Archive for the ‘My journalism’ Category

January 6th, 2012

Book review: Sean McGlynn on King John and 1216

‘Blood Cries Afar: The Forgotten Invasion of England, 1216′ is the title of Sean McGlynn’s new military history of King John’s reign. I’ve reviewed it here for this week’s Spectator.

An extract:

One hundred and fifty years after Anglo-Saxon England was invaded by the Normans, Anglo-Norman England was invaded by the French. On 21 May 1216 King Philip Augustus’ eldest son, Louis the Lion, landed at Stonor on the Isle of Thanet, kissed a crucifix, planted it in the ground and began an 18-month war for the English crown. He had been invited to England by a group of barons who wished to replace King John as punishment for repudiating the terms of Magna Carta. The war Louis waged, although ultimately unsuccessful, was a damned near thing.

Sean McGlynn’s new book calls this England’s ‘forgotten invasion’, although in recent years Hollywood has been trying to remind people about it. The climax to Ridley Scott’s recent Robin Hood movie had Russell Crowe mugging about on Dover beach, fighting off the French hordes; Jonathan English’s rather better Ironclad was set around the violent siege of Rochester castle the autumn before Louis’s arrival.

So it is not entirely forgotten. But 1216 is certainly neglected, given the fact that John was the only post-Conquest medieval king besides Stephen to suffer the ignominy of a full foreign invasion. (Edward II, Richard II and Richard III were overthrown by invading armies, but these were all led by returning natives.)

Glynn’s book attempts to right the historical wrong. Again, however, the title misleads. It is only on page 153 (of 241 pages of text) that Louis’s invasion actually begins. The first two-thirds of the book are a military history of John’s reign, beginning with Philip Augustus’s successful campaign to conquer Normandy between 1200 and 1204, then skipping ahead to John’s unsuccessful campaign to retake the duchy, which culminated in the monstrous battle of Bouvines in 1214.

That’s not to say this is a bad book. In fact, McGlynn tells a dashing story with gusto. His section on the siege of Château Galliard in 1203-4 is the best that has been published for a very long time. McGlynn calls it ‘arguably the most dramatic siege of the entire Middle Ages’. That’s pushing things a bit, but the author still summons up the importance and horrid excitement of the battle for Richard the Lionheart’s greatest fortress.

The question that is only partially answered, however, is why John’s reign ended in such disaster. How did he manage to rile the English barons so badly that they would rather have been ruled by a Capetian than himself?

If you want the answer, you’ll have to read the Speccie.

September 5th, 2011

Soldiers: Army Lives and Loyalties from Redcoats to Dusty Warriors, by Richard Holmes

Click here to read my review of Richard Holmes’ last book. The review was published in the Telegraph this weekend.

Excerpt:

The British soldier represents many different and contradictory strands of our national identity and character. We see and, what is more, we desire from our soldiers a blend of godless savagery and selfless heroism that is not demanded of anyone else in society. And more often than not, our soldiers oblige.

Richard Holmes’s social history of the soldier is a book of majestic, heart-rending humanity: a deeply affectionate portrait of British soldiers as they have existed for more than 350 years[...]

It is obvious that much has changed since the days when British soldiers served at Blenheim, but Holmes traces a strong tribalism that has bound together the Army throughout its ranks and divisions across the ages.

Source: The Telegraph

August 11th, 2011

The London Riots of 2011 and the Peasants' Revolt of 1381

I suppose this was inevitable. Here is my op-ed piece from today’s Evening Standard, in which I consider the events of the London riots of August 2011 with those of the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381.

I suppose it would also have made sense to mention Richard II’s words to the vanquished Essex rebels in 1381. “Villeins ye are, and villeins ye shall remain, not in bondage as before, but incomparably harsher”. It seems to reflect the hang ‘em high attitude which will likely prevail upon those identified as looters and rioters this week.

Exactly 630 summers ago, London burned at the hands of violent mobs. Angry men and women, drawn from the lower orders of society, rampaged the streets for nights on end - looting, setting fire to property, attacking other Londoners and paralysing the limited policing resources of an unpopular government.

Clouds of thick smoke filled the air as buildings were sacked and burned. Rioters communicated with messages composed in cryptic language and sent by covert means. Soon after the London riots began, copycat attacks followed in other English cities.

The upheaval scarred the city and the psyche of the well-meaning majority, who watched with horror as an underclass ran amok, seemingly delighted by the meaningless violence in which they indulged.

Two years ago I wrote a book: Summer of Blood: the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 (Harper Press), which charts the events of that rising. This week, during what has been dubbed the Chavs’ Revolt, it feels a bit like a warning from history.

Our city is no longer much like medieval London. And yet, when the capital riots, it does so in familiar fashion. The causes may be different but the methods and composition of the crowds don’t change much.

Mass riots do not happen solely because cities contain bad people. There is always a catalyst, and usually a set of acute underlying grievances. In 1381 a poll tax sparked violence against a political class who were seen as corrupt and self-interested. This week, the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan caused tensions between the police and disenfranchised young people who have never known discipline to spill over into violence.

