Medieval Monarchs

Starts the story of the kings of England, from William I, the Conqueror, the first Norman monarch, to Richard, III, the last of the Plantagenets.

Explores how kings and rulers in medieval Europe gained control and governed.

This examination of six usurper kings of England, and the people and circumstances surrounding them, is “a masterpiece of academic scholarship” (Midwest Book Review). In the Middle Ages, England had to contend with a string of usurpers who disrupted the British monarchy—and ultimately changed the course of European history by deposing England’s reigning kings and seizing power for themselves. Some of the most infamous usurper kings to come out of medieval England include William the Conqueror, Stephen of Blois, Henry Bolingbroke, Edward IV, Richard III, and Henry Tudor. Did these kings really deserve the title of usurper, or were they unfairly vilified by royal propaganda and biased chroniclers? This book examines the lives of these six medieval kings, the circumstances that brought each of them to power, and whether or not they deserve the title of usurper. Along the way readers will hear stories of some of the most fascinating people of medieval Europe, including Empress Matilda, the woman who nearly succeeded at becoming the first ruling Queen of England; Eleanor of Aquitaine, the queen of both France and England, who stirred her own sons to rebel against their father, Henry II; Richard II, whose cruel and vengeful reign caused his own family to overthrow him; Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou, Richard of York, and Edward IV, who struggled for power during the Wars of the Roses; the notorious Richard III and his monstrous reputation as a child-killer; and Henry VII, who rose from relative obscurity to establish the most famous royal family of all time: the Tudors.

During the Renaissance, the monarchy became the dominant ruling power in Europe. It was an era of formidable kings and queens who crushed the feudal rights of their nobles, defended the Catholic Church against the encroachments of Protestantism, fought self-aggrandizing wars and were great patrons of art, architecture, literature and music. This work chronicles the lives and reigns of the 42 monarchs in England, Scotland, France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire between 1400 and 1600, presenting in the context of their era their personalities, accomplishments and failures.

Originally published in 1972, Medieval Monarchy in Action covers a period extending from the reign of Henry I to the early years of Henry IV. The book examines how the Saxon and Salian monarchs of the tenth and eleventh centuries built the foundations of the German Empire, this volume contains fifty documents which present the reader with the vivid picture of the imperial activities. The book contains original source material, including diplomas issued by the emperors, most of which have never before been published in English. Both the introduction and documents reveal the workings of the imperial chancery, the utilization of the Church as the foundation for building a strong monarchy, and the careful conscription of learned ecclesiastics into the royal bureaucracy. The period of Saxon-Salian dominance is an important area of study for papal-imperial relations in the Middle Ages and also for modern European history.

Stephen. John. Edward II. Richard II. Richard III. These five are widely viewed as the worst of England’s medieval kings. Certainly, their reigns were not success stories. Two of these kings lost their thrones, one only avoided doing so by dying, another was killed in battle, and the remaining one had to leave his crown to his opponent. All have been seen as incompetent, their reigns blighted by civil war and conflict. They tore the realm apart, failing in the basic duty of a king to ensure peace and justice. For that, all of them paid a heavy price. As well as incompetence, some also have reputations for cruelty and villainy, More than one has been portrayed as a tyrant. The murder of family members and arbitrary executions stain their reputations. All five reigns ended in failure. As a result, the kings have been seen as failures themselves, the worst examples of medieval English kingship. They lost their reputations as well as their crowns. Yet were these five really the worst men to wear the crown of England in the Middle Ages? Or has history treated them unfairly? This book looks at the stories of their lives and reigns, all of which were dramatic and often unpredictable. It then examines how they have been seen since their deaths, the ways their reputations have been shaped across the centuries. The standards of their own age were different to our own. How these kings have been judged has changed over time, sometimes dramatically. Fiction, from Shakespeare’s plays to modern films, has also played its part in creating the modern picture. Many things have created, over a long period, the negative reputations of these five. Today, they have come to number among the worst kings of English history. Is this fair, or should they be redeemed? That is the question this book sets out to answer.