England's Empty Throne Usurpation and the Language of Legitimation, 1399-1422 [Paperback]

After the dethronement and subsequent murder of Richard II, the usurping Lancastrian dynasty faced an exceptional challenge. Interrupting a long period of Plantagenet rule, Henry IV and Henry V needed not only to establish physical possession of the English throne but to occupy it symbolically as well. In this boldly revisionary book, Paul Strohm provides a new account of the Lancastrian revolution and its aftermath.

 

Integrating techniques of literary and historical analysis, he reveals the Lancastrian monarchs as masters of outward display, persuasively "performing" their kingship through a variety of novel ceremonies in a quest for legitimacy. He also describes far-reaching Lancastrian experiments in domination, including the proscription of prophecy; the enlistment of poetry as court propaganda; the extensive use of spies and informers; and, most ambitiously, the redefinition of treason to cover not only overt deeds but words and thoughts as well.

"Paul Strohm's strikingly original . . . book offers rich opportunities for thinking about the relationships between textual analysis and historical understanding. . . . [His] analysis of Lancastrian texts and imagination will undoubtedly prove immensely energizing in medieval English literary and cultural studies. If its full implications for medieval history are also recognized and explored, its impact will be even more profound and enduring." —Review of English Studies