Plantagenet Saga Series by Jean Plaidy
Plantagenet Saga #4
The Prince of Darkness
Jean Plaidy
The untimely death of Richard the Lionheart left his nephew Arthur and his younger brother John in contest for the throne of England. Reluctantly the barons chose John, and so began years of rule by a ruthless and greedy tyrant. Yet despite his reputation, John, still manages to seduce the young and beautiful Isabella of Angeloume. But in taking her as his bride he makes an enemy for life. And in the tempestuous years that follow many men come to believe that the House of Anjou was tainted by the Devil's blood, the loathsome monarch was himself Evil Incarnate, the very Prince of Darkness...
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Plantagenet Saga #8
The Follies of the King
Jean Plaidy
This book is the eighth volume in the Plantagenet Saga, and the action takes place in the reign of Edward the Second, and charts the events precipitated by Edward's attachments to and preference for handsome young men. His queen the beautiful Isabella was not to forgive or forget her humiliation. The country was in turmoil. Robert the Bruce had beaten the English at Bannockburn. The King was making deadly enemies throughout the country, but did not realise that the most deadly of these was the Queen. Alluring, powerful, and ruthless, she waited until she took a lover Roger de Mortimer, and together they worked to overthrow the man who had humiliated her. While Edward plunges along the road on which his follies had set him, and which ends with the most horrific murder in history.
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Plantagenet Saga #11
The Star of Lancaster
Jean Plaidy
Continuing Jean Plaidy's popular Plantagenet series, here is the dramatic story of King Henry the Fifth's rise from wayward youngster to warrior king. Richard the Second is losing his hold on the crown and Henry of Bolingbroke, previously exiled by the king, returns to England to claim it. Richard is deposed and dies mysteriously, murdered some say on the orders of Bolingbroke, now King Henry the Fourth. But Henry finds the crown harder to hold onto than it was to win. He is beset by enemies, hampered by disease, and concerned about the rebellious behaviour of his son. Dominating the court and with his eye on the crown is Harry of Monmouth, whose reckless conduct in low-class taverns with his crony Sir John Oldcastle causes scandal. When the king dies, Harry became King Henry the Fifth, and the change is dramatic for both him and Oldcastle. The licentious youth becomes a great king, and Oldcastle, the rake, turns into a religious reformer. Oldcastle dies a martyr and Harry becomes the conquering hero of Agincourt. The Star of Lancaster is in the ascendant. Harry has brought France to her knees and married her princess. It seems that the long war was at an end. But a greater enemy than the French awaits Harry ...
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Plantagenet Saga #13
The Red Rose of Anjou
Jean Plaidy
When Henry VI becomes king, it is soon clear that he would be better suited to a quiet life than to ruling the country. Richard, Duke of York, is convinced that he would make a better king and has more right to the crown, and he will stop at nothing to claim it. But Margaret of Anjou, Henry's new French wife, is a formidable woman who is just as determined to keep Henry on the throne. Most powerful of all is the Earl of Warwick, the kingmaker, and with his support of Richard of York the War of the Roses begins. When Henry VI lapses into madness and eventually meets his mysterious end in the Wakefield Tower, Margaret directs all of her ambition towards her young son, Passionate and impulsive she begins scheming for him, and in doing so dashes headlong into disaster ...
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