Edward III (Penguin Monarchs)

Name: Edward III (Penguin Monarchs)
Rating: 2.5 (5 reviews)

by Jonathan Sumption Book 19 in the Penguin Monarchs series.

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2.5(5)

Jonathan Sumption assesses Edward III as a formidable war leader whose reign brought both military glory and lasting burdens. The biography follows his overthrow of Roger Mortimer’s regime, consolidation of royal authority and pursuit of a claim to the French throne that opened the Hundred Years’ War.

Victories at Crécy and Poitiers and the creation of a chivalric court enhanced Edward’s prestige, yet plague, taxation and renewed warfare exposed the limits of his ambitions. Sumption presents a king whose achievements were extraordinary but whose continental project could not secure a durable settlement.