5 "phenomenal, accessible, foundational" stars !!

Thank you to Netalley, the author and Cambridge University Press for an e-copy. This was released in August 2020. I am providing my honest review.

I do not think I could be more enthusiastic about a history text. This is not a book of popular history but a textbook about pan-european royal dynasties in the medieval ages. This is an amazing, comprehensive, fascinating and accessible book about the sociological family and political developments on royal power throughout Europe. This historian very carefully and sequentially prepares the reader to comprehensively understand these developments within Christian Europe. He covers England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Bohemia, Eastern Europe, Byzantium, Cyprus and quite a few others.

Mr. Bartlett slowly and carefully lays out all the sociological and political rules that developed through Europe and over time provides hundreds (and I mean hundreds) of examples to demonstrate to the serious student or amateur historian how rules, customs and power dynamics were born, developed and dissipated. This is an extremely skillful and difficult feat. The book includes pictures and illustrations and the last forty percent of the book includes summaries, notes and sources.

For the first time in my life I feel like I have a grasp on understanding Medieval European Royal Dynasties in a comprehensive and literate manner.

I started this book in October 2022 and with my morning tea would read a morsel, take a few notes and layer by layer my understanding and appreciation of this subject matter grew in both breadth and depth. The author also lit a fire under my chair to learn much more about the Byzantine Empire. Yass !

I truly cannot rave about this book enough and I am so grateful for what I learned and the enjoyment provided. I truly wish this book could have gone on forever as it made each morning special and educational.

Just a word for readers: this is not a general history. As the title suggests it is very specifically focused on politics and dynasties. Those looking for a general history of the period would be better off reading Dan Jones "Powers and Thrones".
Blood Royal is an incredible tour de Force through the complicated, murky and merciless world of Medieval Dynastic politics. It covers everything from the rules of sucession and the roles of women, as well as women who broke the mold and ruled for themselves, or played a role in shaping dynasties.
Also explored are role of the church, the place of illegitimate children, usurpers and pretenders, the merits and weaknesses of different political systems and traditions.

There is no judgement, just a guide to the variious families, tribes, and dynasties who became rulers of Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire, from Hungary to England and Scotland. The brutal and ruthless nature of dynastic politics inevitably emerges, with quotes about how it was unwise to leave sons alive when you killed a father, or mentions of the Byzantines favourite method of getting rid of inconvenient royals: blinding.

Professor Bartlett has covered the subject in the erudite, authoritative yet approachable style that those of us who grew up watching the documentaries he hosted know and love.

Grateful thanks to Cambridge University Press for approving my request for this title. I was not required to write a review, but I may well be investing in the paperback edition of this title to add to my shelves.

Blood Royal is a complete and detailed work, written by an obviously very enthusiastic and passionate historian and researcher. The last third of this book consists of a detailed overview of notes, a few family trees and an extensive bibliography. This will more than please history students and history enthusiasts alike.

From the first chapter onwards I felt like being slapped around my face with anecdote after anecdote after anecdote about a multitude of royals, from Ireland to Byzanthium and from Norway to Sicily, all between the years approx. 500 to 1480.
Overall the strongest focus is on the period between the 9th and the 13th centuries.

I understand why Bartlett decided to divide his work up in different topics, and consequently didn't follow a chronological pattern. The idea is sensible.
However, due to the amount of detail and the great quantity of the royals discussed, and all their background stories, it felt a bit chaotic and a bit much sometimes to keep track of everything.

Perhaps another reason for this perceived 'chaos' is the writing style: who is the audience Bartlett had in mind when writing this book? Sometimes it feels like a work by a serious historian writing for a generation of students. At other times in the book he tries to be a bit funny and light and he gives the impression of having a popular audience in mind.
The cover doesn't give much of a clue either. It's so dull...you just don't expect such a wonderful and interesting work in there.

I'm so happy that between all the detail and anecdotes there is a fair share of analysis to be found. This enriches the work, gives it a deeper layer and makes it a valuable reference work for students and for the more serious history enthusiasts.

Thank you Netgalley and publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

What a pleasure for a history nerd! This was such a well researched and immersive read, I am no real student of history but more of a casual learner and this exceeded my expectations by with the level of depth of coverage to each section, the notion of how royalty became royalty, was always a rather vague one for me and this book not only put it in perspective but organized it’s logic in an easily followed pattern. Very much of a good read,

Blood Royal By Robert Bartlett

Rating: 4 / 5 Stars

Publication Date: 8/25/2020

** Thank you to Netgalley, Cambridge University Press, and of course, Robert Bartlett, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Medieval Europe has always fascinated me. Since my early ages of being passionate about history, I always went back to the time period where monarchy was the basis of politics, the Pope exercised the power of Europe, beautiful nobility danced around courts, and titles meant everything.

Robert Bartlett’s Blood Royal investigates all of the above. At the core is the history of bloodline and monarchy in the middle ages. Family politics intertwined with politics, specifically, who is given the role of king or queen. Christian kingdoms as well as Byzantium family dynasties are explored in this fascinating and comprehensive book.

