Christopher Nugent Lawrence Brooke (1927–2015)

I wish I were a more educated person to write the review of this book, since there are no other reviews on LT, however, this review by a non-specialist will have to do.

This was very readable, not dry or dull. The author wrote with some humor, as an observer of history trying to learn as much of the mystery of these early kings as possible without over-reaching and making assumptions which cannot be proven. He cited early and original sources, as well as more recent historians who have written on these very early kings. There are some photos of artifacts, some illustrations, genealogical tables and an index. Sadly, only one sketch of a map.

For this American non-educated person, it was a great way to become familiar with the places and events of early English kingdoms. It covers the time between 550 A.D. and 1150 A.D. The author approaches it as a mystery with clues, not as settled fact, admitting the bias each scholar brings to his studies. He tells how each king was "elected" and a bit of their reign, if it is known at all. Brooke also gives a feeling of time and place, explaining how the culture and beliefs were different then, and how they evolved.

All in all, I enjoyed this book and will keep it for a reference, although I doubt I will read it again straight through.… (altro)

When I skimmed through this book prior to buying, I could see that there was a lot about the architecture of European monasteries but I didn't know too much about the text. In fact, it's pretty much a description of a few of the major monastic traditions: Augustine from Nth Africa about 400AD, Cassian in the south of France about the same time, Then a long break to St Benedict, of Nursia who wrote the "rules" 530 AD, which have been followed by the various monasteries (more or less) over a thousand years. Though there are different interpretations about the proportion of time given to prayer (and the contemplative life), and work or engagement in the community and good deeds.....basically harking back to the sisters, Mary and Martha....Martha doing the practical stuff ...making and serving the food.... Mary lounging around listening to Jesus. And Jesus says Mary did the better thing!! So for a thousand or more years the monks were praying and chanting instead of feeding the poor etc. based on this story.
In some ways the book appears to be an attempt to fuse the rules based systems and the consequent daily rituals of the monks with the architecture of the monasteries themselves. So, for example, when the monks came to the choir to chant (in the dead of the night) they had to get back to their dormitories or cells afterwards. So there needs to be a clear way to get there. (Actually, the control over the lives of the monks seemed to be absolute ....hence the vow of obedience. And they seem to be the same sorts of techniques used today by cults to brainwash and hold their members).
In addition, many of the recruits were placed in the monasteries as children (10 years old) They were not there by choice ...and there are some remarkable throwaway lines about how incorrigible the youth are ...."we beat them continually....but to no avail". Well seems the catholic church has form in regard to child abuse....going back over a thousand years. (Though probably they were not the only group involved in physical abuse of kids).
There are lots of lovely architectural photographs of monasteries...both those in good condition and those in ruins. (Seems that Henry VIII and his henchmen did a thorough job of destroying monasteries in England). Christopher Brooke traces the development of Monasteries especially around the period from 1100 to around 1250 AD and this seemed to correspond to the flowering of monastic life and construction. It also corresponded to a population explosion (which came to a halt with the Black plague around 1340AD). Brooke doesn't make the point but there is probably some connection with the Medieval warming of climate which corresponded with this time. He guesses that around 1300AD there were around 150,000- 200,000 "religious" in Western Christendom. In England between 1066 and around 1150 the number of "monkish houses" increased about 10 fold from 60 to nearly 600 and by 1300 was about 1000 houses. The same sort of expansion was taking place over most of Europe and "a traveller in 1300 would have been hard put to find a place in these lands more than 30 km from the nearest religious house; and in the richest areas ...more than 15 km.....and to this day one can walk from one surviving fragment of a medieval abbey to the next for weeks on end".
There are a few interesting tidbits bits....Ulrich 1075 AD wrote about the daily life and the central Monastery of Cluny.....How the bell rang in the middle of the night for Mattins and the monks rose, and dressed and went down through the cloisters to the church etc.,...... How "a monk went around with a lantern to check that none was asleep in his stall". (Sounds like a fun life-style). ...."As to our baths", says Ulrich, there is not much that we can say, for we only bath twice a year, before Christmas and before Easter".
I was quite taken with the Cistercians who seemed to adopt a sterner discipline for themselves and certainly built some well designed and well constructed buildings ...with running water and water wheels to generate power for grinding etc.....though it was the lay brothers who seemed to do all the real work while the monks retreated to fasting and praying etc. The Cistercians were basically the product of St Bernard at Clairvaux Monastery.
I found that I have actually visited quite a number of these old monasteries ...especially in Spain and have always been fascinated by the Romanesque style...heavy but ornamental. And always fascinated by how the builders were able to make stone kind of float in the air through the use of pillars and arches and vaulting. So I really enjoyed the pictures and to a great extent the text.
However, I must say that Brooke has a very strange writing style ...he jumps from the third person to the overly-personal first-person ..."And so we go down with him to the convent not far from the city gates; to San Damiano". It's an awkward and a rather clumsy jump ...and it's accompanied sometimes by some rather over-wrought prose such as: 'His analysis of temptation avoids the contortions of an over-anxious conscience, but cuts like a sharp knife through the flourishing roots of self-deception" P29. But, on the whole it's fairly easy to read.
I was disappointed that he doesn't cover any of the monasteries of the East...of Greece and Turkey and Palestine. But maybe he's saving these for a future volume.
In a way, it is a chronicle of the heavy-hand of the Christian church on free thinking and scientific endeavour which held Europe back for about 1000 years ...from Augustine to the reformation and renaissance. Don't think...just chant! I give it four stars.… (altro)

This was a hard read, but well worth the effort. I'd be particularly interested to see if there were major differences in style between the 1964 edition (the edition I read) and later re-writes. It was helpful to be reading the story of Saladin at the same time, at least to learn about the later parts of the period from a variety of perspectives. It would be useful for non-Europeans to have an atlas at hand, especially to identify the historical areas outlined. I'd recommend having a general understanding of the period before reading the book; otherwise, much of the detail will be lost on the novice reader. As for the book itself, it lost its coherent thread once the period of the crusades was entered: I am still not sure why the period selected focused so heavily on religious practice, as this was clearly not representative of the title. Nonetheless, well worth the effort to really round-out my understanding of the period, especially the detailed bibliographical notes provided at the beginning of each chapter. Not for the faint-hearted, but I really enjoy finding random old books, reading them, and then discovering they are classic in their field.… (altro)