The Demon’s Brood: the Plantagenet dynasty that forged the English nation.

  • UK 2014 (Constable)
  • US 2014 (Pegasus)

Description

This is a gallery of the Plantagenet family, from Black Fulk to Bosworth Field, whose kings reigned longer over us than those of any other dynasty. Four were murdered, two came close to deposition and the last was killed in battle by rebels. Shakespeare wrote plays about six of these kings, entrenching them in the National Myth. Centred around their personalities, based on major contemporary sources and the latest research, here is the first readable overview of the whole remarkable dynasty in a single volume – and a gripping account of the entire English Middle Ages

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Reviews of: The Demon’s Brood: the Plantagenet dynasty that forged the English nation.

  • This is a big ballsy history of the sort that is seldom written in these nuanced days and Seward reminds us of a style that has been all-but lost in this thundering account of the Plantagenet family … The general reader will find this book invaluable for filling in gaps of knowledge and putting a vivid story to a previously unknown monarch … This is not our world of science and scepticism; this is the medieval world – populated with heroes and seductresses, gods and murderers – and few know it better than Desmond Seward.

    Philippa Gregory, The Times

  • Readers well versed in Plantagenet history will delight in the efficient completeness of this narative … Seward is a good author to turn to for ease in reading history; his writing style is quick, vibrant and delightfully pithy in its simplicity of phrase.

    Kirkus Review

  • This is popular history at its most buoyant and informative.

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