Edward III lived through bloody and turbulent times. His father was deposed by his mother and her lover when he was still a teenager; a third of England's population was killed by the Black Death midway through his reign; and the intractable Hundred Years War with France began under his leadership. Yet Edward managed to rule England for fifty years, and was viewed as a paragon of kingship in the eyes of both his contemporaries and later generations. Venerated as the victor of Sluys and Crecy and the founder of the Order of the Garter, he was regarded with awe even by his enemies. But he lived too long, and was ultimately condemned to see thirty years of conquests reversed in less than five. In this gripping new account of Edward III's rise and fall, Jonathan Sumption introduces us to a feted king who ended his life a heroic failure."
In this gripping new account of Edward III's rise and fall, Jonathan Sumption introduces us to a feted king who ended his life a heroic failure.
Christopher Given-Wilson's remarkable book gives a glimpse into the abyss: the terrors of kingship--where royal authority is based around strict succession by the eldest son, what happens when that eldest son is incapable of doing the job?
Part of the Penguin Monarchs series: short, fresh, expert accounts of England's rulers in a highly collectible format
George Burton Adams and H. Morse Stephens (New York and London: Macmillan, 1901), no. 46. 5. Quoted in D. L. d'Avray, Death and the Prince: Memorial Preaching before 1350 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 72. 6.
Laura Ashe's brilliant account of his reign emphasizes the strange gap between Richard's personal incapacity and the amazing cultural legacy of his reign - from the Wilton Diptych to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Piers Plowman and The ...
Drawing on unpublished material, notably correspondence with his most loyal (though much tried) supporter Winston Churchill, Piers Brendon's superb biography traces Edward's tumultuous public and private life from bright young prince to ...
His empire may have ultimately collapsed, but in Richard Barber's vivid and sympathetic account the reader can see why Henry II left such a compelling impression on his contemporaries.
He was loathed in his own time for the never-confirmed murder of his young nephews, the Princes in the Tower, and died fighting his own subjects on the battlefield. This is the vision of Richard we have inherited from Shakespeare.
But, as John Gillingham makes clear in this elegant book, as the son and successor to William the Conqueror it was William Rufus who had to establish permanent Norman rule.
David Cannadine's sparkling account of his reign could not be more enjoyable, a masterclass in how to write about Monarchy, that central--if peculiar--pillar of British life.