Thomas AsbridgeThe Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, the Power Behind Five English Thrones

To the person that recommended to me this book, I wish to thank from the heart for my love of History. This was indeed a fabulous book on a Knight who is deemed today by many in academic circles to have been “The Greatest Knight.”This accounting of Earl William Marshal is nothing short of brilliant. Persons who study, read, learn, and write of medieval History will of course be able to split hairs on the work offered by Mr. Asbridge. I am not one of those people mind you, but the thoroughness of this work and the ability to keep it interesting and lasting speaks revelations to the effort this author completed on an important part of English and British History, History that has essentially impacted the World. Though these events of William Marshal begin in the 12th century and end in the early 13th; there is by far and wide a modern-day lesson for human kind and especially those of us who live and reside in the modern Western hemisphere of the globe. William Marshal began with life, like so many during and after his time of life, with a relatively meager existence – but this story resurfaces in 1861 with a French Researcher by the name of Paul Meyer; he would have an additional 20-year delay of the recorded history in his hands. Like so many parts of History of all forms, there is a “story behind the story” between the written account was completed and then rediscovered. By the time Paul Meyer has begun the work of research into this Historical work, he realizes that the pages of this effort hadn’t been opened in at least 250+ years (maybe more.) True treasure is not often something immediately converted for monetary value; delayed gratification in this sense and to this work is a perfect example of where the real value lay.Mr. Asbridge is in my opinion the Author for modern times to assist bringing to life the History as it had been recorded; and, in this manner he transcends into the Authoritarian on the topic though I doubt he would give himself that title. This is my personal opinion on the matter. As is often the case, when History is recorded near to the time or during the time the events occur some truths have to be withheld – the original work on William Marshal is no different. From almost a military flanking movement however, there are authors of these era’s that are at times able to assist in information where the official biographer has had to omit or downplay. Mr. Asbridge does as good a job at digging out these oblique written documents as he could have, based on the existence of the same. I feel certain that 100% of this Historical accounting is accurate; and, that 90-95% of the life of William Marshal was written to be a living visit of future generations. The 5-10% that is not available in this Historical work is based (again) to the proximity of time to which it was written in order to protect living family members and others from the complete story from being spilled forth.Art work within the book: The artwork is all relevant and in high definition color photos of paintings conducted more that 700 – to 800 years ago. The photos of the burial effigy’s all relate to the overarching sense of time and make one feel as though they have entered a place just steps away from the Holy Grail itself.Maps: As is normally the case for me, there weren’t enough maps, but those that were present they give a general feel to the locations of occurrences of war, battle, travel, and events as they unfolded – still, the book could use more and not merely up front of the book but peppered throughout in a better form. This by no means takes away the significance of the book.Long time students of History should read this book, young people of today could gain a better grasp of character if they chose to read this book as well. This book deserves no less than 9 stars out of 10; I will give it here 5 stars out of 5 for the manner to which it hit me and has opened a whole new path of History. Again, to the person who recommended this book to me – many thanks! Agincourt is still my favorite (“favourite” for my more proper English friends) battle of all time.

I had read a historical fiction account of the life of William Marshal, so this book was a natural progression. Without all of the fictional devices, this book is still an interesting book which adds depth and background into the life of what would become the archetypal medieval, chivalric knight.Though only the second son of a minor noble, William Marshal would become familiar to kings early in life. The experience, however, would prove almost deadly to the five year old when his father turned him over to King Stephen in 1152 as a bond to honor his word , and promptly reneged on his promise to the king. As far the fate of his son, John Marshal reportedly disregarded the importance of the child saying "he still had the anvils and hammers to produce even finer ones." If his father did not see his value, then perhaps Stephen did because not only did young Marshal survive his childhood brush with death, he went on to serve not only Stephen but the following five Angevin kings the followed.Marshal grew from a lesser son to a tournament champion who came to epitomize not only knightly ideals but those of a military commander, trusted courtier, and polished diplomat. Almost all that is known of medieval life can be learned from Marshall whose life stretched into his eighth decade.Amazingly, Marshal's life was almost lost to history if not for the serendipity encounter of a French scholar, Paul Meyer, who was perusing the Sotheby's auction in 1861 for his employer French employer. Finding himself priced out by other buyers, Meyer came across the small, obscure volume of French poetry entitled Norman-French Chronicle on English Affairs.  The book would eventually bought that day by another buyer, but fate would intervene again twenty years later when Meyer would have the chance to buy the book from the estate of the previous buyer who had never bothered apparently to catalogue or even open the book. What Meyer had bought was the History of William Marshal which had been commissioned by the Lord of Pemboke's eldest son twenty years after the elder Marshal's death.If you are looking for a Philippa Gregory tome of the predecessors of the Tudor clan, this is not what you are seeking. The author, Thomas Ashbridge, judiciously analyzes the account written about Marshal against other primary evidence documents of the time and tries to explain when discrepancies or gaps are discovered. What is contained is a magnificent story of a man who rose in rank when such a climb was all but impossible. But William Marshal, second son, was no ordinary man, this was no ordinary time, and his is no ordinary tale.

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storia di una vita estraordinaria

Historically detailed and poignent!The book gives us an insight into the world of legendary knights and historical traditions of the Angevins...

Excellent. Asbridge’s writing style is so easy to read and provides a wonderful historical narrative. It also explores a topic and individual who has never been covered before. I highly recommend it.