Review: Nemesis: Medieval England's Greatest Enemy by Catherine Hanley

Nemesis: Medieval England's Greatest Enemy

by Catherine Hanley

Release Date: September 11, 2025

2025 Osprey Publishing

Ebook ARC; 304 Pages

ISBN: 978-1472867445

ASIN: B0DXBZZKBL

Audiobook: B0F9FY93R6

Genre: Non-Fiction / History / Medieval

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

The extraordinary tale of Philip Augustus, one of medieval Europe's greatest monarchs, and the part he played in the downfall of four Plantagenet kings of England.

Philip II ruled France with an iron fist for over 40 years, expanding its borders and increasing its power. For his entire reign his counterpart on the English throne was a member of the Plantagenet dynasty, and Philip took on all of them: Henry II, Richard the Lionheart, John and Henry III. And yet we know so little about medieval England's greatest enemy.

Historian Catherine Hanley, author of the critically acclaimed 1217, redresses this imbalance, bringing Philip out of the shadows in this fascinating new history. Delving into French medieval archives, Nemesis explores Philip's motives for attacking England and in doing so we learn not only about him but discover so much more about England's most colourful and controversial of rulers - the Plantagenets.

 

My Thoughts

Nemesis: Medieval England's Greatest Enemy is not a biography about Philip Augustus, but is a look at how he manipulated four Plantagenet kings of England in order to increase France's power and to capture land previously held by the English kings. I knew going into this book that this was more political in nature and would focus on the battle of wits between England and France as well as actual battles that occurred. This is a look at Philip and his relationships with King Henry II, Henry the young King, King Richard, King John and King Henry III.  

 

Philip came to power at a relatively young age, fourteen years old, and that determination and iron-will were there right from the beginning, as typically a young man of that age would have a regent until the age of 21. Not for Philip however, as he took control right from the beginning, and proved himself to be methodical and quite intelligent, and while he was merciful when dealing with others, he could also be quite ruthless and knew how to play the game quite well. He had the ability to see greatness in other people and wasn't above promoting someone to a position of power despite their humble origins.  He ruled with an iron-fist for over 40 years and his political acumen allowed him to exploit weakness in others, and this is where the Plantagenet family comes into play.

 

Philip was a medieval king, therefore he wasn't just a force to be reckoned with in the political arena, but also a force on the battlefield. He had to be strong in all areas as this is something that is expected in a medieval king, and the pressure to succeed would be immense. So, while he won numerous battles, his political acumen allowed to see the grand game, and he developed patience so that his plans could come to fruition, some of those plans taking years to develop. This didn't include just his international relationships, but also his personal ones in order to have a stable dynasty to rely on, knowing the crown would be secure in the future.  That this caused him a lot of trouble was included in this book, but only in how it pertained to the political climate. 

 

This book is very well-researched and very readable, one that even someone with limited knowledge of the time period would be able to comprehend. It is very informative, and I spent a lot of time reading the footnotes at the end of each chapter because they were just as interesting.  I have read a lot about this time and even studied it at university, but I thought the focus on Philip's relationship with the Plantagenets to be quite fascinating as I don't think I realized how much planning and manipulating Philip actually did during this time period.  I was never really pro-Philip before, but I wasn't pro-Plantagenet either, and this book has made me much more pro-Philip; and to be fair, the author didn't really play sides and talked about the strengths and weaknesses of all the kings mentioned in this book. Philip was like the grand chessmaster while the others were just learning how to move their pieces. And the other kings were not necessarily weak kings, just outmaneuvered by someone stronger. 

 

Verdict

Nemesis: Medieval England's Greatest Enemy zeroes in on King Philip and how he was the most powerful opponent to England during this time period, and how he used the weaknesses in the sons of King Henry II to manipulate and exploit situations to France's advantage, and he did this for over 40 years. To borrow a phrase, he outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted King Henry II and his four sons as well as conquered a lot of the lands originally held by them. If you are looking for an in-depth book about King Philip, this is not what you are going to find here, but it is a worthy canon to add to the literature about the people who ruled during this time period. 

 

Review: The Brothers York: A Royal Tragedy by Thomas Penn

The Brothers York: A Royal Tragedy

by Thomas Penn

Release Date: June 16,  2020

2020 Simon Schuster

Hardcover & Ebook Editions; 688 Pages

ISBN: 978-1451694192

ASIN: B07Z44P4KC

Audiobook: B07RWDSJ6W

Genre: Non-Fiction / Historical / Medieval

Source: Review copy from publisher

4 / 5 Stars

Summary

n 15th-century England, two royal families, the House of York and the House of Lancaster, fought a bitter, decades-long civil war for the English throne. As their symbols were a red rose for Lancaster and a white rose for York, the conflict became known as the Wars of the Roses.

During this time, the house of York came to dominate England. At its heart were three charismatic brothers—King Edward IV, and his two younger siblings George and Richard—who became the figureheads of a spectacular ruling dynasty. Together, they looked invincible.

But with Edward’s ascendancy the brothers began to turn on one another, unleashing a catastrophic chain of rebellion, vendetta, fratricide, usurpation, and regicide. 

 

My Thoughts

The Brothers York was a fascinating look at the relationship between the King Edward IV, George, and King Richard III during one of the most bitter wars for the English throne.  And while I thoroughly enjoyed the way the author presented his information, and the descriptions of the battles and other scenes were very well done, I still felt like there was something missing throughout that took me quite a while to figure out.

