Henry V, Dan Jones
Henry V, Dan Jones
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Henry V
The Astonishing Triumph of England's Greatest Warrior King

Author: Dan Jones

Narrator: Dan Jones

Unabridged: 14 hr 41 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Penguin Audio

Published: 10/01/2024

Synopsis

"Ambitious... With meticulous research and in lively style, Jones presents us with the man beyond the Shakespeare character."—The New York Times

“The best biography yet of England’s greatest king."—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs and Jerusalem

The New York Times bestselling author returns with a biography examining the dramatic life and unparalleled leadership of England's greatest medieval king

Henry V reigned over England for only nine years and four months and died at the age of just thirty-five, but he looms over the landscape of the late Middle Ages and beyond. The victor of Agincourt, he is remembered as the acme of kingship, a model to be closely imitated by his successors. William Shakespeare deployed Henry V as a study in youthful folly redirected to sober statesmanship. For one modern medievalist, Henry was, quite simply, “the greatest man who ever ruled England.”
 
For Dan Jones, Henry V is one of the most intriguing characters in all medieval history, but one of the hardest to pin down. He was a hardened, sometimes brutal warrior, yet he was also creative and artistic, with a bookish temperament. He was a leader who made many mistakes, who misjudged his friends and family, but he always seemed to triumph when it mattered. As king, he saved a shattered country from economic ruin, put down rebellions, and secured England’s borders; in foreign diplomacy, he made England a serious player once more. Yet through his conquests in northern France, he sowed the seeds for three generations of calamity at home, in the form of the Wars of the Roses.
 
Henry V is a historical titan whose legacy has become a complicated one. To understand the man behind the legend, Jones first examines Henry’s years of apprenticeship, when he saw the downfall of one king and the turbulent reign of another. Upon his accession in 1413, he had already been politically and militarily active for years, and his extraordinary achievements as king would come shortly after, earning him an unparalleled historical reputation. Writing with his characteristic wit and style, Jones delivers a thrilling and unmissable life of England’s greatest king.

About The Author

Dan Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of Powers and Thrones, Crusaders, The Templars, The Plantagenets, Wars of the Roses, and Magna Carta, as well as the Essex Dogs trilogy of novels. He is the host of the podcast This is History: A Dynasty to Die For and has produced, written, and presented dozens of TV shows, including the popular Netflix series Secrets of Great British Castles.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Leonard on June 29, 2021

Henry V is indeed the grand finale of Shakespeare’s second historical tetralogy, right after Henry IV, Part 2. Here, exit Falstaff, whose death is recounted by Mistress Quickly in the first act, and we are now in the presence of a conquering and “warlike Harry”, who is like chalk and cheese when com......more

Goodreads review by Bill on July 29, 2019

Sure, it's a jingoistic pageant, but it's a great jingoistic pageant, and--besides--it is the most melancholy,ironic, self-aware--and laugh-filled--jingoistic pageant ever staged. In Act V, Henry tells Katherine that together they will produce a son, and that this warlike paragon of chivalry will ma......more

Goodreads review by Henry on April 19, 2024

A young dynamic king, in his late twenties very ambitious wants and needs to become ruler of two significant nations, the King , Henry v , of England, by a dubious claim has come to conqueror France in the name of peace... he destroys. His father, Henry IV, an usurper murdered his own first cousin t......more

Goodreads review by Michael on April 07, 2022

On my initial read, this was likely my least favorite of the long cycle of plays from Edward III to Richard III. But with time, my opinion has improved. It starts and ends with a chorus and is primarily about Henry V's short, violent reign, his defeat of the French at Agincourt, and his death. I rea......more

Goodreads review by Mark on August 10, 2024

Henry V by William Shakespeare is the fourth instalment of the Plantagenet tetralogy. This play follows on nicely from the rise of Prince Hal/Harry to the throne to become King Henry V. We remember Henry V as the young beer swilling drinking mate of Sir John Falstaff – a regular at the Boar’s Head i......more

Quotes

"Jones…injects novelistic immediacy to a work that is as direct and forceful as its subject."—Wall Street Journal

"Ambitious... With meticulous research and in lively style, Jones presents us with the man beyond the Shakespeare character."—The New York Times

"A fizzing narrative, full of blood and thunder that gets behind the carefully constructed mask of "England's greatest warrior kind" more completely, imaginatively and thought-provokingly than any other account I've read."—Helen Castor, BBC History Magazine

"Jones is one of our liveliest historians, as well as one of the best informed, and his return to nonfiction after a novel-writing sabbatical elegantly marries the authority and depth of his previous histories with the brio and wit of his fiction. His reappraisal of one of England’s most celebrated but often misunderstood kings is as splendidly readable as ever, full of diverting incident and considered judgment."—The Observer (UK)

"Jones’s prose hums with energy throughout, and his ability to marry realm-scale intrigue with family drama marks this out as narrative history at its best…. He does, indeed, show us Henry’s life from many angles, reaching towards a more complete picture – and the product is an intense, rich account of an 'unusual but utterly compelling' man."—Telegraph (UK)

“Dan Jones’s lively retelling of Henry’s remarkable story comes down firmly on the positive side, depicting him as a highly effective ruler forged by a difficult upbringing.”—The Times (UK)

“Rousing… Jones’s colorful narrative reads like House of the Dragon minus the dragons; it’s full of pageantry and tumult and betrayal… This stimulating portrait of an iconic ruler roots his glorious deeds in sordid reality.”—Publishers Weekly

“Jones specializes in traditional great-men-and-politics histories of the Middle Ages, and this is a good one.”—Kirkus Reviews

"The king of exciting narrative history triumphs again. A masterclass in making the medieval addictively readable."—Lucy Worsley, author of Agatha Christie

"Wildly gripping, swashbuckling, battle-scarred and blood-spattered, in equal parts ferocious, dynamic and political, intimate and humane, the best biography yet of England’s greatest king."—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The Romanovs and Jerusalem

"With his customary combination of profound scholarship and fine narrative verve, Dan Jones brings Henry V to life better than anyone since Shakespeare himself."—Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill and Napoleon

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