Kings and Queens of Early Britain

An ideal and captivating quick history of Britain from Julius Caeser's first expedition in 55 B.C. until Athelstan's consolidation of power in 937. This cutoff point seems to be chosen because that is when historical records become more complete, while Ashe prefers to work in the realm where historical records are sketchy or oblique, and must be pieced together with supporting clues from archaeology and legend to fill in a necessarily incomplete picture. Ashe draws heavily from Geoffrey of Monmouth, Nennius, Gildas, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, Bede, and the more dependable Roman records, though always explicitly critical of his sources and lucid in his analysis of how we can draw the kernel of truth out of embellishments or legends. In some cases, such as the pre-Roman British kings listed by Monmouth, the legends are so lacking in support as to be historically hopeless. But where several perspectives exist, even corrupted accounts like Monmouth can be compared with other records to tease out dividends of clues into the reality. The critical view of the evidence and frank analysis leave a rich and fascinating account of almost a thousand years of Picts, Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons, and Danes vying for control of the British Isles. A case in point is King Arthur, so buried in legend while so scarce from reliable historical records that uncovering the true history appears impossible, until Ashe navigates confidently through fact and fiction to lay out the most likely possibilities behind the legend. Ashe describes the roles of diplomacy, war, and religion in the constantly shifting tides of political power, gives brief biographical sketches of countless key players, and demonstrates the difference made by remarkable leaders such as Constantine, Maximus, Maelgwn of Gwynedd, Caewlin of Wessex, Saint Aidan, Aldfrith of Northumbria, Kenneth MacAlpine, and of course Alfred the Great. He gives telling insights into the rise of Christianity in the isles despite the resistance in turn of the Romans, Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and Danes. He also emphasises the point that Britain alone of any region in the Empire was granted independence from Rome before the barbarians arrived, which uniquely poised it to maintain a heightened cultural continuity, to the benefit of succeeding eras. I'd been looking for a good, concise history of pre-Alfred Britain, and this turned out to be just right. A fair, even treatment with a brisk, highly readable style.

This book discusses English history from about 1100 B.C to the reign of Alfred the Great, A.D. 871. Much of our information on this period comes from Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose "history" owed more to imagination and folklore (in particular the Welsh Mabinogian) than to historical scholarship. But from Geoffrey's work come many of the underpinnings of the King Arthur story, and he wrote of kings further immortalized in Shakespeares' plays and Eliot's poetry. Ashe discusses Geoffrey's work, comparing it to historical references. The result is a story viewed through the context of myth as well as history. The two do not always agree, but they complement each other and create a fascinating story with a varied cast: the warrior-queen Boadicea, Constantius, Merlin, Arthur. The brief discussion of Arthur's historical roots will be familiar to those who have read other books by Ashe, but it provides a good introduction for readers new to the subject. As always, Ashe writes in a clear and accessible style. The book offers a historical perspective to readers interested in Arthurian lore and English literature. It is also likely to appeal to the reader who has an interest in history but not an extensive background.

I picked up this book expecting to find some boring interpretation of early Britain as I thought that all of these types of books would be. But I was really interested in the subject matter-----and this book made me even more interested. I was introduced to stories I'd never heard before and the book was easy to read for me (I'm in high school). I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend this book to anyone interested in early Britain. It offers many different perspectives of the legends while analyzing The History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth. "Excellent" isn't even near enough to say!