The Eagle and the Hart:

Allen Lane

Richard of Bordeaux and Henry Bolingbroke were first cousins, born just three months apart. Their lives were from the beginning entwined. When they were still children, Richard was crowned King Richard II with Henry at his side: a ten-year-old lord in the service of his ten-year-old king.

Yet, as the animals on their heraldic badges showed, they grew up to be opposites: Richard was the white hart, a thin-skinned narcissist, and Henry the eagle, a chivalric hero, who inspired loyalty where Richard inspired only fear. Henry had all the qualities a sovereign needed, bar one: birth right. Increasingly threatened by his charismatic cousin, Richard became consumed by the need for total power, in a time of conflict, rebellions and reprisals. When he banished Henry into exile, the stage was set for a final confrontation, as the hart became the tyrant and the eagle his usurper.

Helen Castor tells this story of one of the most fateful relationships in English history. It is a story about power, and masculinity in crisis, and a nation brought to the brink of catastrophe. At its heart, it is the story of two men whose lives were played out in extraordinary parallel, to devastating effect.

About the author

Helen Castor is a medieval and Tudor historian, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Fellow of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. Her books include the prize-winning Blood & Roses, She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England before Elizabeth, and Joan of Arc, dubbed ‘a triumph of history’. She has presented a range of radio and television programmes for the BBC and Channel 4, including documentaries based on She-Wolves and Joan of Arc. Her new book, The Eagle and the Hart, tells the story of the tumultuous reigns of Richard II and Henry IV.

Read an extract from The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV.

Read an interview with Helen Castor.