"In the early fifteenth century the kingdom of France, Europe's strongest and most populous state, suffered a complete internal collapse. As the warring parties in France fought for the spoils of the kingdom under the vacant gaze of the mad King Charles VI, the country was left at the mercy of one of the most remarkable rulers of the European Middle Ages: Henry V of England. Henry destroyed the French army on the field of Agincourt and left most of France's leadership dead. He then embarked on a relentless campaign of conquest which brought him to the streets and palaces of Paris within five years. He died at the age of thirty-six in a French royal castle, just two months before he would have become King of France. Even now, after six centuries, these extraordinary events are overlaid by the arresting imagery of Shakespeare and the potent national myths of England and France. In 'Cursed Kings', Jonathan Sumption rediscovers the personalities behind the imagery and tells the story of the events behind the myths." -- Back cover