King John: England, Magna Carta and the Making of a Tyrant - Softcover

Stephen Church

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1447241959 ISBN 13: 9781447241959

Publisher: Pan Macmillan, 2016

Synopsis

No English king has had a worse press than 'Bad King John'. The youngest son of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, John succeeded his brother Richard the Lionheart, only to squander his vast inheritance. However, in doing so he unintentionally laid one of the cornerstones of British democracy, in the form of the Magna Carta. This well-received biography disentangles truth from myth to present a rounded portrait of a complex and conflicted monarch.

About this title

About the Author:

Stephen Church is currently professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia. He obtained his PhD from the University of London in 1992 and has subsequently published two books and many scholarly articles related directly to the topic of King John. In addition, Professor Church has published more widely on topics in medieval English history ranging from work on Anglo-Saxon paganism through to fourteenth-century local society in East Anglia, but he is at heart a specialist on twelfth-century kingship and in particular on the time of King John.

Review:

Jaunty, authoritative . . . [a] fine, timely study of English history's greatest pantomime villain. -- Dan Jones * Sunday Times * Hugely enjoyable * BBC History Magazine * Scholarly and readable . . . the John that emerges is still a tyrant, but a more complex figure in a complex time. * Daily Telegraph * Restores complexity to the myth of John as a cruel, unstable ogre. * Sunday Telegraph * Church provides readers with a lively, nuanced and balanced account of the king, his family, upbringing and reign [...] Overall, this is a hugely enjoyable and beautifully researched biography. -- Louise Wilkinson * BBC History Magazine *

About this edition

• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1447241959
• ISBN 13: 9781447241959
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 334