Queen Emma and the Vikings: A History of Power, Love and Greed in Eleventh-Century England

by Harriet O'Brien

Book Overview

"A lively account of the harsh realities of war and politics in this era, the vagaries of political marriage and the thin line between invaders and settlers."-- Publishers Weekly Emma, one of... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582345961
• ISBN13: 9781582345963
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.8"

Customer Reviews

Emma: A bridge between cultures...

I've come to understand how Dark Ages and early Medieval time period biographies are written, especially in regards to women, and so it is easier to take in their lives. There aren't that many sources and the sources that there are are tangential references from a different figure in history, such as a king or other noble male figures. The scarcity of the documents makes it hard, and the fact that women were considered inferior to men also meant that biographies on women, such as Emma or Eleanor of Aquitaine, would invariably revolve around the lives of the men that they interacted with. Emma is no different as her life is told through the lives of the four kings directly related to her and to, eventually, a fifth king a few generations later. Emma is important as she is the bridge that joined the three different cultures together. Born a Norman, married an Anglo-Saxon and then remarried a Danish Viking, all of which were the various men and women that lived in England at the time. She went through a lot and was involved in many facets of the English monarchy and nobility. There is no doubt in my mind that Emma was one of the more important women of early England. O'Brien does a very good job of bringing to life Emma and showing us the world she lived in, notably her life amongst kings and the nobility. This is certainly a laymen's account, not necessarily written for the hardcore historian, and focuses more on telling a story than being a scholarly dissertation. That being said there were a few areas I would have wished could have been better. First and foremost is her writing style. She switches back and forth from the present tense to the past tense. One minute she is writing about the past and the next she tries to write as though we are right there. Since this is a history it detracts from the story if you suddenly make it something that is happening as we speak. The other is a minor issue that could go either way. She speculates on speculation quite a bit. On the one hand it is good to see and understand what Emma's contemporaries thought as well as the people writing history a few generations after. It tells a lot of what that time period was thinking and where their political inclinations led. This is where O'Brien did great because she made sure that she let the reader know that this is not fact, that it was indeed speculation and could be any number of possible explanations. Where it is a little on the downside is when she then speculated on the speculation, making the issue at hand become murky and unclear. As I said, a minor issue. Overall I enjoyed reading about Emma and the people in her lives, notably Kings Aethelred, Cnut, Harthacnut and Edward. You can't have a story without them and the only reason we know much about her is because of them. They are as intrinsic to her story as the book that she had written is. Definitely written for the common reader, but will certainly lead me to research further into

A must for history amateurs

A fantastic read. England before 1066BattleofHastings. Queen Emma is quite a character, a survivor, almost on par with my alltime favorite Eleanor of Aquitaine. Ms O'Brian's research is implecable, her narrative gripping, the wealth of detail, considering the lack of primary sources, is impressive. I wish all history books were this well written.

WELL DONE AND WELL WORTH THE READ!

There are a couple of facts we need to remember when reading this particular book. First, and this is important, it, the book, is not a Doctorial Thesis and it is not written as such. This is a popular historical work, meant to inform, but at the same time, to entertain. Secondly, I too, like a couple of other reviewers, was a bit disappointed that more was not written about the main character, Emma, her personal life, etc. This leads to the second fact we must remember. Source documents from this era, in particular personal histories, are very, very hard to come by. Most documents from this time have simply disappeared, have been destroyed, or are lost in some historical black hole. This being said and this being remembered, as the book is being read, might help. The author has given us a fascinating look into the life and politics during the latter part of the first century. A very troubled time for England, and indeed, most of Europe. True, she, the author, does not go into the depth of her subject as many of us would like, but as I have stated, the author had very few source documents of refer to. This work is done in the "popular mode," and is quite readable. The author has taken great pains to let us know when she is stating documented facts and when she drifts into the realm of speculation. This is important to understand what the author is trying to do. I found the author's style far from dry, considering the subject matter. Queen Emma was indeed a complex and fascinating woman and the author has gone to great lengths to bring this across. This is one of those book I like to call a "tickler," or "seed book." It gives information to those who are interested in a subject, but not fanatical about it. My primary interest is in New World History, but I do like to know where we came from. Works such as this give me as much information as I need for my purposes. Granted, if I were doing a research paper, or was extremely interested in the subject, I would indeed want more. As it stands though, this work gave me a wonder glance into those days and times. Now that I have this information, I find I do have an interest and this work has "tickled" me into checking other works out. This is a good thing. Perhaps one day I could land a nice juicy government grant, travel to England, and check out some of the source documents myself. Would not that be fun! All in all, I found the work to be very well done, enjoyable to read and quite helpful. I do recommend this one for any individual interested in those days and times and the Queen Emma.

England before 1066

Many people these days believe that the history of England began in 1066 with the Norman Conquest. This book shows that there was a thriving society on that island for years before that event. Rather than see that time as a Dark Age, this book retells the history of a land and a culture that was subsumed after the Conquest. We get the stories of the Anglo-Saxon rulers, the Danish rulers, and the intermarriage with the Norman aristocracy that eventually led to Hastings. Queen Emma successfully bridged the gaps among those three disparate societies, and was the wife of two kings of England, and the mother of two onthers, not to mention the great aunt of Wiliam the Conqueror. It's an exciting story, one that often reads like fiction, but it is all true. Love, greed, murder, betrayal, and all of the other virtues and vices we know so well are present in this tale, and it is well worth reading!

Wonderful

This book is very well-written and well-researched. Plus, O'Brien writes in a reader-friendly way, so that even people new to the subject can "get it." She is very insightful in her assumptions about Queen Emma, adding just enough imagination with passages containing references to authentic texts. Her understanding of Kings Aethelred and Cnut are superb. This is a book well worth your while!