Overview

The Earl, The Kings, And The Chronicler is the first full length biography of Robert (c.1088-1147), grandson of William the Conqueror and eldest son of King Henry I of England (1100-35), who could not succeed his father because he was a bastard. Instead, as the earl of Gloucester, he helped change the course of English history by keeping alive the prospects for an Angevin succession through his leadership of its supporters against his father's successor, King Stephen (1135-54) in the civil war known as the Anarchy. Robert of Gloucester is one of the great figures of Anglo-Norman history (1066-1154). He occupies important niches in the era's literature, from comprehensive political studies of Henry I's and Stephen's reigns and an array of specialized fields to the 'Brother Cadfael' novels of Ellis Peters. Gloucester was one of only three landed super-magnates of his day, a model post-Conquest great baron, Marcher lord, borough developer, and patron of the rising merchant class. His trans-Channel barony stretched from western Lower Normandy across England to south Wales. Robert was both a product and a significant agent of the contemporary cultural revival known as the Renaissance of the Twelfth Century, being bi-lingual, well educated, and a significant literary patron. In this last role he is especially notable for commissioning the greatest English historian since Bede, William of Malmesbury, to produce a history of their times which justified the empress Matilda's claim to the English throne and Earl Robert's support of it.

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9780198797814

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Reviews

...this brief but extensively researched and densely argued work makes a valuable contribution to historical understanding of two important reigns, of aristocratic power in the Anglo-Norman realm, and of the composition, purpose and patronage of medieval chronicles. * Daniel Power, Swansea University, The Welsh History Review * The attention Patterson gives to Robert's earlier career as a king's son, a learned and well-connected layman, and a powerful feudal lord, not only throws important new light on Robert's best-known role as Matilda's champion, but shows that he was more than that - a great magnate of Anglo-Norman England, preoccupied with family, status, and land. * Michael Staunton, Speculum * this book represents a much-needed addition to the existing historiography ... [it] encapsulates a wealth of important research and scholarship that will be of direct interest and great benefit to many readers ... The Earl, the Kings and the Chronicler certainly represents a significant contribution to the field and a springboard for further research. * Daniel Booker, H-Soz-u-Kult *

this book represents a much-needed addition to the existing historiography ... [it] encapsulates a wealth of important research and scholarship that will be of direct interest and great benefit to many readers ... The Earl, the Kings and the Chronicler certainly represents a significant contribution to the field and a springboard for further research. * Daniel Booker, H-Soz-u-Kult *

... as never before, Robert emerges here as a dynamic, three-dimensional figure completely enmeshed in the key questions of his generation. * Kathryn Dutton, The English Historical Review * ...this brief but extensively researched and densely argued work makes a valuable contribution to historical understanding of two important reigns, of aristocratic power in the Anglo-Norman realm, and of the composition, purpose and patronage of medieval chronicles. * Daniel Power, Swansea University, The Welsh History Review * The attention Patterson gives to Robert's earlier career as a king's son, a learned and well-connected layman, and a powerful feudal lord, not only throws important new light on Robert's best-known role as Matilda's champion, but shows that he was more than that - a great magnate of Anglo-Norman England, preoccupied with family, status, and land. * Michael Staunton, Speculum * this book represents a much-needed addition to the existing historiography ... [it] encapsulates a wealth of important research and scholarship that will be of direct interest and great benefit to many readers ... The Earl, the Kings and the Chronicler certainly represents a significant contribution to the field and a springboard for further research. * Daniel Booker, H-Soz-u-Kult *

Author Information

Robert B. Patterson is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at The University of South Carolina.

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