Women as in marriage, childbirth, mistresses, illegitimate children, legitimate children, death in childbirth, and most interesting women sovereigns. It even addressed the homesickness of a teenaged bride leaving everything she knows and going to a strange land with strange customs and a language she does not speak to marry a man she does not know. Also, she was expected to put a brave face on it and make the best of it. Not for me or my daughters, thank you. There is so much information I did get bogged down and it took me a while to read this book but it was worth it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a review.

With a focus on medieval Europe, Blood Royal by Robert Bartlett takes on the system of monarchies and how families were shapes by births, marriages and deaths. Monarchies were the essence of medieval Europe.

It is an in-depth look at the way monarchy works, and I was delighted to find that the book did not solely focus on the United Kingdom. The research can only be described as meticulous as about a third of the book's pages are for the many, many sources. This book would have worked well, but I found it quite dry, and after a while, I was flipping through to the next chapter hoping it would be a little bit more enticing. 

Overall, it is an excellent reference work but not quite suitable for the casual reader.

Well-researched and written with enough of a reader friendly style of prose that it does not feel too overly academic. Sources are good and not out of date or too obscure. Really solid all the way around.

This will make a must have resource / reference for those with a penchant for medieval history. It is extremely well researched - so all the hard work is done for you - and is extensively noted with a comprehensive bibliography. There are many unique examples peppered throughout to support the information - so not just the standard, more familiar dynasties - which is easy to both read and understand.

Definitely on for my own personal library.

A very detailed look into the practicalities of blood succession and monarchies. While most people commonly understand that monarchs were usually male, and usually preferred sons, this book delves into the nitty gritty of what made monarchies function. While the approach is scholarly, a casual reader should be able navigate the text pretty easily, though it is a bit dry. The focus of the book is broken up by subject and any ruler that fits the subject is discussed within that chapter. This will make it easy for a student to turn to the relevant chapter and read the examples of say a king co-ruling with a crowned son during his lifetime, but makes for a somewhat confusing and distracting approach for someone reading it cover to cover. Monarchs come up and then the focus skips ahead a century, then the next chapter that previously discussed monarch reappears again without much introduction. With so many similarly named monarchs, jumping from country to country and century to century can be frustrating to read and keep track of. This is really my only complaint about this well researched and interesting book. It adds a lot of insight into how biology contributed to the state of nations, and how each monarch and their respective monarchy differed from others in subtle ways. Definitely a great read for those interested in how ancient monarchies functioned, and how they have shaped both past events and the basis for surviving modern monarchies.

Robert Bartlett’s new book is certainly well worth reading, whether you are studying the medieval period or are just interested in general, all the way through to those interested in how for instance Europe and its countries are how they are, and the geopolitical tensions that this has caused, not only throughout the past, but in the present.  I am sure lots of people have seen Mr Bartlett on TV as he has done a few series which are more at the top end of the market.  This book itself owes a lot to Bartlett’s presentation at the James Lydon Lectures a couple of years ago.

As you would expect this is a scholarly book and contains pictures, appendices, a bibliography and index.  Although mostly taking in Europe at the period, so of course a look at times is taken to other areas, such as how the Chinese operated with dynasties, and of course the Islamic world, such as modern-day Turkey and Byzantium.  This thus takes in the rise of monarchies and the rule of nations by a single family, and the problems that this could cause, such as a lack of a male heir, intermarrying between different families and so on.  Taking a closer look at how dynasties rose and fell, along with other systems that some countries used so we can see the map of modern day Europe starting to be drawn, as what is now France and Germany becoming quite separate, the power the Catholic Church held and in places lost, as well as a rise of nationalism and disputed borders.

To be honest the Middle Ages can be quite a complex period to study, especially when you can have monarchs in different countries with the same names, but all with different numerals, and as the author shows even with what most people think are simple things they can really be quite complicated.  After all the person we know as Henry I wasn’t the first monarch on these shores with that name, and he is only the first after the Norman conquest, on top of that even today although Elizabeth II is our monarch, of course in Scotland strictly speaking she is Elizabeth I, as she is the first queen to have that name in that country.

Thus we read of family feuds, the breaking up of areas and thus older kingdoms, and that problem that we all know about that Henry VIII suffered with from his first wife, a lack of a male heir.  If his first wife had given birth to a boy then our history would be completely different, and the Tudor period would not hold the fascination that it does with so many people.  There are then quirks of fate due to biology and genetics as well as children being born the right side of the bedsheets, and so on.  Reminding us of the number of pretenders to different thrones, so we are also made to think about the fact that the only pretenders we know of are those who failed, because if you achieved the top then you began legitimizing yourself.

There is certainly a lot to take in here, and this will make for fascinating reading for many, and shows us the things that in some places in Europe still cause tension, and how nationalism became to emerge, which of course nowadays has led to the likes of Boris Johnson in this country, and Donald Trump in America to be elected as leaders.  A thank you goes to the publishers and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this wonderful book.

636 pages

4 stars

Don't worry, the book is nearly half extensive citations and a copious bibliography. The author does a remarkable job researching his subject. Frankly, I was surprised to see just how much intensive studying he must have done to put this book together. 

The focus of this book is what we call the “Middle Ages.” The reader learns about the importance of making the “right” marriage and having the all important sons to inherit the throne. Certainly a woman could not effectively rule. The debate about marrying within the realm or taking a bride from another kingdom was very interesting. I did not realize that it was such an important factor in choosing a bride. There are other subjects covered as well, speaking of many aspects of kingship. 

However, the only drawback I can comment on is that the text is so dry I could hear the rustling as I turned the pages on my Kindle. I recommend this book not for the casual reader, but for the serious student of this period in time. 

Very well done, Professor Bartlett. 

I want to thank NetGalley and Cambridge University Press for forwarding to me a copy of this fascinating book for me to read, enjoy and review.