A Child's History of England

I'd like to meet the child that this is written for--the young William Thackeray? The young William James? The young Trevelyan, most likely. Or Macaulay. I have read in English history for decades, but especially social history--the Canons of 1604 and how they enlighten a reading of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, or Judge Henry Swinburne's Spousals. And I must say, Dickens' account is intricate and intriguing. <br /><br /> Like the novelist he is, he imbues the kings and their favorites with character and individuality. He also avoids the historian's supposed objectivity, intruding of a certain king, "The plain truth is, that he was a most intolerable ruffian, a disgrace to human nature, and a blot of blood and grease upon the History of England." Guess who. Henry VIII.<br /> Though most of my professional literary studies started after this king, I have followed 16C heresy a bit--in G. H. Williams' Radical Reformation, and in regard to my books on G Bruno--but I never realized this: "He (H.VIII) defied the Pope and his Bull...; but he burned innumerable people whose only offense was that they differed from the Pope's religious opinions."(Ch.XXVIII)<br /><br /> Dickens' account of the murder in the cathedral familiar to students of TS Eliot (whom my dissertation advisor Leonard Unger wrote many books about) struck me as clearer than Eliot's play, which is pretty clear.<br />Okay, maybe Dickens' story here is simpler, a child's story. (But it is still intricate, with Beckett avoiding all the escapes he was offered.)

Review of A Child’s History of England by Charles Dickens<br /><br />My actual edition of this book is part of “The Works of Charles Dickens, with Illustrations, Cleartype Edition, Books, Inc; 1868 (date is questionable)”…I hestitated to turn down corners, but did one or two. <br />If only history could always be this fun. Oh me, what do you get when you add Charles Dickens + English history? Truly, a history for the people, sir! In more ways than one! <br /><br />How so, you ask?<br /><br />1) Totally readable. Written for children. True, not most of our poor children reared on a steady diet of Captain Underpants, but perhaps not as difficult for the vocabulary challenged as other works by same author. In fact, one source says this work was used as curricula in British schools until WWII. Lucky little brats. <br /><br />2) Charles Dickens, always a champion of "the people" writes this book as a chronology of English monarchs beginning from ancient times (50 B.C.) to James the 2nd (1688). As such, although we are given a glimpse of the Kings and such, more, we are also given a glimpse of how said Kings affected the lives of their subjects. True, never is it much a chronicle of individual commoners as it is of the Kings, but we are shown what life was like under each Merry (or not so Merry) Monarch. Sadly, it's not a pretty picture. Not many of them were truly Merry. If they were, it was at the expense of the people. <br /><br />3) Reads like a novel, although it is said to be fairly accurate. Of course it doesn't give all the details (that would fill volumes) but it is always interesting and fast-paced. That’s fantastic as history, at least for me. <br /><br />4) Bloody, sir. Enough to happily employ the mind of any imaginative (but not overly-sensitive) child of 11 or so. Good gracious, the times were abominable for blood. Burnings. Beatings. Quarterings. Drawings. Hangings. Torturings. Incarceratings. You name it. They were pretty horrible. Imagine a ferocious Irish Chieftain biting off the nose of his dead enemy in glee. Egad. That said, if I may interject a personal opinion, they were no worse than we are sometimes. Sure, we don’t go for physical torture and mass peasant killing these days so much, but we have created all sorts of ways to emotionally and mentally torture each other and especially ourselves. If our day were written of candidly, perhaps the deeds told would be more of how we poison our bodies with anti-food, or our spirits with pornography, or our minds with obsessions for perfection or unattainable realities, or each other with coldness and apathy and judgement. Today’s ills seem certainly a more personal picture, but nonetheless earth-life is as sad as it ever was. I don’t know which I would choose had I the choice. (That sounds really doomsday, didn’t mean to, because I do think the world is still pretty awesome, but was just comparing the times.)<br /><br />5) Um, people, it’s written by Charles Dickens. Okay, I know some of you aren’t as in love with him as I am (poor you!) but, ‘pon my soul, it’s good reading. <br /><br />Here is a fun anecdote on how Britain became a Christian nation: <br /><br />Chapter II “Ancient England Under the Early Saxons” <br /><br />“After the death of ETHELBERT, EDWIN, King of Northumbria, who was such a good king….held a great council to consider whether he and his people should all be Christians or not. It was decided that they should be. COIFI, the chief priest of the old religion, made a great speech on the occasion. In this discourse, he told the people that he had found out the old gods to be impostors. ‘I am quite satisfied of it,’ he said. ‘Look at me! I have been serving them all my life, and they have done nothing for me; whereas, if they had been really powerful, they could not have decently done less, in return for all I have done for them, than make my fortune. As they have never made my fortune, I am quite convinced they are impostors!’ When this singular priest had finished speaking, he hastily armed himself with sword and lance, mounted a war-horse, rode at a furious gallop in sight of all the people to the temple, and flung his lance against it as an insult. From that time, the Christian religion spread itself among the Saxons, and became their faith.” <br /><br />All in all, wonderful. Truly had FUN reading it, and history + me doesn’t usually equally fun. <br />

I found this book to be thoroughly fascinating! Dickens takes us from the early beginnings of England all the way up to his era, monarchy by monarchy. I doubt if many parents of our day would hand this book to their children; it is full of the violence, hatred, and vengeance of kings against their rivals, fathers against sons, brothers against brothers, uncles against nephews, Catholics against Protestants, neighboring regions against each other, and one thing I learned is that I never would want to be related to royalty, or even be their close friend... it's much too dangerous! Many interesting stories and anecdotes. I listened to this on a free download from Librivox.org.

