Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King
The New York Times bestselling author returns with a biography examining the dramatic life and unparalleled leadership of England's greatest medieval king

Henry V reigned over England for only nine years and four months and died at the age of just thirty-five, but he looms over the landscape of the late Middle Ages and beyond. The victor of Agincourt, he is remembered as the acme of kingship, a model to be closely imitated by his successors. William Shakespeare deployed Henry V as a study in youthful folly redirected to sober statesmanship. For one modern medievalist, Henry was, quite simply, “the greatest man who ever ruled England.”

For Dan Jones, Henry V is one of the most intriguing characters in all medieval history, but one of the hardest to pin down. He was a hardened, sometimes brutal warrior, yet he was also creative and artistic, with a bookish temperament. He was a leader who made many mistakes, who misjudged his friends and family, but he always seemed to triumph when it mattered. As king, he saved a shattered country from economic ruin, put down rebellions, and secured England's borders; in foreign diplomacy, he made England a serious player once more. Yet through his conquests in northern France, he sowed the seeds for three generations of calamity at home, in the form of the Wars of the Roses.

Henry V is a historical titan whose legacy has become a complicated one. To understand the man behind the legend, Jones first examines Henry's years of apprenticeship, when he saw the downfall of one king and the turbulent reign of another. Upon his accession in 1413, he had already been politically and militarily active for years, and his extraordinary achievements as king would come shortly after, earning him an unparalleled historical reputation. Writing with his characteristic wit and style, Jones delivers a thrilling and unmissable life of England's greatest king.
1144709570
Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King
The New York Times bestselling author returns with a biography examining the dramatic life and unparalleled leadership of England's greatest medieval king

Henry V reigned over England for only nine years and four months and died at the age of just thirty-five, but he looms over the landscape of the late Middle Ages and beyond. The victor of Agincourt, he is remembered as the acme of kingship, a model to be closely imitated by his successors. William Shakespeare deployed Henry V as a study in youthful folly redirected to sober statesmanship. For one modern medievalist, Henry was, quite simply, “the greatest man who ever ruled England.”

For Dan Jones, Henry V is one of the most intriguing characters in all medieval history, but one of the hardest to pin down. He was a hardened, sometimes brutal warrior, yet he was also creative and artistic, with a bookish temperament. He was a leader who made many mistakes, who misjudged his friends and family, but he always seemed to triumph when it mattered. As king, he saved a shattered country from economic ruin, put down rebellions, and secured England's borders; in foreign diplomacy, he made England a serious player once more. Yet through his conquests in northern France, he sowed the seeds for three generations of calamity at home, in the form of the Wars of the Roses.

Henry V is a historical titan whose legacy has become a complicated one. To understand the man behind the legend, Jones first examines Henry's years of apprenticeship, when he saw the downfall of one king and the turbulent reign of another. Upon his accession in 1413, he had already been politically and militarily active for years, and his extraordinary achievements as king would come shortly after, earning him an unparalleled historical reputation. Writing with his characteristic wit and style, Jones delivers a thrilling and unmissable life of England's greatest king.
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Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King

Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King

by Dan Jones

Narrated by Dan Jones

Unabridged — 14 hours, 41 minutes

Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King

Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King

by Dan Jones

Narrated by Dan Jones

Unabridged — 14 hours, 41 minutes

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Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

The celebrated author and podcaster takes us back in time to an age of grandeur, guts and glory. This is an astonishing account of a complicated king.

The New York Times bestselling author returns with a biography examining the dramatic life and unparalleled leadership of England's greatest medieval king

Henry V reigned over England for only nine years and four months and died at the age of just thirty-five, but he looms over the landscape of the late Middle Ages and beyond. The victor of Agincourt, he is remembered as the acme of kingship, a model to be closely imitated by his successors. William Shakespeare deployed Henry V as a study in youthful folly redirected to sober statesmanship. For one modern medievalist, Henry was, quite simply, “the greatest man who ever ruled England.”

