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George I (The English Monarchs Series) Paperback – June 1, 2001

by Ragnhild Hatton (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 26 ratings
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In 1714 George Ludwig, the fifty-eight-year-old elector of Brunswick-Luneburg, became, as George I, the first of the Hanoverian dynasty to rule Britain. Until his death in 1727 George served as both elector of Hanover and British monarch. An enigmatic figure whose real character has long been concealed by anti-Hanoverian propaganda, George emerges in this groundbreaking biography as an impressive ruler who welcomed the responsibilities the accession brought him and set out to bring culture to what he considered the unsophisticated English nation.

Ragnhild Hatton’s biography is the only comprehensive account of George’s life and reign. It draws on a wide range of archival sources in several languages to illuminate the fascinating details of George’s early life and dynastic crises, his plans and ambitions for the British nation, the impact of his rationalist ideas, and his accomplishments as king. The book also examines the king’s private life, his family relationships in both Prussia and England, his private interest in music and the arts, and the improvement of his British and Hanoverian properties.
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Previous page
  1. Part of series
    The English Monarchs Series
  2. Print length
    432 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Yale University Press
  5. Publication date
    June 1, 2001
  6. Dimensions
    6.11 x 0.96 x 9.14 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0300088833
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0300088830
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Book Description

George I, the first of the Hanoverian dynasty to rule Britain, served as both elector of Hanover and British monarch from 1714 to his death in 1727. This groundbreaking biography—the only comprehensive account of George’s life and reign—reveals the king as an impressive ruler who welcomed the responsibilities of his dual role and set out to bring culture to what he considered the unsophisticated English nation.

From the Publisher

Yale English Monarchs Series

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; First Edition (June 1, 2001)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 432 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0300088833
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300088830
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.35 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.11 x 0.96 x 9.14 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 26 ratings

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Ragnhild Marie Hatton

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4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
26 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Brian Wayne Wells
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is an easy read on the life of George I
Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2014
This is a biography of George I, but the first chapter of the book dealt with his mother--Sofia of the Palatinate or Sofia of Hanover, the Electress of Hanover. Given the lack of any kind of current biography of her this is a very important part of the book. She was an important person in Europe at the time of the Age of Reason and is overlooked in modern times.

This book is an easy read on the life of George I. New research by the provides new light on George, his knowledge of English (or lack there of)as a language, the amount of actual time that he spent in England itself and his relationship with Robert Walpole. It was during the reign of George I that the office of the prime minister of Great Britain matured sufficiently that the office becomes recognizable as the ancestor of modern office of the prime minister to legitimately bear the name-- Prime Minister. For much of my life, I have felt the office of Prime Minister arose at this time because of George I's reliance on Walpole because of his (George's) lack of knowledge of English, the lack of time spent (and consequently lack of interest in England. As this book points out the subject is much more complicated than my belief in this simple theory.

My enjoyment of this book was supported by my reading of "The Life and times of Marlborough" by Winston Churchill. This is the leading biography of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough. Marlborough and Sidney Godolphin formed a government under George I's predecessor to the throne, Queen Anne. The Godolphin/Marlborough government held power for many years in the reign of Queen Anne. As such both Godolphin and Marlborough helped build the office that would become the office of Prime Minister. However, they were not "party men." Like Queen Anne, herself, they abhorred "party" factions and chose to direct the government by seeking advisors from both the "country" or "church" party (the Tory Party) and the "city" party (the Whigs). Thus neither Godolphin nor Marlborough were really "prime ministers." In the latter years of Queen Anne's reign a coalition of members of parliament formed around Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford. This coalition beat the Marlborough/Godolphin government at the polls in 1710 and governed almost until the end of Queen Anne's reign. Robert Harley directed his government in a way that suggested a modern prime minister. However, he too, was a "non-party" person and so goes down in history as a "Premier Minister" but not the first prime minister of Britain.

