I enjoyed the critical analysis, supported by logical, chronological evidence.

Good narrator, Well presented arguments supported by chronologically presented evidence. Well worth a read if you are interested in this period.

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Mainstream history for people who like detail

At the start, I found myself wondering if I'd get into this book. By the end I wanted more history in this format.

The day by day style has it's dull moments, mainly at the beginning, but its strength is that it gives an extremely honest account of history. The attention to detail sheds brighter light upon historical figures from this incredible year. It builds a picture of Henry V almost free of the bias of nationalism.

This is history for people who want to know EXACTLY (as close as we can get) what happened.

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7 people found this helpful

Simply brilliant.

No author recreates life in the medieval period quite as vividly as Ian Mortimer. His books encourage us to think about history in new ways, and the format of this book is an examination of the person and policy of Henry V, through a diarist approach to 1415 - the year of the battle of Agincourt.

Entertaining and thought provoking in equal measure.

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Fascinating

This was one of those titles that made me impatient for the next opportunity to pick up where I had previously left off. Rather than obscure the bigger picture, the approach taken by the author of forensic examination of day by day details was both fascinating and illuminating. In particular it provided great weight of evidence to dispel both the contemporaneous and subsequent historical propaganda. The work is as much a study of human nature as it is of history. Although concentrated in one year, the commentary during the body of the work and in the epilogue places the events of the year both in the context of events that had led up to it and the role it played as a catalyst for paradigm shifting changes in the years and centuries that would follow it.

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superb narrative form

Really valued the day by day structure which as promised gave a fascinating degree of insight into the unfolding events.

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A day by day history

This is a unique history in my experience. The day by day approach allows for a precision and inclusion of seemingly mundane facts that in fact become quite important in the author's analysis.
This is I consider a balanced, warts and all account which allows us to see a deeply flawed character who achieved more than could be imagined.

but then that is humanity. capable of great achievement and great flaws in the same person.

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Excellent audio

To do history day by day is a strange approach. But it works thanks to the enormous amount of contemporary evidence. It is also helped by a balancing narrative of the Council of Constance and the surprising role England played in it.

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Quite different

This book has a different feel than many other historical books I've read or listened to. It's laid out almost like a diary, going date by date, building up to the Battle of Agincourt and the aftermath. I quite liked this approach, it built up the anticipation. I've read a few of Ian Mortimer's books and they never disappoint. There has clearly been a lot of research into this book and the author knows his subject very well. The narration is very good.

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Henry Vth as a masterfully politician

Great narrative of the year 1415, about Henry V ,and all that was happening politically in his realm and how he navigated those same politics to get his wish and funding to claim France.Gripping narrative involving many elements,not least the papal schism and the French political system which had a regency council to rule as their King was mad,also the infighting with the French that benefitted Henry,whom through diplomacy used it to his advantage

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Impressively scholarly but dull at times

I enjoyed the author's biographies of Edward III and Henry IV which are equally scholarly as the present book but to my surprise are more engaging. All the more surprising as Henry V is the monarch with a more heroic reputation. Perhaps it's the structure of the book in that the early chapters deal exhaustively with the theological schism within the Catholic church resulting in there being three Popes, two of whom were ultimately disposed. Thereafter the book becomes an almost day by day account of the King's life during 1415 in the run up to his 'triumph' at Agincourt with details about his manoeuvrings to get money to pay for his forays into France and exhaustive preparations for war that involves the descriptions of inventories and lists. All is worthy erudition but makes for a somewhat dull listen. The best section is from the siege of Harfleur up to and including the battle of Agincourt.

My previous favourable image of Henry V, largely based on Shakespeare's play, has been overturned by this book and I now see him as a vain man driven by a religious zealot's belief that he is doing God's Will and that God is on his side even when he's killing prisoners of war and murdering completely innocent women and children and children. In his selfish pursuit of power and self-aggrandisement he invaded France but impoverished England in the process He gave lavishly to fellow nobles but disgracefully reneged on the last payments payments to his soldiers who bore such hardships trekking across France and fought so bravely to give him his victories yet he regarded them as merely his chattels obliged to obey his will.

The book ends with the author's arguments in favour of his novel approach to telling history.

The narrator is excellent.

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14 people found this helpful