Book description
Anyone who has seen The Lion in Winter will remember the
vicious, compelling world of the Plantagenets and readers of the
romance of Robin Hood will be familiar with the typecasting of Good
King Richard, defending Christendom in the Holy Land, and Bad King
John who usurps the kingdom in his absence. But do these popular
stereotypes correspond with reality?
In this sweeping narrative, celebrated historian Frank McLynn turns
the tables on modern revisionist historians and shows these
larger-than-life characters as they really were - crusading, fighting
vicious wars in France, negotiating with the papacy, engaging in
ruthless dynastic intrigue, often against each other: in Richard's
case, even holding the kingdom together when fighting in the Holy
Land; and in John's, losing Normandy, catastrophically agonising the
barons over Magna Carta and losing the Crown Jewels in the Wash.
Frank McLynn is a highly regarded historian, who specializes in
biographies and military history. He has written over 20 books,
including critically acclaimed biographies of Napoleon and Richard the
Lionheart. Other books include
1066
,
Stanley, 1759,
and
Marcus Aurelius.
He is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, and London University, where
he obtained his doctorate.
