I'M DONE WITH READING HISTORIANS WHO CAN'T WRITE DECENT ENGLISH

And you should be too

I’ve been reading about dead kings called Henry this week. And I know what you’re thinking: sometimes a man can’t help but parody himself. But to read about Henries has been an even rarer pleasure than usual, because it has taken me to the prose of two very fine - generationally fine - medievalists.

Both had much to say about their respective Henry. Just as importantly, they knew how to say it well. I want to quote a short passage from each of them here: partly because it’s always nice to share good writing with friends; but partly because I want to make a general point about writing history. And writing, full stop.

The authors are Professor David Carpenter, biographer of that thirteenth-century habitual dufus Henry III, and the late K.B. McFarlane, granddaddy of the school of English late medieval in which I was brought up.

I’ll quote their writing in that order. Then I’ll explain why I think their example matters. No, not ‘matters’. Why it’s of urgent importance to the way we think about the world in which we live.