tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post7373189927662035844..comments2024-03-14T05:56:44.390+00:00Comments on Edward II: Isabella, Braveheart of France by Colin Falconer: Book ReviewKathryn Warnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00397714441908100576noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-65003820332232726192014-02-18T18:59:53.433+00:002014-02-18T18:59:53.433+00:00Great review. The title would have put me off inst...Great review. The title would have put me off instantly if I hadn't seen your review. The book sounds very promising - thank you!Carlahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11901028520813891575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-50999327975612065282014-02-12T19:45:52.661+00:002014-02-12T19:45:52.661+00:00Sami - to be fair, there's quite a lot of room...Sami - to be fair, there's quite a lot of room between loving somebody and deliberately letting them die in a fire. chris yhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07556240635442613879noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-16505342916127566682014-02-10T06:43:00.458+00:002014-02-10T06:43:00.458+00:00It's about the time some one in the filed of f...It's about the time some one in the filed of fiction wrote something sensible about the complex man Edward was. <br /><br />For me the real life event when Edward carried Isabella out from a burning building, when they were both - krhm, less than well dressed-, is a proof that there was more going on between them than many people are willing to admit. He could have let her to die that night, easily, and it would have gone down as accident. That is, if he did not love her. <br /><br />But what he did? He litterally carried her out from a burning building. Now, honestly, how many of you would/could do the same thing even if you wanted?Sami Parkkonennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-36507348568316385772014-02-09T19:10:23.105+00:002014-02-09T19:10:23.105+00:00Thanks for this review of this refreshing novel!
...Thanks for this review of this refreshing novel!<br /><br />Kasia - I've watched World Without End - oh dear! is all I can say!Anerjehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16305237339979790391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-20174432211659160782014-02-09T14:24:38.642+00:002014-02-09T14:24:38.642+00:00Dear Kathryn, Thank you very much for taking the t...Dear Kathryn, Thank you very much for taking the time to write such a detailed answer to my question. That was fascinating stuff! HenryAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-13450162001310249622014-02-09T13:57:34.110+00:002014-02-09T13:57:34.110+00:00Polish TV has started to show it every Friday nigh...Polish TV has started to show it every Friday night. I've missed two episodes so far, not that i regret it much. It's all highly dramatic and exaggerated (for example Isabella's position and influnce after Mortimer's downfall).Katarzyna Ogrodnik-Fujcikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10415905019122111675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-60018108763108436172014-02-09T13:36:11.256+00:002014-02-09T13:36:11.256+00:00Kasia, I've had that series on DVD for ages an...Kasia, I've had that series on DVD for ages and have still only seen a few minutes of it - couldn't get much past the bit at the beginning where it seems to be a battlefield and Edward handing over his crown to his wide ;) I do like that it has him surviving past 1327, but his ultimate fate in the novel/series is deeply weird.Kathryn Warnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00397714441908100576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-22389672814054140142014-02-09T13:30:29.582+00:002014-02-09T13:30:29.582+00:00Kathryn, I've been watching the mini series Wo...Kathryn, I've been watching the mini series World Without End.I think Edward has been avenged, for this time it's Roger who has been depicted as a "feeble court fop" :-) Just my humble opinion.<br /><br />P.S. I don't like the series much, although I suspect that Edward survives???? ( I haven't read the novel).Katarzyna Ogrodnik-Fujcikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10415905019122111675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-80296753067952366292014-02-09T08:24:41.654+00:002014-02-09T08:24:41.654+00:00Thanks for the comments, everyone!
Henry, it'...Thanks for the comments, everyone!<br /><br />Henry, it's long been my belief that the relationship between Isabella and Roger was not the passionate love affair of popular legend. There's surprisingly little evidence for such in contemporary chronicles: Adam Murimuth says the two had a 'familiarity' (and says the same thing about Edward and Piers); Lanercost in the 1340s says there was a rumour of a liaison between them; the scurrilous chronicler Geoffrey le Baker in c. 1350 goes a bit further; and many decades later Jean Froissart claimed Isabella was pregnant in 1330 (which is not supported by any other evidence). That's about it. Other chronicles just call Roger Isabella's 'chief counsellor' or even just 'of her faction' and don't seem to have known anything at all about them being lovers. <br /><br />I think that a lot of people nowadays assume that Edward and Isabella's relationship was nothing but awful and disastrous, then assume that Isabella and Roger's relationship must necessarily have been the exact opposite of that, and write Isabella as though she's a fictional character escaping an unsatisfactory marriage into a wonderfully fulfilling affair. It's become an extremely popular interpretation, but that doesn't make it true.<br /><br />Myself, I find it impossible to believe that Roger just so conveniently happened to fall madly in love or lust with Isabella in 1326, given the enormous benefits he got out of the relationship, in the same way that I certainly don't believe Hugh Despenser just happened to fall madly in love with Edward II in about 1318. I think first and foremost it was a political alliance between two people who loathed the Despensers and wanted their lands, income and position back, and used each other to get it. For sure they may have fallen in love at some point, they may have slept together, I don't know. But no, I definitely don't think it was a wildly romantic passionate love affair, and it may not even have been sexual. (Maybe Edward's relationship with Hugh wasn't either.)Kathryn Warnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00397714441908100576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-27615680813648791962014-02-09T03:50:04.547+00:002014-02-09T03:50:04.547+00:00Thank you very much for the great review, Kathryn....Thank you very much for the great review, Kathryn. I am looking forward to reading the book, and in particular to seeing how the author handles the relationship between Isabella and Mortimer. I would like to ask you a question on that subject, if it is possible to answer without giving away any spoilers for this book. <br />In fact (rather than fiction, I mean), how sure can we be that Isabella and Mortimer actually had an affair? Does it make more sense to see their relationship as based on something like political convenience rather than physical attraction (initially at least)? I can’t help thinking that misogynistic medievals might accept the rumours of infidelity at face value and explain the events of 1327-30 just in terms of a woman’s passion being out of control, irrespective of whether the rumours were true or not. <br />Just a thought anyway, best wishes, HenryAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-87855210090247369422014-02-08T21:40:29.798+00:002014-02-08T21:40:29.798+00:00Sounds like a great read! I'll definitely give...Sounds like a great read! I'll definitely give this a look...thanks for such an interesting & informative review!Deirdre O'Mahonynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-3047403754435963762014-02-08T19:18:52.300+00:002014-02-08T19:18:52.300+00:00Thank you for the recommendation, Kathryn! The tit...Thank you for the recommendation, Kathryn! The title itself can be misleading, though :-) Braveheart of France, hmm...Katarzyna Ogrodnik-Fujcikhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10415905019122111675noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-47563517323334862302014-02-08T17:17:21.764+00:002014-02-08T17:17:21.764+00:00Hope you enjoy it, Esther!Hope you enjoy it, Esther!Kathryn Warnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00397714441908100576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-85469820568335288962014-02-08T14:20:14.816+00:002014-02-08T14:20:14.816+00:00Thanks for the review ... it will be in my next or...Thanks for the review ... it will be in my next order to Amazon<br /><br />EstherAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-63346186687209517922014-02-08T13:49:18.847+00:002014-02-08T13:49:18.847+00:00Thanks, Jayne! It's well worth a read, and ver...Thanks, Jayne! It's well worth a read, and very reasonably priced on Amazon.Kathryn Warnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00397714441908100576noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19545049.post-1106595255454809212014-02-08T13:48:25.580+00:002014-02-08T13:48:25.580+00:00Great review and this is now on my to read list . ...Great review and this is now on my to read list . Thank you Kathryn Jayne Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14263641345847664931noreply@blogger.com