This is the final book in Penman’s Plantagnets’ series. Starting with While Christ and His Saints Slept, Penman has followed the family’s complicated and tragic rise and fall. In Lionheart, Penman told the story of Richard’s rise to power and his Crusade to free Jerusalem and with this last book now gives us the final act of Richard I’s reign.

Richard the Lionheart has an almost mythical place in history.  A great warrior and a deft politician, Richard personified all the kingly virtues of his time. But his life was complicated by betrayal, a dysfunctional and troubled family, and by his own demons that caused him to take risks that tempted fate..

Richard’s inability to free Jerusalem on his crusade, was one of the hardest defeats he ever faced. Caused by a combination of his own missteps which had alienated his fellow kings on the crusade with him, and misunderstandings about the strength and tenacity of Saladin who held Jerusalem, Richard had been out menuaverred until he finally had to give up.

Tired, sick with scurvy and malaria, Richard began his return to England to take back the reins of power of his own kingdom. There he faced unrest among his nobles brought about by his long absence and his brother John’s poor political and management skills. But in order to get back to England he first had to avoid territory held by some of his most virulent enemies, the King of France and The Holy Roman Emperor. Hoping to avoid a confrontation with either of them, he and his men boarded boats and sailed for England, but en route a terrible storm blew them off course and they landed in enemy territory on the Sicilian coast. With boats now made useless by the storm, Richard and his remaining men cautiously make their way across country, but are soon discovered and captured and eventually turned over to the Holy Roman Emperor and incarcerated at the notorious fortress at Trifels. Richard was kept in custody in one form or another from the end of 1192 until February 4, 1194 when a ransom was paid for his release.

After his release, Richard faced mounting challenges to his rule, and trying to regain territory that the French had taken while he was gone. Richard spent almost all the remaining years of his life at war or trying to rectify the damage that had been done to his kingdom in his absence while on Crusade or when he was captured.

Penman has no equal in her ability to enter history and make us see these almost mythic figures as ordinary men and women. Not only is she able to humanize them and make us understand their emotions and motivations, she allows us to see how they were tied to the culture and understandings of their times.  Penman also speaks for the women, who are often overshadowed in the historical record, but here she brings his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Berengaria, Richard’s wife, and his sister, Constance clearly into focus so we can see things from their viewpoints as well.  I read these five books over the course of quite a few years and enjoyed them immensely, but now I think I might need to read them again all at once just to get the sweep of history and context all at once!

Brenda’s Rating: *****(5 Out of 5 Stars)

Recommend this book to: Sharon and Marian

Book Study worthy? Yes

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