Henry Vi

David Grummitt's reassessment of the last king of the House of Lancaster draws on a large body of research into Lancastrian England produced over the past thirty years. Rather than judging Henry in isolation, it situates him within Lancastrian political culture and asks how the circumstances of his age shaped his reign.

Henry VI remains one of the most disputed monarchs of medieval England. He inherited the crowns of England and France as an infant in 1422 and held the throne for 39 years before the Yorkist Edward IV displaced him early in the Wars of the Roses. He regained power briefly in 1470, but his cause was crushed in battle the following year, and he was almost certainly killed afterwards. Readers still puzzle over how a ruler so plainly unsuited to the role could remain on the throne for nearly four decades and retain loyal supporters even after his fortunes had collapsed.

The book follows Henry from his coronation as a baby to his legacy in the centuries after his death. Its balanced, detailed approach makes it especially useful for students of late medieval England and the Wars of the Roses.