I picked up a copy of Juliet Barker’s Agincourt in a charity shop and within days I ordered a copy of Conquest from Amazon. Both books succeed in being both scholarly and readable. The level of detail is fascinating; there is a particular focus on money and finance which is really illuminating for someone who, like me, has obtained most of their knowledge of this period of history from Shakespeare’s plays.
Characters emerge as they would from the pages of fiction. Henry V was an amazing organizer with real talent for logistics and, despite Barker’s objective, and unemotional presentation, Joan of Arc emerges as a very sad individual.
At first Joan appears to be like some fifteenth century X-Factor contestant: ambitious, deluded and full of a sense of entitlement (with the Dauphin in the role of Simon Cowell!). However, I found myself really moved by the simple accounts of her initial recantation in the face of the scaffold and of her eventual death; she just seemed like a very young girl in a world of cynical and manipulative men.
