Henry VI had one of the longest reigns of king of England from 1422-61 but was perhaps the least successful of medieval rulers. This lecture will explain the ways in which his priorities as king diverged sharply from what was expected of medieval monarchs, and how his fitful engagement with government – in an age of personal kingship – was perhaps the worst of all worlds for the realm he ruled. The extent to which this led to the collapse of political society and the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses will be evaluated.
Dr James Ross is Reader in Late Medieval History at the University of Winchester. He works on English political society from the late fourteenth to the early sixteenth centuries, particularly on the nobility and on kingship. He has published a number of articles as well as biographies of John de Vere, Thirteenth Earl of Oxford, 1442-1513 (2011), of Henry VI: A Good, Simple and Innocent Man (2016) for the Penguin English Monarch Series, and Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford and Duke of Ireland (1362-1392). The Rise and Fall of a Royal Favourite (summer 2024). political society and the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses will be evaluated.
