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''Sumption is that rare and precious thing: a serious, decent, honest thinker . . . and one of our finest historians.'' Dan Jones, Sunday Times ''Gripping and eminently readable . . . a compelling justification for the enduring value of historical narrative.'' The Times ''Unsurpassed, and probably unsurpassable.'' Daily Telegraph In this final volume of his epic history of the Hundred Years War, Jonathan Sumption tells the story of the collapse of the English dream of conquest, from the opening years of the reign of Henry VI until the loss of all of England''s continental dominions except Calais thirty years later. This sudden reversal of fortune was a seminal event in the history of the two principal nation-states of western Europe, ending four centuries of the English dynasty''s presence in France and separating two countries whose fortunes had once been closely intertwined, creating a new sense of national identity in both. The legacy of these events would influence their divergent fortunes for centuries to come. Behind the clash of arms stood some of the most remarkable personalities of the age: the Duke of Bedford, the English Regent who ruled much of France; Charles VII of France, who patiently rebuilt his kingdom after the disasters of his early years; the captains populating the pages of Shakespeare - Fastolf, Montagu, Talbot, Dunois and, above all, the extraordinary figure of Joan of Arc who changed the course of the war in a few weeks at the age of seventeen. ''The Hundred Years War ends in England''s agonising defeat - but triumph for Jonathan Sumption . . . There is no doubting his achievement. It is, as everyone says, a "monumental" work.'' Spectator