It was left to a young member of parliament at the time, Robert Walpole to become the first person to work within the confines of one party (the Whig party) and to use party patronage and other political tools to serve as the first real "Prime Minister" of Britain. As noted above, Walpole rose to his position of power in the reign of George I. This is the major turning point in British history when one must start transitioning from the study the kings and queens of England to the study of the Prime Ministers of England. In addition to the Marlborough book mentioned above, two books by Brian W. Hill, aided me to make this transition when reading George I. These books are "
Sir Robert Walpole" and Robert Harley: Speaker, Secretary of State and Premier Minister" both books by Brian W. Hill.
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Daniel Putman
4.0 out of 5 stars Superb scholarship
Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2012
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Ragnhild Hatton's biography of George I is a gold mine for scholars looking for Hanover's and Britain's involvement in the affairs of Europe in the early 18th century. Page after page of details emerge about the foreign policy of George and his ministers. It is an awesome work of scholarship.

However, the same depth of scholarship makes parts of the book a tough read for the nonprofessional historian. I had some issues with the book. First, Hatton frequently mentions important people and events prior to their being explained later in the book. The South Sea Bubble is an example. It is explained in the second last chapter of the book but prior to that is cited several times and I did not know what the book was referencing. This happens numerous times with names and events. Another issue I had was that, in sections, the writing is not lucid. Long sometimes convoluted sentences filled with names and references proved irritating. They were precise and scholarly but one had to carefully decipher them. Again, for a professional historian the background required for understanding might be obvious but not to a general reader interested in history. A third point was that the heavy emphasis on foreign affairs led to a somewhat thin explanation at times of domestic issues. For example, given the important and serious rift that developed between George I and his son, I would have liked to have more details about what caused their mutual alienation. Likewise, as mentioned in the Foreward to the Yale Edition, the domestic political events in the last half dozen years of George's reign are not very well-developed.

Given these provisos, the book is a stunning work of historical research. Parts of it are also fascinating. The business involving George's divorce from his wife and the apparent murder of her lover is well-written. Also, once explained and explained well, the South Sea Bubble sounds like some other recent "bubbles" we have had economically. And I thought that the last chapter was one of the very best in the book. It is a chronology of George's last days and a fine summary of his historical importance in different areas. I recommend reading Jeremy Black's Foreward both at the beginning and again at or near the end. It puts the information in this 1978 biography into an updated setting and his points will be more relevant to the reader after going through the sections of the book mentioned by Black. Be prepared to keep track of some common and repeated German names for different people - Sophia Dorothea and Sophia Charlotte, for example, both names given to more than one very important person in George's life. Also, keep the maps handy that are after the Bibliography and Notes at the end as well as the Tables of Descent which also follow the Notes. This is a rich book but one that is not immediately transparent to the general reader. If one is willing to put in the time to read carefully and keep track of references and lineages, this biography has much to offer. George's accession to the throne was a complicated process and tracing his Hanoverian and then English/Hanoverian connections was a huge task. Hatton does this in brilliant historical detail but the reader should know what to expect.
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Shawn
5.0 out of 5 stars A British King who knew more than just German.
Reviewed in the United States on June 15, 2005
I read a Hard back copy from the local library and could not believe it. I loved this bio. I have read many other biographies and books on the Stuart and Hanover Dynasties of Britain but most were from Charles II and the pretenders and George III through Victoria. George I seems to be remembered as the British King who really didn't care; He took his time accepting the throne, refused to learn English, ran away to Hanover every chance he got and only wanted English money proven by the South Sea Bubble scandal. This book gives us more. A lot more. It shows the who and why, it dispels the stories I have listed above and gives us the man, flesh, blood and emotions. He becomes a real and more understood human than just an uncaring figure from history. I highly recommend this book. It is a great read. I didn't want to put it down. It flows easy and gives enough detail and background to keep you moving through history and his life without bogging you down. All those, Jacobites included :) who do not know George I outside of the usual should read this book. I can't say enough about it.
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Top reviews from other countries

Allan Kelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 4, 2017
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Arrived in excellent condition and very well priced.
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M. Baerends
4.0 out of 5 stars promotion
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 27, 2011
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If I am to believe Ragnhild Hatton, King George I (known as Elector Georg Ludwig of Hanover before his 1714 promotion to King of Great Britain) does not have much of a reputation in his adopted kingdom. This book effectively vindicates him - not because the author is a propagandist but because she has done extensive research rather than trusting the gossip of contemporaries.

