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Books

Henry IV: unsightly usurper and megalomaniac

The chronically diseased Henry IV, generally eclipsed in history by his glamorous son, is finally given the full treatment by Chris Given-Wilson

19 March 2016

9:00 AM

19 March 2016

9:00 AM

Henry IV Chris Given-Wilson

Yale, pp.608, £30, ISBN: 9780300154191

Poor old Henry IV: labelled (probably unfairly) as a leper, but accurately as a usurper, he has been one of England’s most neglected monarchs. He is best known through his Shakespearean starring roles — which little resembled the real man, according to Chris Given-Wilson — and as the father of the ultimate warrior-king, Henry V, rather than in his own right.

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