The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (Review)

Title: The Prince
Author: Niccolò Machiavelli
First published: 1532
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Rating: ★★★☆☆

I don't know why I picked The Prince in the first place: I'm not a fan of political writing or non-fiction, but the mood stroke me and I downloaded it. The book is very short and, although it was written in the 16th century, very accessible. It's essentially a self-help for rulers, stating what are the best ways to gain and retain power, how to approach different problems and to manage different social strata of the kingdom.

Machiavelli is unscrupulous and ruthless, but his methods seem to be really effective. Anyway, what do a hundred dozen dead people mean if it leads to a greater prosperity of the kingdom? :) It is difficult to support his views from the modern point of view, but it's very interesting to explore his reasoning anyway.

Machiavelli was writing The Prince at the time when Italy didn't have a common ruler, and powerful families, the Pope and foreign kings all competed for influence in different regions. Along with the classical examples taken from Roman history Machivelli also uses contemporary situation to explain his views, which makes the book a great source of historical information. Luckily, I was a bit acquainted with Italian politics of the time (thanks to The Borgias! -_-), so it was much easier for me to make sense of what was being referred to. But no previous knowledge is necessary to be able to enjoy the book. (Although if you go and binge-watch The Borgias, you will not regret it!)

In my book:
An essential classic, especially if you are interested in history, philosophy and politics.

Geoffrey of Monmouth's works

Title: The History of the Kings of Britain
Author: Geoffrey of Monmouth
First published Written: 1136
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Rating: ★★★☆☆

Geoffrey of Monmouth is the one who laid the foundation for Arthur's insane popularity, as he was the first to collect all the legends and stories about him, put them into historical context and present as truth. Geoffrey claims that his work is just a translation of some "certain very ancient book written in the British language", but the truth is that he just mixed whatever written sources he has read with some Welsh myths he has heard and spiced the story up with some fictitious adornments to make it exciting. Although The History of the Kings of Britain had been considered a serious historical work for some time, now it should be read more as a historical fiction or fantasy. Nor is it less gripping than the modern books of these genres.

Geoffrey starts the history of Britons with the story of Trojan Aeneas, which he totally ripped off from Virgil. Aeneas's grandson Brutus is banished from Italy where his people now reside and has to colonize Britain. After battling some giants to free the island for settling, he becomes the first of the kings of Britons. Geoffrey tells about all the subsequent kings chronologically, but he has his favorites, and while some of them get two lines, the deeds of others occupy tens of pages. Among the characters most beloved by Geoffrey are: King Lear, Cassibelanus, Vortigern and of course Arthur.

Unlike Nennius, who only lists Arthur's battles, Geoffrey describes his life in detail. There is a totally amazing story of his conception (not without the help of Merlin!), the story of his battles and the conquest of half of Europe and the account of his death and departure to Avalon after a wound inflicted in the battle against his treacherous nephew Mordred. All the basic elements of the subsequent retellings are there, but it is still a legend, not a fully developed story. We don't know much about the character of Arthur of his followers, there is no explanation of Mordred's treason and Guinevere's behavior. There is no sword in the stone as yet, no famous knights surrounding him, no Grail and no real charm in the story. But it's a beginning, and a fascinating beginning for all that.

In my book:
This is a good place to start exploring Arthur story, but it's important to remember that most of the book is Geoffrey's fantasy :)

Title: Life of Merlin
Author: Geoffrey of Monmouth
First published Written: 1150
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Rating: ★★★☆☆

Unlike The History of the Kings of Britain, Life of Merlin is a story in verse, and it doesn't concern Arthur at all. It tells about Merlin as a mad prophet, who went off his head and withdrew to the forests after the death of his two brothers. After that, his wife and sister are constantly trying to drag him back to civilization, but in his short relapses he makes his horrifyingly true but cynical and indiscreet predictions and runs away again. Finally, he trains some apprentice prophets and dies in the forests after foreseeing the future of Britain.

The story would have been amazing, if the second half of it was not filled with the useless information about birds, fishes, geography, physics and what not taken from Etymologiae by Isidore of Seville. These educational passages were really tiresome to read.

In my book:
A lovely poem composed of several fable-like stories. With the omission of the "etymological" parts would be really precious.

Historia Brittonum by Nennius (Review)

Title: Historia Brittonum
Author: Nennius
First published Written: 833
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Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Nennius's opus, thought rather short, is epic. He documents the history of Britain from Adam (every decent history should start there, right?) until 9th century. He traces the lineages of the peoples of Europe, talks about migrations and conquests... well, collects everything known to him, I guess :) But his focus is on Britain, first on its conquest by the Romans, and then on the Saxon invasion.

It was very interesting to read about numerous Roman undertakings in Britain and remember the facts I heard at British history lessons in the university. Then I was reminded of the fact that the Britons actually invited Saxons to live on their shores as a buffer from invasions. Who knew they would get OUT OF CONTROL? :) King Vortigern who invited them is an awesome character: he's portrayed as a coward, a tyrant and the one who would sleep with his own daughter and give the resulting (grand)son away. After becoming a hated figure for allowing Saxons take over he seeks refuge in Wales. Nice guy, eh?

As was usual at that time, Historia Brittonum contains not only more or less dependable facts, but also legends and rumors. Some of them are Christian, as for example the miracle of St. Germanus, and some of them are inherited from Welch mythology, as the story of Arthur's boar hunting with his legendary dog. The chronicle ends with the descriptions of the curiosities found in Britain beginning with hot springs in Bath and ending with flying stones.

Historia Brittonum is largely regarded as the first written source to document the life of king Arthur. However, he takes very little place in it, as he is only mentioned as a guy who battled Saxons twelve times. Not that is was something unusual at that time, but he was surprisingly successful in all of them. That's basically all that we get to know about him from this chronicle. He doesn't even fit in the story very well, because for every other known ruler Nennius gives his lineage from a god, or a Roman emperor, or some such famous character, and Arthur gets no such background.

In my book:
A nice example of an early history, although not very informative. Reads more or less as a legend collection, with the addition of some long tiring lineages.