Henry VI (The English Monarchs Series) [Paperback]

Bertram Wolffe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 2001 | Series: The English Monarchs Series

In this widely acclaimed biography, Bertram Wolffe challenges the traditional view of Henry VI as an unworldly, innocent, and saintly monarch and offers instead a finely-drawn but critical portrait of an ineffectual ruler. Drawing on widespread contemporary evidence, Wolffe describes the failures of Henry's long reign from 1422 to 1471, which included the collapse of justice, the loss of the French territories, and the final disintegration of his government. He argues that the posthumous cult of Henry was promoted by Henry VII as a way of excusing his uncle's political failures while enhancing the image of the dynasty. This edition includes a new preface by John Watts that discusses the book and its place in the evolving literature.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A powerful, compulsively readable portrait." -- Observer

"Much learning, skillfully deployed as here, evokes pleasure as well as admiration." -- R.L. Storey, Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

Yale English Monarchs Series

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (June 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300089260
• ISBN-13: 978-0300089264
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,248,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Study in politics..., June 7, 2006

By 

lordhoot "lordhoot" (Anchorage, Alaska USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Henry VI (The English Monarchs Series) (Paperback)

Bertram Wolffe's biography on Henry VI actually read more like a study of politics instead of a biography of a king. The politics involves the inner working of the court of Henry VI as he grew from a child king to an adult king. We really don't get to know Henry personally but understand him by his official actions as King of England and working of his advisors, favorites and office holders.

But one thing the author make very clear in this book was that Henry VI was truly an incompetent man and his ineptitude as a ruler marked him as an unworthy monarch. But its also clear that he was let down by almost everyone around him. Premature death of his father left a power vacuum around the young king and Henry was unlucky enough to have self-interest men around him who probably ruined him during his formative years. Foundation of his father kept things stable for awhile but cracks began to show because Henry wasn't capable and neither were men around him. In some ways, he seem to compared favorably with Henry III although the third Henry was more lucky.

If there is a major weakness in this book, it appears that the book get weaker as Henry VI get weaker on the throne. His last ten years get a mere 15 pages even although it was probably one of the more exciting parts of his personal life.

This book appears to be well researched and well written but it seem to be geared toward people who are well versed in English mediveal history. A novice reading this book may feel bit overwhelmed by massive amount of information regarding English mediveal politics of this time period.

Overall, this book does come highly recommended, although not a great biography of any sort, its a great study of English politics prior to the War of the Roses. Its explained the working of the English policies and reflects well why they lost all that Henry V have won for them.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Short on detail, August 29, 2006

By 

M. Richards - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Henry VI (The English Monarchs Series) (Paperback)

Bertram Wolffe's biography is readable and entertaining, however, the vast majority of the book describes Henry's relationship with France and how he squandered his father's legacy in Normandy. As mentioned in a previous review, the book is woefully short on detail regarding the Wars of the Roses. The book could have been much more entertaining and informative had it included more detail regarding the last years of Henry's life and the Wars of the Roses.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Weak biography of a weak king, July 1, 2011

By 

Daniel Putman - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Henry VI (The English Monarchs Series) (Paperback)

This book is one of the least impressive of the English Monarchs series. The historical issues with Wolffe's analysis are brought out in the Foreword by John Watts. Much of that Foreword is devoted to arguing that Wolffe's book is outdated in its research - that the current view of Henry is that of a "well-intentioned duffer" as opposed to Wolffe's presentation of him as more assertive and personally responsible for the failings of his reign. I think the Foreword would have worked much better following the text. When one reads first thing that the main thesis of the book is now considered wrong, it does not exactly excite the reader to want to go through the book itself. If it had followed the text, Watts's commentary would have been a fine corrective. However, that is not the reason for my problems with the book.

Large sections are poorly written. In much of Part III on "Majority Rule," the paragraphs read like lists of data and they often wander off the thesis statement of the paragraph. My main complaint is that the author very often did not structure paragraphs in a way that highlights the key issues in the paragraphs. It is one data point followed by another, followed by another, followed by another, etc. with a mind-numbing succession of names, many of them never brought up earlier or explained. I ended up trying to pick out the main point amidst an array of data. Very irritating. Sentences also need some editing. Clauses pile on top of clauses, sometimes appropriately, but often with extraneous points thrown into the sentence. I am sure that Wolffe wanted to use these sentential additions to enlighten the reader about context but the effect is confusion and difficulty in following his point. One other very bothersome point to me was that critical points, like the death of the Duke of York, are added in a few sentences at the end of a paragraph, this particular one dealing with the "rebels" in general. (The sentence starts out "In any case York and his son were slain in the melee.." - this for a man who dominates much of the last part of the book.) This "tossing in" of important points in paragraphs that are about broader issues occurs several times and is another example of lack of organization as to what is important in the paragraph and what is not.

This lack of well-written paragraphs is not true of the whole book. The first section on Henry's minority is much better organized and written. So are parts of the last third of the book. But the really important section about Henry's last years and the Lancaster-York war is quickly (in fact, very quickly) glossed over. In this section a great number of important events are crammed together and again the reader has a sense of a string of "facts" tossed together to make a paragraph. Given the importance of this time period, the lack of any developed explanation is a real weakness.

As Watts notes, the book emphasizes Henry's role in the loss of the English possessions in France. Even if Henry was more passive that Wolffe makes him, there is real drama that shines through at times in these sections amidst the lists of research points masquerading as paragraphs. Despite some bright spots, the book as a whole is not one I would recommend.