The Road to Runnymede

by David Field Book 6 in the The Medieval Saga series.

First published 2023

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England after 1199. After the death of Richard the Lionheart, his brother, John takes the English throne with the support of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. But John has a rival in the person of young Arthur, Duke of Brittany, who Richard had acknowledged as his rightful heir. Arthur’s claim is the superior one under Angevin law, and it is backed by the majority of the nobles in Maine and Anjou, supported by King Philip II of France, who is anxious to break up the Angevin Empire.

John’s preference for foreign favourites, his heavy taxation of the English nobility to fund his military failures, his brutal reaction to opposition and his belief in his divine right to rule provoke a powerful group of barons into a rebellion. But when John agrees to sign the Magna Carta, a fragile peace is restored. It doesn’t take long for John to renege on his word. And the barons respond by inviting the young Prince Louis of France to invade.