Sceptred Isle

A new history of the fourteenth century

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'A sparkling popular history'
Dan Jones

'Helen Carr is one of the most talented and compelling historians of her generation'
Sathnam Sanghera

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.

A sweeping look at an era of upheaval, panic and change. Gripping, powerful history
Hallie Rubenhold

About Helen Carr

Details

Imprint: Penguin
Published: 29/05/2025
ISBN: 9781529151664
Length: 384 pages
Price: £10.99

All editions

Sceptred Isle

A new history of the fourteenth century

Format:

Pre-order:

A sweeping look at an era of upheaval, panic and change. Gripping, powerful history

In this vivid, finely researched book, Helen Carr takes us deep into England’s deadly fourteenth century and finds life and human colour. This is a sparkling popular history which brings the Middle Ages' most terrible century to life for a new generation.

Full of colour, with headlong energy, Sceptred Isle brings England’s calamitous fourteenth century to life vividly. While Fortune’s Wheel turns through cycles of famine, plague and war, Helen Carr’s engrossing narrative never loses sight of the complexity, and hope, of human experience.

I didn't want to do anything but read this book for a fortnight. Helen Carr is one of the most talented and compelling historians of her generation

Thoughtful and dramatic, this is a lesser known period of history told with the pace and fluency of a novel

Helen Carr is one of our foremost historians and we are so lucky to have her explaining how we got here

An epic new history of some of the most dramatic decades in England’s past. This book is a triumph - a thrilling narrative history, guided by the expertise of one of our leading historians. Essential reading for anyone hoping to understand the remarkable world of our medieval ancestors

Gripping, fascinating, beautifully written and deeply researched, this marvellous book takes you right to the cradle of England, the stunning story of the country in its early days. Exciting, new, endlessly engaging

In this stunningly evocative, immensely enjoyable history of the fourteenth century, Carr proves equally adept at centring women’s experiences as writing battles.

Carr offers an engrossing, compelling guide to the fourteenth century - the great Plantagenet supernova - and I devoured it like a hungry heraldic leopard

About Helen Carr

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