 

Honestly, the story of Lancaster and York has more treachery, deceit, backstabbing, and secrets than anything you would find in a fiction novel which is why I think the lives of these men have fascinated historians and readers alike for centuries. Even though I have been reading about this time period for years, every new telling still makes me squirm when I read about the horrors that men will do to others all in the quest of a throne and power.  There were a lot of changes happening in Europe during this time period, with the emergence of a rather stronger France, difficulties with Burgundy and Scotland, new technologies in a lot of areas including warfare, and a lot of disputes over trade.  With a weak king in England, the time was ripe for some sort of rebellion to occur.

 

I did think the author wrote about the events concisely and with interesting detail. To be fair, I soak these types of books up as I have a huge interest in this time period and the more I learn, the more I am fascinated.  At the same time, I did feel like there was something lacking and it took a bit of reflection to figure out exactly what it was as the details and descriptions of the time period were quite good.  What was missing was the passion and the drive behind all of these actions. I just felt like the deeper insight into what really drove the people involved was missing and how the actions influenced each other into doing what they did.  While the author did a really great job analyzing the events, there was little to no discussing analyzing people's emotions and the effect they would have had on each other. With such a tightly knit group, all actions would have had consequences on everybody else.  For example, how such men involved actually gained their power and influence was not really discussed, you just had to accept it as it was, but in this world, men didn't just rise to be powerful, they had to have done something, or cemented alliances that would enable this.  These were passionate men who risked everything so a little bit more insight into their motives would have been nice.  I also felt the author didn't do Richard III justice, but focused more on the negative things during his reign rather than on his legacy, most of which was ignored in the book. Although he only reigned for two years, he definitely implemented a lot of changes that were beneficial to the people. Yes, he had his issues, and I don't agree with what he did to Edward V, but I did feel the author was less forthcoming with his part of the story. 

 

Verdict

The Brothers York was definitely gripping and worth the read. Edward, Clarence, and Richard had a complicated relationship bred during difficult times and had known little other than war and stress.  However, the story did lack deeper understanding and analysis of the motivations behind the actions and I would have liked to have seen more development of the relationships between the people and how they influenced each other into making the choices they did.  A bit more depth would have made this book amazing. 

 

Review: Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers that Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe by M. Gabriele & D.M. Perry

Oathbreakers: The War of Brothers that Shattered an Empire and Made Medieval Europe

by Matthew Gabriele & David M. Perry

Release Date: December 10, 2024

2024 Harper

Ebook ARC; 304 Pages

ISBN: 978-0063336674

ASIN: B0CZ798FMJ

Audiobook: B0CYHZTW4W

Genre: Non-Fiction / Historical / Medieval

Source: Review copy from publisher

 

4 / 5 Stars

 

Summary

By the early ninth century, the Carolingian empire was at the height of its power. The Franks, led by Charlemagne, had built the largest European domain since Rome in its heyday. Though they jockeyed for power, prestige, and profit, the Frankish elites enjoyed political and cultural consensus. But just two generations later, their world was in shambles. Civil war, once an unthinkable threat, had erupted after Louis the Pious’s sons overthrew him—and then placed their knives at the other’s neck. Families who had once charged into battle together now drew each other’s blood.

The Carolingian Civil War would rage for years as kings fought kings, brother faced off against brother, and sons challenged fathers. Oathbreakers is the dramatic history of this brutal, turbulent time.

My Thoughts

Oathbreakers is the second book I've read by these authors and I enjoyed the intricate writing and detailed descriptions of the time period.  Although I am very familiar with Charlemagne and the havoc his sons and grandsons set in motion after his death, the authors did a great job at bringing a fresh perspective to the details of the time period.  For anyone familiar with the time period, I don't think this book offers anything new, but it does offer a clear insight into the causes and consequences of what happened. I definitely liked the more human perspective; it's always easy to say in hindsight that such and such should have been done, but the authors did a great job to show the humanness of the actions and choices that people made, not realizing until much later the impact those choices would have on future events and people. 

This book is definitely written for those who don't have a lot of knowledge about the time period, so the authors take a different approach in their writing than is usual in non-fiction history books, more of a chatty approach, one meant to feel as if they are talking to you or lecturing you.  For the most part this didn't bother me, but there were times when it drove me crazy, especially during the more serious parts of the book when I felt like the subject material was too serious for this 'chattiness'.  Maybe having a history background kind of affected my feelings about this as I am used to a more serious approach, but there were times when I just wanted the authors to go much more in-depth and talk about how serious the situation actually was as those moments definitely impacted those places for generations to come.  The lighter tone just didn't always match the situation.

That being said however, the authors did do a great job of outlining the Carolingians and the impact they had on the time period. This is definitely not an easy story to tell and outline so I appreciated the cohesiveness of what was done in this book.  And trying to keep all the names straight is no easy feat when half of them are names Louis or Charles or Pepin or something similar.  I also liked how the authors mentioned a bit about the societal structure and the impact the wars would have had on starvation and disease over the years, although little is known about the farmers and other people who did not serve at court. Unless there is  stash of papers hidden somewhere, there is a lot we will never know and the authors constantly mention the sources from which they gain their information as well as the reliability of those sources.  In some instances, we just don't know why some people were at odd with each other and can only speculate based on future actions. 

Verdict

Oathbreakers provided a fascinating look into this medieval time period. I was particularly fascinated by the relationships, especially those of the daughters who spent their entire life at court, had affairs and children out of wedlock, but influenced a lot of wealthy people nonetheless yet paid the consequences for those relationships. And what happened to Judith of Bavaria as well as Dhuoda just made the reader realize how much women sacrificed for their children or were victims of the political struggles. The authors did a great job bringing this time period to life and provided perspective for actions and decisions that were made, but there is no question the idiocy of the nobility were responsible for a lot of death and destruction that very much impacted the development of Europe. I know people like to ascribe certain people as being 'heroes', but I liked how the authors showed a different side to that perception and really make you think about who you venerate.