The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England

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The line ended (or really, split) into the two branches of Lancaster and York, which led the War of the Roses a few generations later. On the Thursday before Easter in 1203 Henry II’s son, King John should have been at Mass, or perhaps reflecting on Christ’s coming sacrifice. A cynic and a pragmatist, that was our Henry, but there was evidently no wearing of a hair shirt or walking barefoot to the shrine.

The Plantagenets by Dan Jones | Waterstones

A thrilling dynastic history of royal intrigues, violent skullduggery, and brutal warfare across two centuries of British history. Everything is going well, but then his very capable son Edward the Black Prince, weakened by diseases acquired on his numerous journeys to fight in the Middle East, dies before he can become king. Richard the Lionheart is flawed but chivalric, patriotic and drawing such respect from his enemies that his great nemesis Saladin wrote to him in 1192 to say that there was no king to whom he would rather lose his empire.Jones has done an excellent job of recounting the events that both led to the House of Plantagenet and the events that occurred in the approximately 250 years that they ruled England. I knew quite a bit of this history going in, but I have always had a fascination with Eleanor of Aquitaine, queen twice, the mother of two Kings, and the women that led her sons in a revolt against her husband. It is history as a highlight reel, accentuating the heart-racing moments, while gliding over the rest. Jones has brought the Plantagenets out of the shadows, revealing them in all their epic heroism and depravity. Dan Jones has followed his acclaimed account of the Peasant’s Revolt, Summer of Blood, with a triumphant take on a colourful medieval dynasty.

books about the Plantagenets - Shepherd The best books about the Plantagenets - Shepherd

In 1295 he managed to drive together two enemies that were to remain in each other's arms for the following 365 years. The Plantagenets is proof that contemporary history can engage with the medieval world with style, wit and chutzpah. a set of fine vignettes relating dynastic life, death, war, peace, governance, and palace intrigues. Fast-paced and accessible, The Plantagenets is old-fashioned storytelling and will be particularly appreciated by those who like their history red in tooth and claw. Geoffrey, son of the count of Anjou, had taken to sporting a sprig of yellow broom as his personal emblem- the planta genista in Latin, hence the name of the ensuing dynasty.

So, my take on Dan Jones and The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England is likely suffering a bit from sequential bias. It’s really interesting to see how Shakespeare presented these events, changing people and merging figures together according to his own will and the purpose of effective drama. Christina Hardyment, in a review in The Independent, gave the book a more measured review, praising the work's characterisation and insight, but finding that its presentation of cycles of prosperity and hardship was confusing, and that it lacked "a proper presentation of the profoundly religious medieval mindset", which made understanding the mindset of the featured kings harder.