Unabridged Audiobook
A very nice biography of Henry II, pleasantly read by Jonathan Oliver. If you enjoy medieval studies, this is for you, and if you don't know much about this monumentally important king, what are you waiting for? My criticisms are - (1) the book spends much more time on Henry's ancestors at the beginning of the book than it does his legacy at the end. (2) It's very hard to be objective in approaching the Becket controversy (but see John Guy's biography of Becket for a heroic effort in doing so); for her part, Gold seems to come down on the side of "yes, Henry could be a jerk, but Becket was completely unreasonable and foolish and was pretty much asking to be murdered." Gold also leaves out a lot of Becket's, and the Pope's, intentions in the controversy. Gold seems to imply that Becket's insult of one of the heavily armed and angry knights who confronted him provoked the knights to murder, while also leaving out the entire interview between the knights and Becket that preceded their invasion of the cathedral. It does not help that Oliver portrays Becket's words in a villanous, pedantic tone. That said, this is a biography of Henry, not Becket, and the illustration of Henry's incredible strengths and ruinious flaws is spot on. Highly recommended.
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