The Demon's Brood

 

 

 

 

Also by Desmond Seward

The Hundred Years War

The Wars of the Roses

The Last White Rose

DESMOND SEWARD

 

 

 

 

Constable & Robinson Ltd
55–56 Russell Square
London WC1B 4HP
www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK by Constable,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson, 2014

Copyright © Desmond Seward 2014

The right of Desmond Seward to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

ISBN 978-1-78033-177-5 (hardback)
ISBN 978-1-47210-564-6 (ebook)

Printed and bound in the UK

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Cover design by Bob Eames

For Frederick, Kristin, William and Julian

Among those who helped, I should particularly like to thank my agent Andrew Lownie for encouraging me to persevere with so daunting a project. I owe another debt to my copyeditor, Elizabeth Stone, for helping me to make the book more readable. I am also grateful to the staff of the London Library for unfailingly courteous and imaginative assistance, and to the staff of the British Library.

Family trees

Introduction: The Demon and Her Heirs

Timeline

Part 1

The First Plantagenets

1   The First Plantagenets

2   The Eagle – Henry II

3   The Lionheart – Richard I

4   The Madman – John

5   The Aesthete – Henry III

Part 2

Plantagenet Britain?

6   The Hammer – Edward I

7   The Changeling – Edward II

Part 3

Plantagenet France?

8   The Paladin – Edward III

9   The Absolutist – Richard II

10   The Usurper – Henry IV

11   The ‘Gleaming King' – Henry V

Part 4

Lancaster and York

12   The Holy Fool – Henry VI

13   The Self-Made King – Edward IV

14   The Suicide – Richard III

15   Postscript – The Kings in the National Myth

Notes

Index