I am enjoying Costain's Plantagenet series. Lots of information as I travel through the Middle Ages. I got a bit bogged down in places; there seemed to be a lot of unfamiliar "side trips" that were slower to digest.Of particular note as the U.S. debates whether to raise the debt ceiling or default on its promise to pay debts. Edward III, in the course of fighting wars, borrowed heavily from two banking families in Florence, the Bardis and Peruzzis. In 1339 he realized he could not pay his debts, so he issued an edict suspending all payments. And then what happened? "The city of Florence went into a slump. The financial world of Europe was shaken to the core." The French king at the time, Philip the Fair, "believing that this form of bankruptcy meant the end of English pretensions...was said to have begun plans...[to invade] England. In Florence riots broke out.... The Bardi and the Peruzzi had been the financial backbone of the republic, so the news that both houses were in difficulties had the impact of an earthquake.... In January 1345 both banking houses gave up the struggle and went into bankruptcy, dragging down with them more banking concerns and many mercantile houses.... The period precipitated by this great smash has been called the darkest in the annals of that great city." I found other parallels as well. Following the Black Death when the population was cut in half, and laborers found themselves having the upper hand for once. The advantage was brief, however: "The land magnates were stirred to fury, and in the cities the prominent merchants swore they could not pay such wages as were demanded." So the government decreed that anyone who could work would accept "'only the wages which were accustomed to be taken....'" In other words, the laborer's pay returned to the low levels of previous years while the cost of living remained at the highest peak. Does anyone still think history doesn't repeat itself?
Another winner from Costain as he relates the reigns of Edward I, II, and III, the British kings who dominated the 14th century and started the Hundred Years War with France, though of his four books in this history of the Plantagenets this is clearly the weakest link. It may be simply that it ends on a down note, historically speaking. The book meanders and occasionally seems to lose its way towards the end, much as the feeble and addled old king Edward III tended to do towards the end of his long life.Still worth a read, but the next book is much more fun...
What do You think about The Three Edwards (1962)?
Costain is a master storyteller. Although there are no sources and its not to be used as an academic study, his history of the Plantagenets is throughly enjoyable. One complaint is that unlike Henry II and his sons and the comically inept Henry III, I have less of a personal portrait of the Three Edwards than I did of the previous Plantagenets in Costain's series. It may just be due to a lack of sources, but I feel I really knew John and Henry III as people but I can't really say the same about Any of the Edwards.
—Jamison Shuck
I was surprised by how enjoyable and readable this book was. Within the first few pages Edward I gets stabbed with a poisoned dagger by a treacherous Muslim, and the history stays at that level of excitement throughout. Costain writes remarkably descriptive prose--he uses a whole lot of adjectives--but never delves into fiction. He doesn't put words or thoughts into the historical figures' heads, unlike all too many historians. I was pleased by Costain's breadth scholarship, as well. He spends literally chapters going over every detail of the Scottish wars for freedom, but doesn't leave out the contents of Princess Eleanor's trousseau (and why she would bring a bed of her own, or pounds of white sugar) or the effects of changing fashion. He includes several paragraphs on the invention of buttons! And yet, despite all this detail, the book is never slowed down. I felt like I got a very comprehensive account of each Edward while also getting a good feel for the times they lived in. Impressive!
—Wealhtheow
An enjoyable and broadbrush history of England under the three consecutive Edwards of the Plantagenet dynasty, told with Costain's unique novelist flair. I was not wrapped up in it quite as much as I was in the previous book, "The Magnificent Century," simply because there was no one man who stood out in these reigns the way Simon de Montfort did in Henry III's, but I did still enjoy it. It's hard not to like Costain's writing and the way he brings the past to life. I especially appreciate his touch when it comes to the humbler men of the times, the churchmen, scholars and architects who are so often brushed aside.
—Abigail Hartman
