Henry V - by Dan Jones (Hardcover)

About the Book

"The New York Times bestselling author returns with a biography examining the dramatic life and unparalleled leadership of England's greatest medieval king. In 1413, when Henry V ascended to the English throne, his kingdom was hopelessly torn apart by political faction and partisanship. Public finances and law and order were in a state of crisis. Pirates tormented the coast; plots, conspiracies, and heresy threatened society. The lingering effects of the worst pandemic in human history continued to menace daily life. And then, in less than ten years, Henry turns it all around. By common consensus in his day, and for hundreds of years afterward, Henry was the greatest medieval king that ever lived. Through skillful leadership, unwavering vision, and seemingly by sheer force of personality, he managed to catapult his realm into the greatest triumphs it has ever achieved: he united the political community behind the crown, renewed the justice system, revived England's maritime dominance. And then there are his military achievements in France, most notably the resounding, against-the-odds victory at Agincourt. He was tough, lucky, intelligent, farsighted, and cultured. But he was also, at times, cold, callous, violent, by instinct a traditionalist and even a reactionary. A historical titan, his legacy over the years has become a complicated one. As an exceptional leader, Henry V transcends the Middle Ages which produced him, and his life story has much to teach us today. Drawing on the latest scholarship and writing with his characteristic wit and style, Dan Jones examines the king's legendary life-and he puts Henry's claim to greatness very vigorously to the test"--

Book Synopsis

"Ambitious... With meticulous research and in lively style, Jones presents us with the man beyond the Shakespeare character."--The New York Times

"The best biography yet of England's greatest king."--Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs and Jerusalem

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.

Review Quotes

"Jones...injects novelistic immediacy to a work that is as direct and forceful as its subject."--Wall Street Journal

"Ambitious... With meticulous research and in lively style, Jones presents us with the man beyond the Shakespeare character."--The New York Times

"A fizzing narrative, full of blood and thunder that gets behind the carefully constructed mask of "England's greatest warrior kind" more completely, imaginatively and thought-provokingly than any other account I've read."--Helen Castor, BBC History Magazine

"Jones is one of our liveliest historians, as well as one of the best informed, and his return to nonfiction after a novel-writing sabbatical elegantly marries the authority and depth of his previous histories with the brio and wit of his fiction. His reappraisal of one of England's most celebrated but often misunderstood kings is as splendidly readable as ever, full of diverting incident and considered judgment."--The Observer (UK)

"Jones's prose hums with energy throughout, and his ability to marry realm-scale intrigue with family drama marks this out as narrative history at its best.... He does, indeed, show us Henry's life from many angles, reaching towards a more complete picture - and the product is an intense, rich account of an 'unusual but utterly compelling' man."--Telegraph (UK)

"Dan Jones's lively retelling of Henry's remarkable story comes down firmly on the positive side, depicting him as a highly effective ruler forged by a difficult upbringing."--The Times (UK)

"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

About the Author

Dan Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of Powers and Thrones, Crusaders, The Templars, The Plantagenets, Wars of the Roses, and Magna Carta, as well as the Essex Dogs trilogy of novels. He is the host of the podcast This is History: A Dynasty to Die For and has produced, written, and presented dozens of TV shows, including the popular Netflix series Secrets of Great British Castles.