Description

He is one of the most reviled English kings in history He drove his kingdom to the brink of civil war a dozen times in less than twenty years He allowed his male lovers to rule the kingdom He led a great army to the most ignominious military defeat in English history His wife took a lover and invaded his kingdom and he ended his reign wandering around Wales with a handful of followers pursued by an army He was the first king of England forced to abdicate his throne Popular legend has it that he died screaming impaled on a redhot poker but in fact the time and place of his death are shrouded in mystery His life reads like an Elizabethan tragedy full of passionate doomed love bloody revenge jealousy hatred vindictiveness and obsession He was Edward II and this book tells his story Using almost exclusively fourteenthcentury sources and Edwards own letters and speeches wherever possible Kathryn Warner strips away the myths which have been created about him over the centuries and provides a far more accurate and vivid picture of him than has previously been seen