She debunks various myths, the least important being George's supposed inability to speak English. Not that this would have mattered in an age when the lingua franca at most courts was French anyway, but it isn't even true; in fact George picked up various languages during his life, not just English but also Dutch (he spent quite some time in the Netherlands during the various wars against Louis XIV of this age).
Almost equally unimportantly, she disproves the commonly held belief that he threw his wife in jail because he erroneously thought she cheated on him. In fact, she did cheat, as proven by pretty explicit correspondence between her & her lover (a Swedish officer). Sure, one could argue that such punishment was over the top, especially considering the fact that Georg kept a mistress of his own (the beautifully named Melusine von der Schulemburg), but as Hatton points out, his wife was not kept in a dungeon but in a castle & apparently her plight was not that bad; she chose to decline various offers to regain her freedom at minimal cost, thinking she should wait for a better deal.
In the same field, she points out that the breakdown in the relationship with his son (the future George II) was mainly due to the latter's provocative behaviour (caused perhaps by the impossibility for him to prove himself more in the military arena since he did not have 'spare' brothers). This sheds another light on George I's supposed heartlessness in separating his son and daughter-in-law from their children.

More importantly, Georg Ludwig was quite succesful in expanding the power of his 'house', greatly enlarging Hanover by clever diplomacy, by ensuring Hanover got handsomely paid for military services delivered to the Emperor in Vienna and to the Maritime Powers, and by jumping on the bandwagon of the Great Northern War at the exact right moment (taking Bremen & Verden from Sweden). Here she disproves another myth, namely that George supposedly put Hanover's interests above those of Britain. In fact, he did use the royal navy in the Great Northern War (in which he, as Elector of Hanover was at war with Sweden, whereas his British Kingdom maintained peace with the Swedes); however this was more than justified from a purely British perspective as the navy did not just support Sweden's enemies but also protected British trade in the Baltic from Swedish privateers. George's occasional stays in Hanover after 1714, sometimes quoted as an example of his un-English attitude, were in fact very productively used in diplomatic negations mainly on British behalf. In Hanover communication with the various European courts was simply easier and faster.

George seems to have been an enlightened person, vetoing a proposal in the British parliament to castrate all Irish priests, on the grounds that such a course of action would be ridiculous as well as unproductive. George's support of Haendel, and his extensive reading on travel and history are other examples showing he was not just interested in power politics and war.

One of the highlights of the book is the treatment of British involvement in somewhat lesser-known episodes like the War of the Quadruple Alliance, the Great Northern War and the tensions between Austria & Spain on the one hand and 'the rest' on the other hand in the mid 1720s (almost leading to war with Austria over that country's attempt to start an East India company of its own based in Oostende, and with Spain over Gibraltar).

This book is of a high standard in terms of research, as another reviewer pointed out the notes and references are truly impressive. For readers wanting a somewhat 'lighter' book, Lucy Worsley's "Courtiers" would be a good alternative (although this book is more focused on George II than on George I).

In summary, a useful book about an interesting period featuring a very likeable main character.
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T. Steele
4.0 out of 5 stars Not a light read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 22, 2021
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This is about my 10th book in the Yale English Monarch series and for me the hardest to get through, particularly the last few chapters. There is a lot of detail about diplomacy in Europe in the early 18th century, which I found difficult to follow. The maps are not that helpful in as much as they don't have marked on them many of the places referred to in the text. I learnt a lot, but then I knew almost nothing about George I before. If you like well researched and referenced history which embraces complexity, you will like this book. I do and did, but it wasn't for me an easy read.
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jjc
2.0 out of 5 stars Not history
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 1, 2016
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It reads like a woman's magazine not a historical book.
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