William the Conqueror


Read by LibriVox Volunteers

(4.4 stars; 145 reviews)

There are certain names which are familiar, as names, to all mankind; and every person who seeks for any degree of mental cultivation, feels desirous of informing himself of the leading outlines of their history, that he may know, in brief, what it was in their characters or their doings which has given them so widely-extended a fame. Consequently, great historical names alone are selected; and it has been the writer's aim to present the prominent and leading traits in their characters, and all the important events in their lives, in a bold and free manner, and yet in the plain and simple language which is so obviously required in works which aim at permanent and practical usefulness. This volume is dedicated to William the Conqueror. (Summary from the preface of the book) (6 hr 7 min)

Chapters

Preface, Normandy 25:07 Read by Kristine Bekere
Birth of William 21:06 Read by Sibella Denton
The Accession 30:00 Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016)
William's Reign in Normandy 30:52 Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016)
The Marriage 32:54 Read by Rhonda Federman
The Lady Emma 31:13 Read by Rhonda Federman
King Harold 28:33 Read by Lizzie Driver
Preparations for the Invasion 30:49 Read by Steve Foreman
Crossing the Channel 29:05 Read by Steve Foreman
The Battle of Hastings 36:25 Read by Lizzie Driver
Prince Robert's Rebellion 34:10 Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016)
The Conclusion 37:00 Read by Lars Rolander (1942-2016)

Reviews


(3 stars)

Book is fine, but the sing-song reading by one female reader is extremely distracting and completely destroys listeners concentration on the text.

Very good book but would have prefered just one narrator.


(4 stars)


(4 stars)

Excellent story. Reading very good. I would recommend librivox.

Pretty good book, decent reading


(3.5 stars)

Pretty good book and decent reading (definitely better than many). Biggest issue is that some of the readers mispronounce more complicated words often but if your English is strong enough you can figure what they mean. Example from last chapter: the word for tomb normally pronounced sar-coff-uh-gus sounded more like sacker-fog-us.


(2.5 stars)

Good book. However, the chapters read by the female reader was pretty much impossible to listen to, which made the quality suffer quite a bit.


(4 stars)

Lizzy driver can ruin any good book she's all over librivox with her annoying upward inflection. 5 stars for other readers and content tho

Not a fantacized account of events


(5 stars)

This account of William makes him sound like a person and not a god? So impressed.


(5 stars)

This was a very detailed story. Although there was one female reader who made several mistakes and repeated herself often