No comments about Day Bomber.

1 comments about Diana: The Making of a Saint: How the Death of a Princess Led to the Birth of a Cult.

1. This book was a total waste of money. I have read almost every written word on the subject and this ranks right down at the bottom. You'll find no new information and the speculations are outrageous. One minute she is being criticized and slammed and the next she is being compared to a saint. The author can't seem to stay on topic without throwing in bits to discredit her. I would suspect that he is somehow connected with the anti Diana camp and it shows.
   If you still want a copy, you may have mine free of charge, but save your own money for the Paull Burrel book, which is well worth the money

No comments about Letters from Ireland 1228-1229 (Cistercian Fathers Ser No 28).

No comments about Clergy of Derry and Raphoe.

No comments about James Larkin, Lion of the Fold.

No comments about St Patrick (Celtic Saints).

5 comments about Blood & Roses: The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century.

1. Now I understand the Mediaeval belief in a wheel of fortune. This book really does portray middle class life in the fifteenth century with a realism rarely encountered. It is not easy reading but there is plenty of meat! I had never really understood before how the ups & downs of the nobility during a tumultous period affected the ordinary middle class. Now it is much clearer. One mystery remained for me. How could a son who apparently spent most of his life in the law courts suddenly be asked to join Edward 1V in a jousting tournament at Eltham? I can not imagine many of our current lawyers accepting such a challenge. An excellent book.



2. I enjoyed this book very much. It is specifically about the family's history during the period of the War of the Roses, and this time really comes alive with all of its uncertainties and political instability. The book occasionaly gets mired in extensive detail about the property problems faced by the family - but certainly shows how much has changed in terms of security of land tenure and property rights since this period. It probably helps to have some initial knowledge of Plantagenet vs. York issues to get into the book, but as a layman myself, I was able to follow the bigger story, of deposed kings and usurpers fairly easily, and was thoroughly engrossed as well in the personality profiles of the kings, princes, peers, and queens depicted.



3. 
   This is a highly unusual book. I believe this is the sort of material that's usually buried in PhD theses and never reaches a general audience.
   
   Castor's exhaustive research shows as she reconstructs the history of the Paston family and it's attempts to climb the social ladder of the landed gentry. In 15th century England, there is no title insurance. You can lose your land to claims of better connected people who may be the progeny of previous owners, or may be just better connected. You can also lose it in a seige and hope that your connections are good enough to have a hearing in a court where you hope to get connected people on your side. You can also lose this property, and be imprisoned as well, if an ancestor of yours was "unfree" and therefore not able to own property.
   
   The Paston Family seems ill equipped to play this game. While the book does not deal with domestic problems, there are some unmistakable facts. William's other sons, who have better and firmer inheritances are in deep background (until one comes around to lay claim) leaving John, the semi-disinherited older son, to fend for himself. He's in this situation because his mother renounced his father's written will in favor of an alleged death bed testimony. This testimony works to the favor of the younger sons which essentially sets John up for failure. This is a mother who beats a daughter, whom she keeps in spinsterhood (withheld dowry), such that her head cracks.
   
   John's wife Margaret raises children and runs the contested manor, which becomes a war zone (she actually fights skirmishs and battles) while her husband networks in London. There is little detail what he does with his time, and he must have a lot of it on his hands. No wonder Margaret becomes cranky in the end. Unfortunately she takes it out on her two sons, both of whom, also set up for failure by parental decisions, risk their lives for this family enterprise.
   
   The tale is interesting for what it reveals of life at this time, but it is overly long in detail. Descriptions of battles, tangential players and some quotes from letters (some so convoluted they produce more confusion than enhancement) could well be eliminated in favor of a smoother analytical treatement. It isn't until p. 200+ that the author reveals what you seem to think, (but wonder if you've missed) that these people might be creating their own problems.
   
   Also hard to understand is the true fiscal plight of the family. They are always in financial straights, but are ordering clothing (lots of detail on items the modern reader cannot identify), shopping, entertaining and hiring soldiers and servants. They seem to be not only living beyond their means, but reaching it well beyond it as well.
   
   I like that the author describes the provenence of the letters at the end, and not the beginning. This is the time the reader can really appreciate their value.



4. I was pleasantly surprised, recently, by Helen Castor's "Blood and Roses". I had expected another urbane, boring, and dusty history for England's most turbulent civil war- the War of the Roses. Instead, Castor presents a 15th century English family's struggle for peerage, identity, and future during England's most tumultuous pre Commonwealth period.
   
   This remarkable 426-page 2006 paperback is destined to become a War of the Roses classic. The story is well documented (with 23 pages of endnotes, an extensive select bibliography, and a dozen photos). Clearly saying that their papers have a "unique place in the history of medieval England", Castor narrates from the Paston family's letters, their realty and legal contracts, and other original documents.
   
   In 1400, the lowborn Paston family begins to struggle for land ownership, for money, for gentry status, and for political presence. Their rise is plagued with other families' jealousies, aristocratic theft, familial betrayal, and royal expectation, all during various would-be governments' dash to power. Through the years the Pastons play on every side. By the middle 1700s the family has achieved viscount status, castles, manor houses, and positions in the king's personal staff. Theirs is a dramatic tale worthy of history's notice and analysis.
   
   The Paston narrative seems a microcosm for the turbulent times in which they lived, worked, plotted, loved, fought, and died. What finally happens with the Pastons? Read "Blood and Roses" and find out.
   
   Even though it seems long at first glance, I read Castor in a short time. Her novel-like writing style kept me in the story. I couldn't put it down! This book is a must read for York versus Lancaster buffs, medieval English history enthusiasts, and Middle Ages genealogists. Get your copy soon.



5. This book reads like the basis for the endless court case at the center of "Bleak House". The Paston Family left an impressive collection of letters, but a good number of them seem to be related to long, dragged out court proceedings. There are aspects that I found informative, but the narrative is most lively in the sections where the Paston holdings pass from one generation to the next. I found John and Margaret Paston especially tedious. The scope of the changes in government during this time is breathtaking, and it is hard to understand how England remained even quasi-stable as a nation. The Pastons and their personal struggles seem a bit pale against such a back drop, but it does give you a good idea of how the citizenry had to push through and make do in such uncertain circumstances.

No comments about Julian Pauncefote and British Imperial Policy: 1855-1889.

No comments about Revolutionary in Ireland.

No comments about Samuel Johnson: Literature, Religion and English Cultural Politics from the Restoration to Romanticism.