A very good history lesson

Within this book, you get a history lesson. This book is about King Richard II and so much more. He gives an in-depth account of the Wat's Tyler insurrection of 1381. This event almost plunged England into civil war. You learn that he adored his first wife Anne and cherishe

so so history

Pretty general and superficial. Ok for beginners. There are better books done by scholars since this one was written .

Richard the Second doesn't get much fanfare in history or even here in Abbott's account. He has some remarkable moments but ends up appearing as such a self-absorbed and self-serving monarch that it becomes easy to appreciate the endless intrigues and uprisings against him. His early life held such

In contrast to his grandfather, Richard cultivated a refined atmosphere at court, in which the king was an elevated figure, with art and culture at its centre.

The king's dependence on a small number of courtiers caused discontent among the influential, and in 1387 control of government was taken ove

An excellent introduction the Plantagenets and the mediaeval period in general with only half of the book discussing Richard II. However, the forgoing material does serve to give context to Richard's life and I feel makes a big difference to the way he is often perceived by history.

This book is exce

First Read in April 2012.

Enjoyable little book that barely has Richard II in it. This is of a species of British readers on British monarchs, because that's how they used to understand their history, and it's good enough for what it does.

The chapters on Wat Tyler are better than some histories on the subject, worse than oth