The Worst Medieval Monarchs

Stephen. John. Edward II. Richard II. Richard III. These five are widely viewed as the worst of**xA0;England's medieval kings. Certainly, their reigns were not success stories. Two of these kings**xA0;lost their thrones, one only avoided doing so by dying, another was killed in battle, and the**xA0;remaining one had to leave his crown to his opponent. All have been seen as incompetent,**xA0;their reigns blighted by civil war and conflict. They tore the realm apart, failing in the basic**xA0;duty of a king to ensure peace and justice. For that, all of them paid a heavy price. As well as**xA0;incompetence, some also have reputations for cruelty and villainy, More than one has been**xA0;portrayed as a tyrant. The murder of family members and arbitrary executions stain their**xA0;reputations. All five reigns ended in failure. As a result, the kings have been seen as failures**xA0;themselves, the worst examples of medieval English kingship. They lost their reputations as**xA0;well as their crowns. Yet were these five really the worst men to wear the crown of England in the Middle Ages?**xA0;Or has history treated them unfairly? This book looks at the stories of their lives and reigns,**xA0;all of which were dramatic and often unpredictable. It then examines how they have been**xA0;seen since their deaths, the ways their reputations have been shaped across the centuries.**xA0;The standards of their own age were different to our own. How these kings have been**xA0;judged has changed over time, sometimes dramatically. Fiction, from Shakespeare's plays to**xA0;modern films, has also played its part in creating the modern picture. Many things have**xA0;created, over a long period, the negative reputations of these five. Today, they have come**xA0;to number among the worst kings of English history. Is this fair, or should they be redeemed? That is the question this book sets out to answer.