The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV

The divine right of kings squares off against pragmatic politicking in this labyrinthine dual biography. Historian Castor (Joan of Arc) recaps the fraught relationship between Richard II, who ruled England from 1377 to 1399, and his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, who overthrew Richard and took the throne as Henry IV. Richard’s reign is a study in foolish autocracy, in Castor’s telling: he spent extravagantly on his court and on numerous failed military expeditions, and when Parliament balked at paying for it all, he took it as an affront to his sacred royal prerogative. (He had member of Parliament condemned to death just for recommending cost-cutting measures.) Henry sometimes supported and sometimes opposed Richard’s increasingly bloody rule and claims of unlimited power, but after the king exiled him, he rallied England to depose and ultimately kill Richard. Henry’s triumph soon soured as he, like Richard, faced wars abroad, internal rebellions, and endless squabbling with Parliament, but unlike Richard, Castor contends, Henry responded to challenges with compromise and conciliation. Castor turns the chaos of medieval politics, with its kaleidoscope of personal loyalties, into a lucid narrative set in a colorful panorama of chivalric tournaments and outlandish fashions. (Henry had an outfit made of 12,000 squirrel pelts, Castor reports.) The result is a captivating portrait of a tumultuous age when modern political sensibilities started to disrupt ancient ruling philosophies. (Oct.)