Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25776 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-03
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

London Review of Books
`fills an important gap, and if it does not solve all the problems it certainly tackles most of them'.

Review
`qualified historian...invokes historical imagination...'

Scotland on Sunday
`Possesses the rare combination of clarity, liveliness, balanced
judgement, erudition without pedantry, and scholarship founded on his own
research among primary sources.'

Customer Reviews

A scholarly study that does not meet its self-set goals, very boring to read
I had quite enjoyed Ian Mortimer two previous books "The Greatest
Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England 1327-1330" and "The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation". However, this book comes kind of a disappointment as it the author does not achieve his self-set goals.

King Henry IV comes with quite a lot of baggage: the usurper king and the arch-villain of Shakespeare, and eclipsed by his hero-son Henry V.
Ian Mortimer sets out to rectify this traditional picture of Henry IV and wants to get to personality of the King. Getting to the personality of late-medieval personalities is quite difficult to achieve as one is very much stuck with the actions and has less on thoughts. Giving it a try is quite recommendable but I feel that in the end Ian Mortimer has given his reader actually not much more than a deduction from actions and mostly describe actually the doings of the King. One does not feel really closer of the thoughts. Otherwise the book it is a bit too much of a whitewash of Henry IV. In the first part Ian Mortimer tries to build up a picture of Henry as the heir presumptive of Richard II, a well educated, widely travelled, religious royal prince of international standing, a hero of tournaments. What a contrast to the spoilt and in-effective Richard II!! Getting rid of this ruler was for Henry first of all a matter of his own survival, understandable that he did so.
Being ineffective as a ruler however does not made the legitimate king an unlawful king and would give anybody a right to remove him, at least according to the values of the time. Forcing the monarch to abdicate and than organizing his own election still does not really get rid of the usurpation reproach. In this aspect however Ian Mortimer really tries hard to white-wash Henry IV.

Henry's reign and rule was not a glorious one and much of the in-effectiveness of Richard II was repeated by him. Ian Mortimer is therefore quite critical of his reign, especially with regards to the first few years when Henry thought he could run England like he did run the Duchy of Lancaster.

This book is a very tiring read, heavy, no great flow, sometimes bogged down with petty details and it is really a struggle to get through. So in the end I did not find it particularly convincing or at least pleasant to read. I was really glad when I had finished it. There were quite a lot of moments when I thought I just drop it. Definitely not a must read.

Henry IV, a little known monarch
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book as I have enjoyed all Ian Mortimer's books. He really brings history to life in a readable way. Lots of details about the times, the places and the personalities without getting bogged down by academic trivia. This not a text book but popular and accessible history for everyone.I found myself liking Henry IV as a person. You can't say that about many English Kings. He came over as a honest, decent, sensible person, very much the product of his age but with an attractive personality that would fit any age.This was a man found himself in a impossible situation being exiled and disinherited by his unpredictable cousin. What was he to do? If he were to lie down and take it quietly he would therefore abandon not only his own family but the English nation to the tyranny of Richard II. If he were to fight back he would place himself in a decidedly doubtful legal situation. If he lost he would be branded a traitor and more than likely lose his own life. If he won how was he deal with his royal cousin who had proved himself so treacherous in the past? Henry made his choices and, I think, made the best of a bad deal.Yes, Richard was the crowned and anointed king but he had proved himself to be such a disaster as a ruler that most of his contemporaries, even the most law-abiding, were prepared to see him overthrown. It's a dramatic story about a fascinating and important part of our English history. Mortimer tells it well. My only complaint - the title! It makes Henry sound like a timid monarch.Whatever else Henry IV was he definitely was not fearful but a courageous man fighting against difficult odds and , most of the time, overcoming them.

Henry IV: usurper or saviour?
For many of us, Henry IV is the king who deposed Richard II, fathered Henry V and features in three of Shakespeare's historical plays. He reigned as King of England from 1399 to 1413 and while the significant events of his reign are documented in history, the man himself largely remains in the shadows.

In this book, Ian Mortimer sets out to bring Henry IV out of the shadows by providing both context and perspective for his actions. Mortimer's research and energetic writing do shed light, but it is not quite enough to infuse Henry IV with personality and life. The people around Henry IV largely remain in the shadows and it is their perspectives that would enable us to get a clearer picture of the man who was the king.

Ian Mortimer has provided comprehensive notes and a wealth of information in his select bibliography. This book is a wonderful starting point for those who want to know more about the life and times of Henry IV. I hope that at some stage someone will write a book that will be able to shed more life on the man himself.

Was Henry IV a usurper or a saviour? Ian Mortimer has a view, and while I largely agree with him I'm not entirely convinced. Yet.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith