A review by sashshearman
Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI by Lauren Johnson
If you are looking for a chronology of the Wars of the Roses, this biography may be a good place to start, as the book is really a series of descriptions of events.
Unfortunately there was almost no analysis of the personalities of the time or the relationships between, for example, Margaret of Anjou and Henry. The author does not explain the reasons for action and antipathy between players. Why did the Duke of York rebel? There is no explanation. He just did. There is no mention, for example, of the money owed to York by the Crown when York was in France, which I have read in other histories was one of the causes of the rupture.
There is mention of “lawlessness” but no examples of the deterioration of civil order. No description of Henry’s day-to-day life. No description or analysis of the decisions made by Henry’s councillors that caused unrest and anger in the populace. Very few references to contemporary sources or quotes. Mention is made of Henry travelling far and wide to arbitrate disputes. If there are records of any of those proceedings, it would have been interesting to have details of some of the disputes to gauge what sort of decision he made. Was it wise? Too generous? Too conciliatory? We are told that he was too generous and too conciliatory but without examples it is difficult to get a sense of the man or the time.
Ms Johnson’s writing style is great and despite my frustrations I read to the end. If I had not known anything else about the Wars of the Roses, I would have concluded after reading this book that the whole saga was solely a power play amongst the elite. Of course that was part of it, but the complexities beyond greed and personal ambition were not explored. Henry remains a shadow.
Unfortunately there was almost no analysis of the personalities of the time or the relationships between, for example, Margaret of Anjou and Henry. The author does not explain the reasons for action and antipathy between players. Why did the Duke of York rebel? There is no explanation. He just did. There is no mention, for example, of the money owed to York by the Crown when York was in France, which I have read in other histories was one of the causes of the rupture.
There is mention of “lawlessness” but no examples of the deterioration of civil order. No description of Henry’s day-to-day life. No description or analysis of the decisions made by Henry’s councillors that caused unrest and anger in the populace. Very few references to contemporary sources or quotes. Mention is made of Henry travelling far and wide to arbitrate disputes. If there are records of any of those proceedings, it would have been interesting to have details of some of the disputes to gauge what sort of decision he made. Was it wise? Too generous? Too conciliatory? We are told that he was too generous and too conciliatory but without examples it is difficult to get a sense of the man or the time.
Ms Johnson’s writing style is great and despite my frustrations I read to the end. If I had not known anything else about the Wars of the Roses, I would have concluded after reading this book that the whole saga was solely a power play amongst the elite. Of course that was part of it, but the complexities beyond greed and personal ambition were not explored. Henry remains a shadow.