White King: The Tragedy of Charles I

Description

The first accessible biography in 50 years of one of the most dramatic and bloody reigns in history The subject of a BBC TV series on Charles I The prize-winning biography of Charles I * Winner of the HWA Crown for Best Work of Historical Non-Fiction 2018 * * Times Book of the Year * * Shortlisted for the Catholic Herald Biography Award 2019 * Less than forty years after the golden age of Elizabeth I, England was at war with itself. At the head of this disintegrating kingdom was Charles I, who would change the face of the monarchy for ever. His reign is one of the most dramatic in history, yet Charles the man remains elusive. To his enemies he was the 'white tyrant of prophecy- to his supporters a murdered innocent. Today many myths still remain. It is an epic story of glamour and strong women, of populist politicians and religious terror, of mass movements and a revolutionary new media- one that speaks to our own divided and dangerous times. 'This is the most gripping piece of revisionist history I have read for a long time' - The Spectator

Leanda de Lisle is the highly acclaimed author of several bestselling and prize-winning books on the Tudors and Stuarts including Tudor- The Family Story and White King- The Tragedy of Charles I. She writes and speaks on historical matters for TV, radio and publications including The Times, the Spectator and History Today.

A revelation... White King is that rare thing, a page-turning history that gently but insistently also asks provocative questions about a period on which our opinions have been all too fixed. Charles does not emerge with his reputation restored, but he emerges whole -- Mathew Lyons * Financial Times * Fascinating -- Andrew Marr * Evening Standard * Humane and scholarly... De Lisle's deeply and originally researched book brings Charles alive not in kingly isolation but as a father and a husband. Both biography and subject deserve our fullest attention -- Dan Jones * Mail on Sunday * Engaging, well-researched and beautifully written... Emphatically not another book about the civil wars, this instead offers a nuanced and detailed examination of one of our most complex monarchs. It is probably the definitive modern work about Charles I -- Alexander Larman * Observer * De Lisle, who has long been an original voice in popular Tudor studies, is generous to Charles, but too sharp a reader of evidence to ignore his flaws... Pellucid, compelling and enriched by fresh evidence... Sympathetic but scrupulous to the last -- Jessie Childs * Sunday Telegraph *