For Dan Jones, Henry V is one of the most intriguing characters in all medieval history, but one of the hardest to pin down. He was a hardened, sometimes brutal warrior, yet he was also creative and artistic, with a bookish temperament. He was a leader who made many mistakes, who misjudged his friends and family, but he always seemed to triumph when it mattered. As king, he saved a shattered country from economic ruin, put down rebellions, and secured England's borders; in foreign diplomacy, he made England a serious player once more. Yet through his conquests in northern France, he sowed the seeds for three generations of calamity at home, in the form of the Wars of the Roses.

Henry V is a historical titan whose legacy has become a complicated one. To understand the man behind the legend, Jones first examines Henry's years of apprenticeship, when he saw the downfall of one king and the turbulent reign of another. Upon his accession in 1413, he had already been politically and militarily active for years, and his extraordinary achievements as king would come shortly after, earning him an unparalleled historical reputation. Writing with his characteristic wit and style, Jones delivers a thrilling and unmissable life of England's greatest king.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

08/12/2024

In this rousing biography, historian Jones (Powers and Thrones) departs from Shakespeare’s portrait of Prince Hal as a wild, roistering youth. In Jones’s telling, Henry even in adolescence was a determined military leader, upholder of the faith, and dominant figure in the court of his father, Henry IV. His own orderly reign brought stability to England, allowing him to (barely) finance his conquest of much of France. Bookish and artistic, he meticulously stage-managed his public image, but was also on occasion barbarically cruel: he first ordered men to be drawn and quartered at 14; refused to let starving women and children pass through his siege lines at Rouen; and beheaded a soldier for playing irritating trumpet solos. Jones’s colorful narrative reads like House of Dragons minus the dragons; it’s full of pageantry and tumult and betrayal (like an incident during the chaotic civil wars in France, when the son of mad King Charles VI invited John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, to an unarmed parley and then had the too-fearless duke stabbed in the back). While he admires Henry, Jones dispels glamorous myths—Shakespeare’s grandiloquent “St. Crispin’s Day” speech probably sounded more like, “Fellas, let’s go”—and reveals the prosaic realities of his wars: constant money-grubbing and pointless suffering. This stimulating portrait of an iconic ruler roots his glorious deeds in sordid reality. (Oct.)

From the Publisher

Rousing… Jones’s colorful narrative reads like House of the Dragon minus the dragons; it’s full of pageantry and tumult and betrayal… This stimulating portrait of an iconic ruler roots his glorious deeds in sordid reality.”–Publishers Weekly

“Jones specializes in traditional great-men-and-politics histories of the Middle Ages, and this is a good one.”–Kirkus Reviews

"The king of exciting narrative history triumphs again. A masterclass in making the medieval addictively readable."—Lucy Worsley, author of Agatha Christie

"Wildly gripping, swashbuckling, battle-scarred and blood-spattered, in equal parts ferocious, dynamic and political, intimate and humane, the best biography yet of England’s greatest king."—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs and Jerusalem

"With his customary combination of profound scholarship and fine narrative verve, Dan Jones brings Henry V to life better than anyone since Shakespeare himself."—Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill and Napoleon

Library Journal

11/02/2024

Considered by many to be England's most heroic king, Henry V is the subject of this fine biography by Jones (Power and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages; host of the podcast This Is History: A Dynasty To Die For and the Netflix series Secrets of Great British Castles). The image most people have of Henry is that of Shakespeare's fierce warrior at Agincourt. Readers get that version in Jones's book, but much more as well. Jones situates Henry in the web of his familial relationships, international affairs, and philosophical and religious contexts. Henry comes across as crude in some ways but also clever and astute about human nature. Jones writes the book almost entirely in the present tense, and while at first this approach can be off-putting, it does bring a certain immediacy to the events being described, drawing readers into Henry's life. The events of the book took place over five centuries ago, with different rules of war, politics, and religion, but Jones's gift is to make this history feel contemporary. VERDICT Recommended for general readers who enjoy swift-paced historical biographies. Those seeking the heroic and the romantic will find much to enjoy.—David Azzolina

Product Details

BN ID: 2940191617107
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Publication date: 10/01/2024
Edition description: Unabridged
Sales rank: 200,302
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