But now, as then, the character of the riots has morphed quickly from principled protest to mindless destruction. The composition of a riot transcends history. It goes through stages. Shortly after a riot begins, those people who have a specific cause are joined by others who have a panoply of other grievances. Anger becomes general, directed at a whole government, system or way of life.

Then comes a dull thud of boots, heralding the arrival of the rent-a-mob: the herds of rough-necked scrotes who like trouble for its own sake. This is when a riot really hits its straps. In 1381, Londoners with scant connection to the original causes of the revolt massacred Flemish merchants and piled their bodies in the streets. This year, their dullard descendants burned furniture stores and nicked tellies out of betting shops.

Rioters have always found ways to organise in such a way that they will elude the authorities, too. BBM and Twitter are new mediums for a very old message. In the Middle Ages, strange letters were circulated by organisers, calling on rioters to “chastise well Hob the Robber and take with you John Trueman”. A very loose modern translation: “let’s fuk up da feds, bruv!”

And there are two more historical notes to add. First: it was the Mayor of London, William Walworth, who saved the day in 1381, when he stabbed to death the rebel leader Wat Tyler during negotiations with the king. Second: another rioter was tried and executed in East Anglia for the crime of saying “he was a messenger of the great society”.

There’s a message there for Boris - and for Dave, too, I fancy.

March 3rd, 2011

America is not the world…

…as someone once said.

Click here (£) to read my cover story from this week’s Spectator, on why the Special Relationship is strengthening in 2011.

November 21st, 2010

The best history books for Christmas 2010

My choice of the year’s finest history books appeared in The Times this weekend. The theme was narrative and biography: 2010 has seen some very brilliant works of good old-fashioned storytelling and it was very nice to be able to sift through them all.

If you’re a subscriber, you can read the piece here. If you are not, here is a very quick synopsis of the list:

Christmas books: History

A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor (Allen Lane, £30)
Reassuringly accessible, effortlessly erudite
Buy here

The Making of the British Landscape by Francis Pryor (Allen Lane, £30)
From tumps to turbines - Man and Earth in a deadly but unstoppable dance
Buy here

Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey by Rachel Hewitt (Granta, £25)
Illuminates the process by which our nation redrew itself
Buy here

The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of Little Bighorn by Nathaniel Philbrick (Bodley Head, £20)
Absorbing retelling of the greatest western of all
Buy here

American Caesars: Lives of the US Presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush by Nigel Hamilton (Bodley Head £25)
An excellent journey through recent American history
Buy here

The Crusades: The War For The Holy Land by Thomas Asbridge (Simon & Schuster, £30)
A glorious, appalling story and a vicious metaphor for present woes
Buy here

The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt by Toby Wilkinson (Bloomsbury, £30)
A sophisticated and complete account of the world’s first nation state
Buy here

Antony and Clopatra by Adrian Goldsworthy (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, £25)
A familiar love story told with brio
Buy here

Crown & Country: A History of England through the Monarchy by David Starkey (Harper Press, £25)
In an age when history is taught in modules and clumps, this is a useful, entertaining volume
Buy here

She-Wolves: The Women who ruled England before Elizabeth by Helen Castor (Faber, £20)
Each life is truly gripping and vital to understanding the reign of Gloriana
Buy here

The Story of England by Michael Wood (Viking, £20)
Wood has transcribed the genome of a community
Buy here

Molotov’s Magic Lantern by Rachel Polonsky (Faber, £20)
Dreamy, elaborate and poetic - a digressive tour of Russian history
Buy here

Crimea: The Last Crusade by Orlando Figes (Allen Lane, £30)
A model of wide-lens military history
Buy here

September 23rd, 2010

Marital bliss

I have reviewed Katie Whitaker’s latest book, ‘A Royal Passion: The Turbulent Marriage of Charles I and Henrietta Maria’, which is adequately described by its title. The review - for the newly redesigned Spectator - is online here.

July 1st, 2010

'His cursed concubine'

Click here to read my review of GW Bernard’s new biography of Anne Boleyn, published a couple of weeks ago in The Spectator.

July 1st, 2010

…and then there was silence

All quiet on the blogging front, alas, as I prepare the manuscript of my new book, THE PLANTAGENETS, due for publication by Harper Press next year. However, I continue to contribute columns on the sporting world to the London Evening Standard - you can read an archive here.

April 8th, 2010

Moonlighting

Not at all medieval alert: One for those medievalists who also enjoy the fine world of sport. I am now writing a regular column for the London Evening Standard. You can read it online or pick up a copy of the paper outside any London Tube station of an afternoon.

March 18th, 2010

Churchilliana

Winston Churchill

Winston Churchill

Here’s a link to my lead review from this week’s Spectator. I discuss three recent books about Sir Winston Churchill, attempting to get to grips with his views on Empire (’I have not become the King’s First Minister in order to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire’) and race (’I hate people with slit eyes and pig-tails’), as well as his attitudes towards standing up (best avoided) and his mother’s predilection for ‘dinner or tea or sex’ with members of the royal family.

Enjoy.

The Author

Dan Jones

Dan Jones was born in 1981 and graduated from Cambridge with a First in History in 2002.

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The Book

Summer of Blood

Summer of Blood:
The Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 Available to buy now from Amazon.co uk