1217
The Battles that Saved England
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1217
Narrated by:
Veronika Hyks
Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Veronika Hyks
About this listen
A Sunday Times Book of the Week
'A thrilling episode from England’s medieval history.' Dan Jones, The Sunday Times
An engrossing history of the pivotal year when the future of England was secured.
In 1215 King John had agreed to the terms of Magna Carta, but then reneged on his word, plunging the kingdom into war. Rebellious barons offered the throne to the French prince Louis and set off a chain of events that almost changed the course of English history.
Louis arrived in May 1216, was proclaimed king in London, and by the autumn had half of England under his control. However, the choice of a French prince had enormous repercussions: now not merely an internal rebellion, but a war in which the defenders were battling to prevent a foreign takeover. John’s death in October 1216 left the throne in the hands of his 9-year-old son, Henry, and his regent, William Marshal, which changed the face of the war again, for now the king trying to fight off an invader was not a hated tyrant but an innocent child.
1217 charts the nascent sense of national identity that began to swell. Three key battles would determine England’s destiny. The fortress of Dover was besieged, the city of Lincoln was attacked, and a great invasion force set sail and, unusually for the time, was intercepted at sea. Catherine Hanley expertly navigates medieval siege warfare, royal politics, and fighting at sea to bring this remarkable period of history to life.©2024 Dr Catherine Hanley (P)2024 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Listeners also enjoyed...
The tragedy is that the narrator often seems to forget that there is more… sentence to speak. Also the sound has not been equalised, meaning sometime mid sentence the volume JUMPS UP FOR NO APPARENT REASON, BUT THE DOWN AGAIN… clearly indicating different recording… periods.
If you can tolerate this, then this is well worth listening to to understand a point in history… that is often misunderstood… or neglected.
Excellent history. Awful narrator.
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I bought this book after hearing Dr Hanley speak about it on a podcast.
She was enthusiastic and engaging -the narrator was not. I’ve heard people read pages from the phone book in a more engaging fashion. The sound was terrible too.
I purchased the hard cover version of the book and read it myself as I couldn’t stand the narrator.
The book is a highly fascinating account of events in 1216/17 - it deserves a better narrator.
Very hard to rate as the quality of the text was badly diminished by the performance.
The narration ruined it.
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This book has a more narrative style than either her book on Queen Matilda or the one concentrating on the relationship between the French and English crowns so this may be more suited to the non-specialist reader.
Dr Hanley's work is fantastic otherwise I certainly wouldn't have struggled through the narration. The narration is in the style of pre-school TV presenter which doesn't seem ideal. I found her voice exceedingly ignorable and her microphone technique is exceptionally poor so whenever her volume increased dramatically I was prompted to skip backwards to discover where I had drifted off. Maybe that's why she shouts periodically but I suspect it says more about the production values of the audiobook publisher as a sound-engineer surely could have solved the problem..
In short 1217 is really, definitely worth reading but I found the audio aggravating.
Terrific book - shame about the audio
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