A Great and Terrible King Audiobook By Marc Morris cover art

A Great and Terrible King

Edward I and the Forging of Britain

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for $0.00
Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 3 months. Cancel anytime.

A Great and Terrible King

By: Marc Morris
Narrated by: Ralph Lister
Try for $0.00

$0.00/mo. after 3 months. Offer ends July 31, 2025 at 11:59PM PT. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.20

Buy for $20.20

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

Edward I is familiar to millions as "Longshanks", conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace (in Braveheart). Yet this story forms only the final chapter of the king's action-packed life. Earlier, Edward had defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort, traveled to the Holy Land, and conquered Wales. He raised the greatest armies of the Middle Ages and summoned the largest parliaments. Notoriously, he expelled all the Jews from his kingdom.

In this audiobook, Marc Morris examines afresh the forces that drove Edward throughout his relentless career: his character, his Christian faith, and his sense of England's destiny - a sense shaped in particular by the tales of the legendary King Arthur. He also explores the competing reasons that led Edward's opponents (including Robert Bruce) to resist him.

©2009 Marc Morris (P)2015 Tantor Europe Great Britain Historical Medieval Politicians Politics & Activism Royalty England Middle Ages Scotland Arthurian

Listeners also enjoyed...
Edward III Audiobook By Ian Mortimer cover art
Edward III By: Ian Mortimer
King John Audiobook By Marc Morris cover art
King John By: Marc Morris
The Norman Conquest Audiobook By Marc Morris cover art
The Norman Conquest By: Marc Morris
Henry IV Audiobook By Ian Mortimer cover art
Henry IV By: Ian Mortimer
The Anglo-Saxons Audiobook By Marc Morris cover art
The Anglo-Saxons By: Marc Morris
Henry V Audiobook By Ian Mortimer cover art
Henry V By: Ian Mortimer
The Wars of the Roses Audiobook By Dan Jones cover art
The Wars of the Roses By: Dan Jones
The Black Prince Audiobook By Michael Jones cover art
The Black Prince By: Michael Jones
Powers and Thrones Audiobook By Dan Jones cover art
Powers and Thrones By: Dan Jones
Winter King Audiobook By Thomas Penn cover art
Winter King By: Thomas Penn
Thomas Cromwell Audiobook By Tracy Borman cover art
Thomas Cromwell By: Tracy Borman
The White Ship Audiobook By Charles Spencer cover art
The White Ship By: Charles Spencer
The Templars Audiobook By Dan Jones cover art
The Templars By: Dan Jones
The Crusades Audiobook By Thomas Asbridge cover art
The Crusades By: Thomas Asbridge
Caesar Audiobook By Adrian Goldsworthy cover art
Caesar By: Adrian Goldsworthy
A Distant Mirror Audiobook By Barbara W. Tuchman cover art
A Distant Mirror By: Barbara W. Tuchman
Henry VIII: King and Court Audiobook By Alison Weir cover art
Henry VIII: King and Court By: Alison Weir
Scipio Africanus Audiobook By B.H. Liddell Hart cover art
Scipio Africanus By: B.H. Liddell Hart
Magna Carta Audiobook By Dan Jones cover art
Magna Carta By: Dan Jones
Crucible of War Audiobook By Fred Anderson cover art
Crucible of War By: Fred Anderson

Critic reviews

"[V]ivid details and an engaging narrative style bring the man and his period to life." ( Library Journal)

People who viewed this also viewed...

King John Audiobook By Marc Morris cover art
King John By: Marc Morris
The Norman Conquest Audiobook By Marc Morris cover art
The Norman Conquest By: Marc Morris
Castles Audiobook By Marc Morris cover art
Castles By: Marc Morris
The Anglo-Saxons Audiobook By Marc Morris cover art
The Anglo-Saxons By: Marc Morris
Edward II Audiobook By Kathryn Warner cover art
Edward II By: Kathryn Warner
The King in the North Audiobook By Max Adams cover art
The King in the North By: Max Adams
The House of Beaufort Audiobook By Nathen Amin cover art
The House of Beaufort By: Nathen Amin
Battle for the Island Kingdom Audiobook By Don Hollway cover art
Battle for the Island Kingdom By: Don Hollway
Edward III Audiobook By Ian Mortimer cover art
Edward III By: Ian Mortimer
The Burgundians Audiobook By Bart van Loo, Nancy Forest-Flier - translator cover art
The Burgundians By: Bart van Loo, and others
Theoderic the Great Audiobook By Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, John Noel Dillon - translator cover art
Theoderic the Great By: Hans-Ulrich Wiemer, and others
Henry IV Audiobook By Ian Mortimer cover art
Henry IV By: Ian Mortimer
The Normans Audiobook By Lars Brownworth cover art
The Normans By: Lars Brownworth
The Black Prince Audiobook By Michael Jones cover art
The Black Prince By: Michael Jones
Henry V Audiobook By Dan Jones cover art
Henry V By: Dan Jones
Brothers York Audiobook By Thomas Penn cover art
Brothers York By: Thomas Penn
Charlemagne Audiobook By Johannes Fried, Peter Lewis cover art
Charlemagne By: Johannes Fried, and others
Byzantium Audiobook By Judith Herrin cover art
Byzantium By: Judith Herrin
Brilliantly Told Story • Well-researched History • Excellent Narration • Balanced Portrayal • Accessible Information
Highly rated for:
Most relevant  
A very compelling narrative of the life of a complicated monarch, and very engagingly narrated.

Fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Marc Morris knows his topic inside and out. This is a most detailed biography of a great warrior king, who subjugated Britain. Edward I was a commanding and brutal king. This book is most balanced in its portrayal of Edward. One really needs an outline and family tree to keep all the main players straight. Well done. And Ralph Lister completes the masterpiece. Well done.

Outstanding Scholarship

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

What made the experience of listening to A Great and Terrible King the most enjoyable?

Hands down the best audio book narration to date. Not only a great, and fascinating book, but the story comes alive with the voice of Ralph Lister's narration.

What other book might you compare A Great and Terrible King to and why?

The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir.

Best Narrator of All Time

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Really enjoyed the narrative, information, and narrator. I highly recommend as a good peek into an interesting character.

Well researched

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you consider the audio edition of A Great and Terrible King to be better than the print version?

yes, the narrator really did a great job . Makes reading so much more enjoyable!

What other book might you compare A Great and Terrible King to and why?

"The Norman Conquest" was also a very good book by same author and also had a very good narrator. (Despite the negative reviews on the narrator of that book...I thought his way of reading was very interesting and fitted the history...((As does the narrator of this book by Marc Morris))

Which scene was your favorite?

not sure yet..as still "Reading " it

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

no..this is a book to listen to again and again to get all the details fully understood

Any additional comments?

very happy with the book and performance of narrator

Narrator and Book are Both Very Good

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Marc Morris presents an enormous amount of information in a well-organized, accessible, and compelling narrative. My only real complaint is the time he spends in the last chapter rationalizing some of Edward's many flaws. For example, Edward banished all Jews from England: Morris admits that he was antisemitic, but defends him on the grounds - paraphrasing here - that so was every one else.

(I was also irritated that he issues a blanket denial that there is any historical basis for the legends of King Arthur. He may well be right, but I'm not willing to surrender my illusions that easily. Fortunately he didn't go after Robin Hood too - that would have been a definite deal-breaker.)

Edward comes across in the book as a man of intense concentration and single-mindedness, someone who could temporarily set aside one goal - going on Crusade - to pursue a different one - subjugating Scotland - but who always came back, as soon as possible, to the first goal. His problems were legion. He fought wars against Wales, Scotland, Ireland, and France, succeeding definitively only in the first one. He struggled to maintain the rights of the king, over against the rights of the people. He was a king cast from the assertive, warlike mold.

Ralph Lister is an excellent narrator, maintaining a clear and crisp pace throughout. Despite my nitpicking about this or that point, I enjoyed the listen and would - and will - definitely do it again.

Detailed and fascinating

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Overall I enjoyed this book but be ready for a lot of specific detail. The performance is excellent and seems “spot on” for the material. The academic research behind this book is impressive and the amount of detail available after 800 years is amazing. The writer has done a nice job distilling most aspects down into their relevant, intertwined pieces. When finished you will have what feels to be a full portrait of Edward I, his motivations and conquests, his weaknesses and failures. I appreciate so much more the nobility of Edward I that is completely left out of pop culture references and movies. He deserves for people to have this kind of complete picture available to modern readers. However, this book may have found a wider readership with fewer obscure details about this march and that campaign and these minor lords and those lessor characters. In all though, recommended!

Very detailed but rich story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Didn't waste my time and the book is interesting, well researched and thorough. I just felt it was too "great king" focused especially as he got older, it lost me because based on what I was hearing he was way more "terrible". I felt the evidence and interpretation did not match and it kept me mentally stopping as I assessed the difference and then mentally rolled my eyes by the end. Still worth a read though.

Interesting but bias and lost me at the end

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I liked the focus on analyzing the King's motives and behavior, while discussing his decisions and the events of the late 13th century. Narrator was excellent.

Brought King Edward I to vivid life

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I enjoyed this well written history of a less discussed era of British history. My only quibble is that the reading was too fast for non fiction. I put my Sansa clip on slow speed and that solved the problem.

Good history

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews