Sceptred Isle

A thrilling new history of the fourteenth century—a time of catastrophe and conflict that shaped England for centuries to come—by the highly acclaimed author of The Red Prince.

'A sparkling popular history'—Dan Jones

'Tells the story of the 14th-century Plantagenets with verve'—The Times

'Informative, anecdotal and entertaining'—Financial Times

THE TIMES BOOKS TO LOOK OUT FOR IN 2025

The death of Edward I in 1307 marked the beginning of a period of intense turmoil and change in England. The fourteenth century ushered in the beginning of the bloody Hundred Years' War with France, an epic conflict with Scotland that would last into the sixteenth century, famine in Northern Europe, and the largest human catastrophe in known history, the Black Death.

Through the epic drama of regicide, war, the prolonged spectre of bubonic plague, religious antagonism, revolt, and the end of a royal dynasty, this book tells the story of the fourteenth century via the lives of Edward II, Edward III, and Richard II—three very different monarchs, each with their own egos and ambitions, each with their own ideas about England and what it meant to wield power.

Alongside the lives of the last Plantagenets, it also uncovers lesser-known voices and untold stories to give a new portrait of a fractured monarchy, the birth of the struggle between Europeanism and nationalism, social rebellion, and a global pandemic.

Sceptred Isle is a thrilling narrative account of a century of revolution, shifting power, and great change—social, political, and cultural—shedding new light on a pivotal period of English history and the people who lived it.