A jolly good read?

[Johnny75]

I think Ethelred the unreadys daughter was wulfruna,who gives her name to Wolverhampton

There was a really good program on BBC4 about that and the Queen before Wulfruna was a Wednesfield lass.

I bet all of her tattoos were spelt wrong even back then.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Would probably want to go a bit further back to try to define where the idea of a a united England (well before a combined UK) came from - Wessex was clearly the dominant 'English' realm, but to move from that into the rest of the country was a seminal decision.

Alfred (his brothers & father Ethelwulf) are a big part of this story

In Search of the Dark Ages by Michael Wood is excellent as a primer.

Alfred The Great by Justin Pollard is supposed to be the best text.
Aethelstan - the first King of England by Sarah Foot is highly recommended

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Close. Lady Wulfruna was granted a charter by Ethelred and that was over lands that became the city.

EDIT - However something I definitely didn't know until a quick google was that her granddaughter Aelgifu was the first wife of King Cnut.

Just to complete the story this means that Lady Wulfruna was the Great-Grandmother of King Harold Harefoot, who ruled from 1035-1040. Wim Royal, ay we.

 

[Parkins left foot]

In Search of the Dark Ages by Michael Wood is excellent as a primer.

Alfred The Great by Justin Pollard is supposed to be the best text.
Aethelstan - the first King of England by Sarah Foot is highly recommended

The Michael Wood book would be worthwhile - have actually heard of him

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I picked it up the day before yesterday so will let you know what it is like. Not a massive tome so should be an easy read. Some of these two inch thick books, while academically excellent, are drier than Gandhi's sandals.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Drier than Gandhi's sandals...:icon_lol::icon_lol:

 

[Parkins left foot]

I picked it up the day before yesterday so will let you know what it is like. Not a massive tome so should be an easy read. Some of these two inch thick books, while academically excellent, are drier than Gandhi's sandals.

Will be interested in your view as either I face a 20 mile drive to get to somewhere with a proper bookshop or have to rely on Amazon

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Just had a look Parkin. It is available on next day on Amazon for £9.99, which is pretty decent price-wise. Will let you know after I have delved into a couple of chapters tonight. You can usually tell if a historical tome is going to be decent pretty quickly. Some of the worst, it only takes about a paragraph.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Just had a look Parkin. It is available on next day on Amazon for £9.99, which is pretty decent price-wise. Will let you know after I have delved into a couple of chapters tonight. You can usually tell if a historical tome is going to be decent pretty quickly. Some of the worst, it only takes about a paragraph.

Will wait till you have read a bit of it then - agree that with some historical books the writing style is so poor that they become unreadable.

The problem is getting someone who can deal with the history & still have a decent writing style to tell the story so that the unwashed masses can get enough out of it.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Sorry to go back to WW1, but have any of you ever read anything by Lyn MacDonald. Her books about The Somme and Paschendaele are really superb.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Sorry to go back to WW1, but have any of you ever read anything by Lyn MacDonald. Her books about The Somme and Paschendaele are really superb.

I know that your focus is on the 1st WW Frank, but a book I have 'Behind the Lines' by Andrew Carroll is worth a read

Letters from combatants & their families (& vice versa) from conflicts from the 7 yrs war & American Revolution up to modern day Afghanistan & Iraq

A moving read

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I haven't. It somewhat shames me to say it but post-Napoleonic warfare never really interested me too much (probably my wargaming background - although I did enter the worlds at ultra modern warfare in 1988 - where I was incalculably shit and lost so badly in the first round it was just absolute carnage).

I should get some WW1 stuff. WW2 was ruined for me as a subject of interest by the truly appalling teaching at history A Level - a great shame

 

[Parkins left foot]

I haven't. It somewhat shames me to say it but post-Napoleonic warfare never really interested me too much (probably my wargaming background - although I did enter the worlds at ultra modern warfare in 1988 - where I was incalculably shit and lost so badly in the first round it was just absolute carnage).

I should get some WW1 stuff. WW2 was ruined for me as a subject of interest by the truly appalling teaching at history A Level - a great shame

WW2 is only a focus for me because of my Father's exploits (he landed on the Normandy beaches 2 days after the initial invasion as he was a gunnery officer & you don't need big guns in the first few hours)

Never talked about it, but my brother has written a book about his time in the forces during the war

 

[Keef]

Richard Holmes books on war are always a good easy interesting read,and on the 2 inch thick unreadables,Simon sebag montefiore tops my list,I mean who needs a chapter 60 odd pages long? I read a few of his Russian history/communism books,they were hard going,Robert service's books on the same subjects cover the same things,in as much detail in 12 or so pages a chapter.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

I know that your focus is on the 1st WW Frank, but a book I have 'Behind the Lines' by Andrew Carroll is worth a read

Letters from combatants & their families (& vice versa) from conflicts from the 7 yrs war & American Revolution up to modern day Afghanistan & Iraq

A moving read

I do try to avoid exclusivity to reading material on the one conflict, and "Behind the Lines" sounds an interesting if sad read. I will endeavour to get myself a copy. Thank you for the information.

 

[Parkins left foot]

Richard Holmes books on war are always a good easy interesting read,and on the 2 inch thick unreadables,Simon sebag montefiore tops my list,I mean who needs a chapter 60 odd pages long? I read a few of his Russian history/communism books,they were hard going,Robert service's books on the same subjects cover the same things,in as much detail in 12 or so pages a chapter.

Richard Holmes stuff is OK - can't be doing with those who think they know so much more than you (which they do) but are intent on shoving that down your throat at every opportunity

 

[FrankMunro-371]

I haven't. It somewhat shames me to say it but post-Napoleonic warfare never really interested me too much (probably my wargaming background - although I did enter the worlds at ultra modern warfare in 1988 - where I was incalculably shit and lost so badly in the first round it was just absolute carnage).

I should get some WW1 stuff. WW2 was ruined for me as a subject of interest by the truly appalling teaching at history A Level - a great shame

If you get chance Paddy, anything by Lyn MacDonald or Hew Strachan is well worth reading. Probably the two best historians of WW1. I am sure you would enjoy their writings.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I always say the same thing when it concerns Second World War literature, Antony Beevor and Ian Kershaw are all you need.

My History A-Level was Palmerston/Gladstone/Disraeli era UK stuff and post-revolution France plus German/Italian unification overseas. I really did enjoy it but as time went on it had to take a backseat to my languages (as that was clearly going to be my path at uni) and so it got a bit neglected and only ended up with a B in the end. I was handy at it as just rambling on forever, using big words and generally arguing the toss goes down well

 

[Parkins left foot]

I always say the same thing when it concerns Second World War literature, Antony Beevor and Ian Kershaw are all you need.

My History A-Level was Palmerston/Gladstone/Disraeli era UK stuff and post-revolution France plus German/Italian unification overseas. I really did enjoy it but as time went on it had to take a backseat to my languages (as that was clearly going to be my path at uni) and so it got a bit neglected and only ended up with a B in the end. I was handy at it as just rambling on forever, using big words and generally arguing the toss goes down well

He is a relative of mine, via my paternal Grandmother (would have to look at the family tree to see how close a relative though)

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

As you can imagine, I was more on his side than Gladstone's

Gladstone allowed his entire political outlook to be defined by overt religious belief and being a moralising prick.