Charles Dickens is a judgemental bitch, and I love him for it. You only have to read his novels to know that he was judgemental, and that all his contempt was reserved for those who mistreated the weak. His rants on the evils of poverty, for instance, are many and heartfelt. It is no surprise, then, that in his volume of English history, written for children, his sympathies are almost entirely for the common people, who are starved, murdered, exploited, and forced into wars in the service of rulers who are as vicious as they are cruel, and who are almost to a man utterly untrustworthy. When he actually approves of a ruler it is a notable thing. <br /><br />This book is nearly 400 pages of scorn and disgust, a series of extremely unflattering portraits of rather repulsive people. I do believe my favourite description relates to Henry the Eighth, whom Dickens calls as "a most intolerable ruffian, a disgrace to human nature, and a blot of blood and grease upon the History of England." There's more than one place where he describes the inexplicable survival of one of the royal louts and their lackeys and admits it might have been better for everyone had a raging mob pulled them to bits (I rather got the sense of wistful sighs). And, you know, those near 400 pages of inflicted miseries can become a little repetitive, and the history itself is very thin and not perhaps completely accurate, but the judgemental bitching, and the general humanism behind the complaints, makes it worth the read.

A charming little book. Dickens uses his narrative prowess in telling England's history -- and has his own moralistic, and often entertaining, spin on the people and events therein. The end result reads much like the book of Kings.

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წიგნი ნამდვილად ინფორმაციულია, უბრალოდ, თანდათან მოსაწყენი ხდება. ავტორს თუ დავუჯერებთ, რაში ეჭვის შეტანის საფუძველი არ გვაქვს, ინგლისის სამეფო ხე მთლიანად დამპალი ვაშლებით ყოფილა და უნძლული. :) ალბათ იგივე სურათს მივიღებთ ყველა სხვა ქვეყნის მეფეთა ისტორიის გადახედვისასაც. თუმცა იყვნენ შედარებით ნორმალური მონარქებიც. ყველაზე მეტად რიჩარდ ლომგულის ამბავმა გამაკვირვა. სხვა ყველა ავტორი, ეკრანიზაცია და ლეგენდა მასზე მხოლოდ დადებითად საუბრობს. აქ კი ტახტის ხამი და სისხლმოწყურებული მხეცია. ისტორიკოსი არ ვარ, თუმცა იყო რაღაც უზუსტობები, მაგ. ჰენრი მერვეზე არსად უხსენებია, რომ მისი ცოლებისადმი სისასტიკის მთავარი მიზეზი იყო მისი სურვილი, ჰყოლოდა ვაჟი. მის მეოთხე ცოლთან დაკავშირებითაც უზუსტობაა. ჰოლანდიელი ქალი არა მეფემ, არამედ თავად ამ ქალმა დაიწუნა თავიდან და ეს ძალიან ეწყინა მეფეს, რის გამოც თავადაც აუცრუვდა გული. ზუსტად ეხლახანს ვუყურე ისტორიულ ფილმს ტიუდორებზე და იმიტომ მახსოვს. ალბათ სხვა უზუსტობებიცაა სხვა მეფეებთან მიმართებაში, თუმცა ჯამში კმაყოფილი ვარ წიგნით. <br /><br />აშკარაა ჯორჯ მარტინის მიერ აღებული ინსპირაცია ვესტეროსში მომხდარ არაერთ მოვლენაზე. თან მხოლოდ ტარგარიენებს არ ვგულისხმობ. <br /><br />უნდა ვახსენო თარგმანი. პირველივე სტრიქონებში და მერეც ყურს მჭრიდა სიტყვა "სკოტლანდია". ? დავიჯერო მთარგმნელებმა არ იციან, რომ ქართულად ეგ შოტლანდიაა? ? შეიძლება, გეოგრაფია მათი ძლიერი მხარე არ არის ??‍♀️

Dickens is usually known as a novelist, but you can forget that here. The book is exactly what it purports to be, except that it has Charles Dickens as the author! True, at times he seems to actually write for a child in this book, but those times are relatively few.<br /> Dickens actually does the whole of English history, right up to 1688, where he ended this tome, before it touched too many people in high places in the wrong places. He writes as a patriotic, yet critical Englishman, and retains all of the criticism which made him so beloved a writer of his time. An enduring feel for the common man, yet able to deal with the themes of power politics, the Child's History is written as a basic chronology, without great swathes of analysis, yet full of anecdotes and just great stories, a true Dickensian masterpiece. Any adult will come away from this book with a very good knowledge of basic English history, and not feel as if he/she were reading a text below their level.<br /> The book has been criticised, especially by Douglas in his "The Island", but Douglas is grinding his own axes there, well, but in vain. If I were asked to recommend one book on English history for someone new to the subject to read, I would recommend this one without hesitation. It offers a profound insight into not just the history, but the character of the English people that is not found elsewhere.

I was on the airplane returning from Iceland when I started this. I realized that a "child's" knowledge of English history is more than I have, so this has not been familiar ground to me. Dickens empathy for the lower classes comes through again and again. The book undoubtedly has more descriptions of beheadings than any other "children's" book ever written. <br /><br />If you don't feel like reading one of the long novels but are in the mood for some CD, then I'd recommend this book. Highly opinionated, not scholarly, but not boring or bland either. Dickens is willing to vilify the bad English kings as well as praise the good. <br /><br />Final comment: all the various slaughters that were occasioned by religious/ethnic strife: Catholics vs. Protestants . . . Scots vs. English . . . Irish vs. English . . . brings to mind the present craziness in the Mideast. It wasn't that long ago that Europe was quite similar.

While this book was written for children of Dickens' time, no one under High School age should attempt this book, and have a dictionary close at hand. I found that Dickens was very ethnocentrist in favor of the Saxons, something that I would not have supposed before reading this. This is included in The Complete Charles Dickens Collection on my Kindle.