A perfect example of the complex family dynasties in charge of Europe would be that of the Plantagenets (and the battle for power between cousins, known as the Wars of The Roses, and the infamous Henry VIII of the Tudors. We can never forget the quest for a son which lead to two beheadings, a new country-wide religion, and countless exiles (and, one of the most infamous Queens of English history!)

Family issues are always at the core of any dynasty, but what happens when they rule a land?

Great book!

A great read for any royal history lover, full of facts and information especially on medieval English history.

I received Blood Royal as part of a NetGalley giveaway.

A sweeping look the dynastic politics of (mostly) medieval (mostly) Europe, covering a wide range of issues--from (il)legitimacy, lines of inheritance, familiar rivalries, the role of women, the relationship between the Church and rulers/territories, and much more.

I love this period and subject, so I found this an enjoyable read despite its breadth and depth. It's organized by subject rather than time, so in a single section you may hear anecdotes from 10th century Byzantium, 12th century France, and 14th century Bohemia. I was fine with this setup, but it can feel a little frenetic. It's definitely one of those books where I had to find a quiet place and really focus without a lot of distractions. I could see where some people used to a rolling narrative might find it dry, but as a fan I found it fascinating, particularly the coverage of less-well-known territories and rulers from Central and Southern Europe, the Byzantine Empire, and the holy lands.

A deep dive into how dynastic politics shaped Medieval Europe. People generally know that marriages were arranged to solidify alliances (which sometimes actually worked), but the details the author shares in this book are beyond whatever you may have picked up from other historical works. For example, the author goes into a thorough accounting of pretenders, impostors and usurpers that was particularly fascinating. A very good read into a little-explored part of history.

It is an interesting look at both men and women in the medieval world and not just about one or the other. Talks of heirs, queens away from home, alliances, burials, use of astrology and more. An introduction to different people and situations. Good for those who like this time period.

Robert Bartlett writes books that are thoroughly researched and well written. This book "Blood Royal" is everything you ever wanted to know about European royalty. Not just Britain but the continent too. What I love about this book is it has a lot of material about women. Women as in marriage, childbirth, mistresses, illegitimate children, legitimate children, death in childbirth, and most interesting women sovereigns. It even addressed the homesickness of a teenaged bride leaving everything she knows and going to a strange land with strange customs and a language she does not speak to marry a man she does not know. Also, she was expected to put a brave face on it and make the best of it. Not for me or my daughters, thank you. There is so much information I did get bogged down and it took me a while to read this book but it was worth it. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book in exchange for a review.

With a focus on medieval Europe, Blood Royal by Robert Bartlett takes on the system of monarchies and how families were shapes by births, marriages and deaths. Monarchies were the essence of medieval Europe.

It is an in-depth look at the way monarchy works, and I was delighted to find that the book did not solely focus on the United Kingdom. The research can only be described as meticulous as about a third of the book's pages are for the many, many sources. This book would have worked well, but I found it quite dry, and after a while, I was flipping through to the next chapter hoping it would be a little bit more enticing. 

Overall, it is an excellent reference work but not quite suitable for the casual reader.

This will make a must have resource / reference for those with a penchant for medieval history. It is extremely well researched - so all the hard work is done for you - and is extensively noted with a comprehensive bibliography. There are many unique examples peppered throughout to support the information - so not just the standard, more familiar dynasties - which is easy to both read and understand.

Definitely on for my own personal library.

A very detailed look into the practicalities of blood succession and monarchies. While most people commonly understand that monarchs were usually male, and usually preferred sons, this book delves into the nitty gritty of what made monarchies function. While the approach is scholarly, a casual reader should be able navigate the text pretty easily, though it is a bit dry. The focus of the book is broken up by subject and any ruler that fits the subject is discussed within that chapter. This will make it easy for a student to turn to the relevant chapter and read the examples of say a king co-ruling with a crowned son during his lifetime, but makes for a somewhat confusing and distracting approach for someone reading it cover to cover. Monarchs come up and then the focus skips ahead a century, then the next chapter that previously discussed monarch reappears again without much introduction. With so many similarly named monarchs, jumping from country to country and century to century can be frustrating to read and keep track of. This is really my only complaint about this well researched and interesting book. It adds a lot of insight into how biology contributed to the state of nations, and how each monarch and their respective monarchy differed from others in subtle ways. Definitely a great read for those interested in how ancient monarchies functioned, and how they have shaped both past events and the basis for surviving modern monarchies.

636 pages

4 stars

Don't worry, the book is nearly half extensive citations and a copious bibliography. The author does a remarkable job researching his subject. Frankly, I was surprised to see just how much intensive studying he must have done to put this book together.

The focus of this book is what we call the “Middle Ages.” The reader learns about the importance of making the “right” marriage and having the all important sons to inherit the throne. Certainly a woman could not effectively rule. The debate about marrying within the realm or taking a bride from another kingdom was very interesting. I did not realize that it was such an important factor in choosing a bride. There are other subjects covered as well, speaking of many aspects of kingship.

However, the only drawback I can comment on is that the text is so dry I could hear the rustling as I turned the pages on my Kindle. I recommend this book not for the casual reader, but for the serious student of this period in time.

Very well done, Professor Bartlett.

I want to thank NetGalley and Cambridge University Press for forwarding to me a copy of this fascinating book for me to read, enjoy and review.