Research Catalog

The perfect king : the life of Edward III : father of the English nation

Title: The perfect king : the life of Edward III : father of the English nation / Ian Mortimer.
Author: Mortimer, Ian, 1967-
Publication: London : Jonathan Cape, 2006.

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Status	Format	Access	Call Number	Item Location
Request for On-site Use Request Scan How do I pick up this item and when will it be ready?	Book/Text	Use in library	DA233 .M67 2006	Off-site

Details

Description

xix, 536 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps; 24 cm

Summary

In this first full study of his character and life, Ian Mortimer shows how Edward III personally provided the impetus for much of the drama of his fifty-year reign. Under him the feudal kingdom of England became a highly organised, sophisticated nation, without question the most important military nation in Europe. Yet under his rule England also experienced its longest period of domestic peace in the middle ages, giving rise to a massive increase of the nation's wealth through the wool trade, with huge consequences for society, art and architecture. It is to Edward that the British owe their system of parliamentary representation, the local justice system, the national flag and the English language as the 'tongue of the nation'. Nineteenth century historians painted Edward as a self-seeking, rapacious, tax-gathering conqueror. Yet as this book shows, beneath the strong warrior king was a compassionate, conscientious and often merciful man resolute yet devoted to his wife, friends and family. He emerges as a strikingly modern figure, to whom many will be able to relate the father of both the English nation and the English people.

Subject

Genre/Form

History
Biographies.

Bibliography (note)

Includes bibliographical references (p. 504-514) and index.

ISBN

9780224073011
022407301X

LCCN

2006411888
9780224073011

OCLC

ocm62474803
62474803
SCSB-14028664

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library