Henry VI

by Bertram Wolffe; With a new foreword by John L. Watts

• ISBN13: 9780300089264
• ISBN10: 0300089260
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2001-06-10
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Bertram Wolffe challenges the traditional view of Henry VI as an unworldly, innocent and saintly monarch and offers instead a finely-drawn but critical portrait of an ineffectual ruler. Drawing on widespread contemporary evidence, Wolffe describes the failures of Henry's long reign from 1422 to 1471, which included the collapse of justice, the loss of the French territories and the final disintegration of his government. He argues that the posthumous cult of Henry was promoted by Henry VII as a way of excusing his uncle's political failures while enhancing the image of the dynasty.

Author Biography

The late Bertram Wolffe was reader in medieval history at Exeter University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Foreword to the Yale Edition
The Myth of the Royal Saint
The Myth of the Royal Saint	p. 3
The Minority
An Infant King	p. 25
Coronations	p. 48
Royal Adolescence	p. 65
Majority Rule
The Attainment of Power	p. 87
The Royal Entourage	p. 93
Patronage, Faction and Injustice in England, 1437-1450	p. 106
The Founder of Eton and King's	p. 135
War and Peace: the Problems of Normandy and Gascony, 1437-1443	p. 146
Marriage and Truce, 1443-1445	p. 169
Surrender and Defeat, 1445-1450	p. 184
The Aftermath of Defeat
Parliamentary Opposition and Popular Risings, 1449-1450	p. 21
The Frustration of Richard duke of York, 1450-1453	p. 23
Madness, 1453-1455	p. 26
Civil War
The First Battle of St. Albans and its Consequences	p. 28
The Loss of the Throne	p. 31
The Last Ten Years	p. 33
Apotheosis	p. 351
Itinerary of Henry VI, 1436-1461	p. 361
Select Bibliography	p. 375
Index	p. 385
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