The Eagle and the Hart by Helen Castor: This magnificent book brings ruthless Royal feud to life
The Eagle and the Hart by Helen Castor The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV Allen Lane £12.99 Review by Greg Wright
One day in the summer of 1377, two 10-year-old boys found themselves at the heart of a coronation in Westminster Abbey.
One of the boys, Richard of Bordeaux, was about to become King Richard II. Standing at his side was Richard’s first cousin, Henry of Bolingbroke, who seemed destined to remain a relatively minor player in the febrile soap opera of 14th century England.
Richard should have remained monarch for the rest of his life, while Henry was set for a life of worthy obscurity.
Two decades later, after Richard’s deluded and vindictive behaviour turned the kingdom upside down, Henry shocked Europe by deposing him and snatching the throne.
This dazzling work, which has the pace of a thriller, takes the readers into the very heart of one of the most notorious Royal feuds in history.
It’s hard to resist the conclusion that Richard’s kingship was doomed from the start due to the monarch’s deeply flawed character. Richard’s lack of judgement and thirst for absolute power made enemies of once loyal subjects.
Henry, by contrast, was a monarch in waiting straight out of central casting; an accomplished jouster and soldier with a gift for building deep friendships and displaying wise and decisive leadership.
When Richard banished Henry during a typical fit of ill-judged petulance, the stage was set for a final showdown between men who once shared the public stage but had never been close. In order to save the kingdom, Henry knew he must stage an audacious coup.
In this magnificent book, Helen Castor makes a frequently told tale seem fresh and vivid; Henry IV in particular emerges as a complex, driven, yet humble man, forever weighed down with the taint of usurpation.
The full horror of Richard II’s tyranny is faithfully exposed. From 1397, as he built up a force of knights and squires wearing his badge of the white hart, Richard was more determined than ever to display the power of his crown through retribution rather than forgiveness.
According to Castor, Richard’s kingship was always primarily concerned with being and not doing; “with making sure that his subjects bowed to his sovereignty and reflected it back to him in terms that made clear its divine origin and its irresistible presence in the world”.
Royal promises might blow away like chaff in the breeze, to be replaced – for an unspecified time – by entirely new royal truths.
Henry, by contrast, inspired deep devotion because he knew that to be human was to live an imperfect life, even if you occupied the throne. He listened to advisers and never succumbed to paranoia, despite the rebellions that dominated his reign.
Henry, who was worthy of the eagle he carried as an emblem, kept a clear mind within an ailing body.
When he died, a month short of his 46th birthday, he left the kingdom to his son Henry V, who would turn England into one of the strongest military powers in Europe.
In her previous book about the 15th century Paston family – Blood & Roses – Castor challenged the belief that people of the Middle Ages were alien beings, torn between extremes of cruelty and tenderness and, therefore, beyond our comprehension. In her latest work she provides more voices – rational, fretful and resilient – to show that they shared our common humanity.