Event created by Village Books
Helen Castor returns after a ten-year hiatus with the chronicle of the lives and reigns of Richard II and Henry IV, two cousins whose rivalry brought their nation to the brink of disintegration – and back again.
Richard had birthright on his side, and a profound belief in his own God-given majesty; beyond that, he lacked all qualities of leadership. Henry had everything Richard lacked, all the qualities of a sovereign, bar one: birthright. A king who was a tyrant was replaced by a king who was a usurper.
Helen Castor tells this story of one of the strangest and most fateful relationships in English history. It is a story about power, and masculinity in crisis, and a nation brought to the brink of catastrophe and disintegration – and then brought back. At its heart, it is the story of two men whose lives were played out in extraordinary parallel, to devastating effect.
Helen Castor is a medieval historian and a Bye-Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Her first book, Blood & Roses, a biography of the fifteenth-century Paston family, was longlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2005 and won the English Association’s Beatrice White Prize in 2006. Her second book, She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth, was made into a BBC2 TV series. Her most recent book, Joan of Arc, was dubbed ‘a triumph of history’ (Guardian).
Tickets:
Standard ticket: £12
Book & ticket: £45 (includes a copy of The Eagle and The Hart, book RRP £35)
Concession ticket: £10
Book tickets HERE
