Henry VI

by Bertram Wolffe

Book 25 in the English Monarchs series.

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Bertram Wolffe challenges the sentimental image of Henry VI as a saintly innocent destroyed solely by ambitious nobles. Drawing on the evidence of government, he argues that the king’s passivity, poor judgement and inability to manage patronage contributed directly to disorder, financial weakness and the loss of England’s French territories.

The biography follows Henry’s dual monarchy, marriage to Margaret of Anjou, episodes of mental collapse and the factional struggles that became the Wars of the Roses. Wolffe also examines Henry’s deposition, restoration and posthumous cult, showing how Tudor memory softened the record of a disastrous reign.