Book Review: Harry of England: The History of Eight Kings, From Henry I to Henry VIII, by Teresa Cole

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In an inspired new book, historian and author Teresa Cole takes a fresh look at British history through the lives of eight kings named Henry. 

My recollection of childhood history lessons was skipping from the Norman invasion to the six wives of Henry VIII, so this informative and highly readable book is a useful way of filling in some of the gaps. I remember being intrigued by the news that Henry I died from a ‘surfeit of lampreys’, but did you know that he admitted to (and provided for) an amazing twenty-two illegitimate children?

As a youngest son, Henry had no idea he would become king, yet watched his brothers die one after the other. When his father, William the Conqueror, lay on his deathbed he granted his youngest son five thousand pounds of silver. With impressive zeal, Henry rushed off to have the silver weighed, and wasn’t seen again until his father’s funeral.

Henry II had little chance to learn from his grandfather, as he was only two years old when Henry I met his uncomfortable end. By the time he was crowned, with his queen, Eleanor of Aquitaine, at Westminster Abbey he was twenty-one, and had gained a good education. 

He was called Henry 'Curtmantle' when he was young because he was so short, and is probably best known for rashly commanding the murder of Archbishop Thomas a Becket at Canterbury cathedral. Henry II left the country in a much better state than he found it, but made many enemies as he curbed the powers of feudal lords.

Henry III didn’t have the best start, as the nine-year-old was crowned with the wrong crown, in the wrong place by the wrong person, but he did have the protection of William Marshall as regent. Henry III married the well-educated and well-connected Eleanor of Provence, untroubled by the fact she was only twelve years old, and they had five children. Described by Teresa Cole as ‘a decent but flawed man’, Henry III’s reign of fifty-six years was the longest in medieval English history.

A further hundred and twenty-five years passed before King Henry IV became the first English ruler since the Norman Conquest to speak English rather than French. The Britain he ruled was a very different place to that of his predecessor. After this we enter much more familiar territory with the remaining four ‘Henrys’ – but I can confirm that author Teresa Cole has brought her fresh perspective to the stories of their eventful lives.

This is a book you can dip in to at any page and find something interesting. Highly recommended.

Tony Riches

Disclosure: A review copy of this book was kindly provided by the publishers, Amberley.

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About the Author

Teresa Cole was a teacher for many years before turning to writing. She is the author of Henry V: The Life of the Warrior King & the Battle of Agincourt 1415 (“Cole understands the importance of drama … a thorough account of Henry’s life” – History of War Magazine), and three books about the Normans – The Norman Conquest: William the Conqueror’s Subjugation of England, After the Conquest: The Divided Realm 1066-1135, and Anarchy: The Darkest Days of Medieval England. In a new departure.