The progress of history is ever moving forward, away from superstition and autocracy towards free-thought and greater liberty, at least that what Lord Macaulay believed.  In his The History of England (from the Accession of James the Second), Macaulay brings forth “the Whig interpretation of history” for the first time that changed how history was interpretation for the next century.

 

This abridgment of Macaulay’s five-volume history of events leading up to the Glorious Revolution during James II reign through the death of William III begins with Macaulay’s purpose for his work.  The first half of the abridgment covers how James II began his reign by slowly alienating his traditional supporters in the Anglican Church and Tory county squires by putting Roman Catholics in high positions and supporting the Irish against Anglo-Scot colonists.  Even though he survived one rebellion early in his reign, James kept on escalating his efforts until both “Exclusionist” and Tory politicians—including moderate Roman Catholics—joined forces to invite William to take the throne.  The second half of the abridgment covers William’s invasion and the Revolution in all three Kingdoms, not just England.  While the English portion was political rather than martial, it was not the same in Ireland and Scotland as battles between those supporting James and William took place in bloody fashion though mostly in Ireland.  Another bit of history was the religious aspect of the Revolution, while in England there was more toleration in practice which included Roman Catholics it was a different matter entirely in Scotland were Presbyterians retook control after suffering under Restoration policies for over 30 years.  Finally, the effects of the Revolution on finance and Parliamentary corruption are examined before Macaulay’s final summing up.

 

While Hugh Trevor-Roper did an admirable job in selecting portions over five volumes into approximately 550 pages, it is also the main problem with the book.  With such a reduction of Macaulay’s prose, the reader gets glimpses of his thoughts and intentions but without consistency the reader doesn’t get the importance of the overall work.  As for the work itself, Macaulay’s bias of excusing his hero (William III) and aggressively character assassinating those he dislikes (Marlborough), is one of the biggest flaws.

 

The History of England is a glimpse into the larger work of Lord Macaulay that really doesn’t give the reader a constancy to see why it was such an important piece of historical literature.  If given the choice, I would have chosen five books of the total work over a short abridgment.

Kings & Queens of England and Scotland by Plantagenet Somerset Fry is a 96-page concise reference book about the monarchs of England, Scotland, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom.  Though is primarily focused on the monarchs of England (and successor unions) with each ruler getting their own individual article from 1066-to-present, while the Scottish monarchs were only briefly covered in comparison.  Not all the information given in monarch articles is correct, at least to those readers well versed in history, but overall the book is a good reference book.

I was eager to read this book, the Reformation one of my favorite eras of history and having written about Mary I of England myself. This novel promised to offer another point of view by featuring reformer, John Knox. For those who enjoy Scottish historical fiction set in the 16th century, this is a must-read.

 

The first thing that struck me, and I imagine most readers, is the heavy use of Scottish vernacular. For the most part, it is easy enough to determine what is intended and it adds to the authenticity of the story. However, some readers may find it frustrating. The next thing that I noticed was that it took a long time for Knox to enter the story. While this is the first in a trilogy exploring his life, much of this installment sets the stage for what is to come.

 

Elisabeth Hepburn is truly the protagonist of this tale, and she is a spunky one. A girl with romantic dreams of marrying for love, her future holds a rather different role for her. Women did not have many choices in those days, but Elisabeth makes the most of the situations that she is forced into without becoming anachronistic. It is through her that the reader is (finally) introduced to Knox.

 

Macpherson infuses this story with all of the drama, politics, religious unrest, and tragedy of the 16th century, and I look forward to continuing with the series.

Although he did not begin the Reformation in Scotland, John Knox has become its most identifiable proponent not only in the almost 450 years since his death but also during the last 25 years of his life.  In A Bold One for God, Charles G. Edwards writes a brief 160 page biography of “a not-so-well-known reformer” that served not only God but his nation as well.

 

Edwards’ biography of Knox begins in his early 30s after his conversion to Protestantism and his interactions with martyr George Wishart and how the influential preacher told him to remain a tutor to his pupils until God needed him.  In the reaction after Wishart’s execution, Knox was asked to preach by Wishart’s followers to lead their congregation after they had assassinated the Cardinal of St. Andrews.  His accepts and his powerful preaching began his rise as a man of note in the Reformation movement in Scotland while also resulting in his imprisonment after the movement is crushed for a time.  Over the course of the next 12 years, Knox serves as a galley slave before living in exile in England then Geneva and Frankfurt then back to Geneva with a brief visit to Scotland in-between.  In 1559, Knox returned to Scotland permanently and became a not only the leading Protestant preacher in the nation but also one with significant political power as he contended with the queen regent Mary of Guise then her daughter Mary, Queen of Scots, and then under the regents of the young James VI.

 

In the synopsis above, I have hardly scratched the surface of John Knox’s life and career.  Unfortunately Charles Edwards did the same in this short biography as well.  Although his intended audience is easy identifiable for young adults through his writing style and larger font, Edwards doesn’t treat his audience with respect by crediting them with any intelligence and made his subject less than what he was.  Through reconstructed conversations and paraphrasing of others, Edwards endeavored to give Knox’s life more depth but only made the man appear simple and artificial to the reader which seemed to indicate a condescending attitude towards his readers.

 

While Edwards does give an accurate picture of the chronology and historical background of John Knox’s life that does not make up for the lack of depth and unintended sterilization of his subject.  The lack of discussion of Knox’s first 30 years of life and the, most likely unintentional, patronizing attitude towards his readers severely undercuts the worth of A Bold One for God.

The Days of Bruce : a story from Scottis... [These notes were made in 1982. I read this title in a 1905 edition, illustrated by H.M. Brock, from University of Calgary library:]. A very romantic look at a period of Scots history which never struck me as particularly romantic, albeit it's bang in the Middle Ages. This novel suffers from a "double hero" syndrome - the one we learn to identify with is summarily dispatched half way through, and an earlier candidate is brought back as a rather predictable knight in disguise. Necessarily, then, we also have two heroines, the earlier of whom, Agnes, is quite well-drawn, and the latter of whom, Isoline, gets very short shrift indeed until the last few chapters. The story is carefully not completely anti-English (what nationality is Aguilar, anyhow?): the Duke of Gloucester and his wife are particularly flatteringly portrayed. It makes a good romantic read; a good tale of "chivalry in the olden days", but somehow this version of the Robert the Bruce I learned about in school is too soft in the middle, too mannerly, too full of finer feelings. Hero, yes, but knight in shining armour? As for Nigel the hero of the first half (ostensibly R.B.'s brother), he has nothing to do with common mortals at all. But for all my negative comments, I enjoyed this book tremendously; it had some good, sentimental moments in it, was well-shaped within the limitations imposed by the 2-hero rift, and was altogether superior, I thought, to a great many of today's historical novels.