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King Henry IV survived at least eight plots to dethrone or kill him in the first six years of his reign. However he had not always been so unpopular. In his youth he had been a great chivalric champion and crusader. In 1399, at the age of thirty-two, he was greeted as the saviour of the realm when he ousted from power the tyrannical King Richard II. But Henry had to contend with men who supported him only as long as they could control him; when they failed, they plotted to kill him. Adversaries also tried to take advantage of his questionable right to the crown. Such threats transformed him from hero to murderer, prepared to go to any lengths to save his family and throne. Against all the odds, however, he took a poorly ruled nation, established a new Lancastrian dynasty, and introduced the principle that a king must act in accordance with parliament.
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Professional reviews
"This is the life of one of the bravest kings England ever had - and the greatest survivor of them all. 'A compelling narrative of a significant period in English History.' The Sunday Times 'Here is a full and richly detailed life...Mortimer has written a fine biography.' The Spectator 'Mortimer gives us a colourfully human picture of Henry...he writes with involvement and narrative drive' Independent 'The historian will welcome Mortimer's trilogy of biographies, the general reader will appreciate this one in particular, as will any student of Shakespeare.' THE Book magazine '[Mortimer's] fair-minded and ambitiously conceived account will win deserved favour with intelligent general readers' BBC History Magazine ‘An arresting and original biography.’ The Sunday Telegraph `Mortimer's book is written with style and panache; he keeps the reader turning the pages...' Times Higher Education Supplement `Possesses the rare combination of clarity, liveliness, balanced judgement, erudition without pedantry, and scholarship founded on his own research among primary sources.' Scotland on Sunday `The book is at its most compelling in conjuring a sense of place or occasion.' Helen Castor, The Guardian `[Mortimer] has... a vivid historical imagination which lends colour and excitement to his pages.' Literary Review"
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