Richard II: A Brittle Glory (Penguin Monarchs)

Richard II (1377-99) came to the throne as a child, following the long, domineering reign of his grandfather Edward III. He suffered from the disastrous combination of an exalted sense of his own power and an inability to impress that power on others. Neither trusted nor feared, Richard battled with failures and emergencies before succumbing to a coup, imprisonment, and murder. Laura Ashe's 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 and The Canterbury Tales.

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• Henry III (Penguin Monarchs): 'A Simple and God-Fearing King'
• James I: The Phoenix King (Penguin Monarchs)
• Edward I: A Second Arthur? (Penguin Monarchs)
• Henry II: A Prince Among Princes (Penguin Monarchs)
• Henry I: The Father of His People (Penguin Monarchs)
• Edward IV: The Summer King (Penguin Monarchs)
• Henry VI: A Good, Simple and Innocent Man (Penguin Monarchs)
• James II: The Last Catholic King (Penguin Monarchs)
• Edward II: The Terrors of Kingship (Penguin Monarchs)