There was one mighty ruler in western Europe in 1166, and he was married to the greatest heiress of the age. King Henry II of England was at the height of his powers and together with his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, he presided over an empire that stretched from the Pyrenees in the south to the English border with Scotland.
He was fortune’s darling: witty, powerful, rich and capable. Life’s rewards were his for the taking. In 1166, his wife gave birth to his fourth surviving son, so his dynasty was assured. Or was it?
Ten years later, his realm and his continental dominions were troubled by discontent. His English subjects felt themselves hard-pressed by relentless taxes, many of which went abroad to fund King Henry’s attempts to subdue rebellions. And the king had offended the Church by his fatal argument with Thomas Becket.
Born into this maelstrom of events was Henry’s youngest son John, condemned to be an object of contention in the quarrel between his parents, and to suffer the effects of a troubled childhood in an ever-moving environment, a boiling cauldron of frustrated emotions.
This novel tells the story of the young John Plantagenet, and is the first of a trilogy based on the life of King John of England.