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A Brief History of Britain 1066-1485
- Brief Histories
- Narrated by: Roger Davis
- Length: 18 hrs and 1 min
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A Brief History of Britain 1066-1485
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Summary
From the Norman Conquest to the Battle of Bosworth Field - how Britain was invaded and became a nation. The first volume in the stunning four-volume Brief History of Britain series. From the Battle of Hastings to the Battle of Bosworth Field, Nicholas Vincent tells the story of how Britain was born. When William, Duke of Normandy, killed King Harold and seized the throne of England, England’s language, culture, politics, and law were transformed.
Over the next 400 years, under royal dynasties that looked principally to France for inspiration and ideas, an English identity was born, based in part upon struggle for control over the other parts of the British Isles (Scotland, Wales, and Ireland), in part upon rivalry with the kings of France. From these struggles emerged English law and an English Parliament, the English language, English humour, and England’s first overseas empires. In this thrilling and accessible account, Nicholas Vincent not only tells the story of the rise and fall of dynasties, but investigates the lives and obsessions of a host of lesser men and women, from archbishops to peasants, and from soldiers to scholars, upon whose enterprise the social and intellectual foundations of Englishness now rest.
This the first book in the four-volume Brief History of Britain which brings together some of the leading historians to tell our nation’s story from the Norman Conquest of 1066 to the present day. Combining the latest research with accessible and entertaining storytelling, it is the ideal introduction for students and general readers.
Nicholas Vincent has published half a dozen books and some fifty academic articles on various aspects of English and European history in the 12th and 13th centuries. He has studied at Oxford, Cambridge, Paris, and Canterbury and now is professor at the University of East Anglia.
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What listeners say about A Brief History of Britain 1066-1485
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Wakeman
- 05-06-18
Brief, but somehow very thorough
This book contains a summary of the history of 400 tumultuous years, in which many of the paths leading to the current state of Britain are established. Although brief by title, it is nonetheless thorough, conatianing a wealth of detail of life in Norman and then medieval times. The reading is occasionally rushed, with words piling into each other, but by and large this isn’t too detrimental. Recommended for anyone who’s forgotten ‘1066 & all that’ as taught in school.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Annika
- 16-08-13
Much too long!
What did you like best about A Brief History of Britain 1066-1485? What did you like least?
Much too long and would benefit from a cut to about 1/3 of the current length! After wading through a thicket of detail on various family connections (even when hardly relevant), frequent subclauses starting with 'or...' to hedge a previous statement, and the obligatory politically correct musings, one has often advanced but 20 years in around one hour's worth of listening. This makes it difficult to get an 'overview' of a period - which is surely what a 'brief' history is for?
One still misses a good, short, and to-the-point overview of British history. Somehow British historians seem incapable of achieving this, preferring instead to get bogged down in every little idiosyncratic detail?
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5 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 07-04-13
Everything you didn't know
Excellent book filling you in on whys, where, what's and who's of britian ! Had lots of ahhh & ohhhhhh moments - interesting listen
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10 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- D. E. Bilton
- 17-06-19
Brilliant
I really enjoyed this book a must for those wanting to learn about English history.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Exidia
- 14-11-13
Medieval History made easy
If you could sum up A Brief History of Britain 1066-1485 in three words, what would they be?
fascinating, informative, lengthy
What other book might you compare A Brief History of Britain 1066-1485 to, and why?
I've not read another book like it, but because I was listening, usually while driving, I took in a vast amount of interesting material that would have been more difficult on the page.
What does Roger Davis bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
Davis definitely brings it to life, he made me think of historic characters as real people operating within the politics of their time.
Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
Not an emotional response as such, but a large number of "aha, that's why" moments.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 24-09-21
Hardly a history of Britain
Whilst containing some brilliant detail of the administrative, economic and social frameworks of England, the book is written, as so many from an Anglo centric viewpoint. Wales and Scotland are footnotes, with references often dismissive further exacerbated by poor pronunciation of welsh by the otherwise engaging narrator. The book, as illustrated by the final pages would be better retitled as a brief history of England.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- C Chamberlain
- 24-07-20
Easy to follow. Detailed and engaging.
Really enjoyed this audio book. Took a little while to acclimatise to the narration but then absolutely excellent.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- D O'Meara
- 24-03-18
A good overview and well narrated
I enjoyed this overview as a narrative of historical events. Some of the digressions were at times slightly disjointed, but I would listen to this again to brush up on the sequence of some of the complex narratives of events in this period.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Jas Singh
- 13-01-18
Brief indeed
For a 18 hour book it sure is brief I feel 18 hours are needed on each 100 year period. Other than that it covers each period with as much detail as one needs to understand the era and it's political movements
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- John Houghton
- 17-04-18
History of Britain
Very well read and very interesting a few to many dates but otherwise a good listen hope the next 3 books in the series are as good
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