Book overview
These volumes contain the biographies of 2,844 Members returned to the Commons during the long first reign of Henry VI. Encompassing the business of the 22 Parliaments that sat within this period, these authoritative and comprehensive works present a detailed examination of parliamentary history during a reign which saw a King's long minority and later mental collapse, witnessed protectorates, rebellion and ultimately civil war; drawing into stark contrast the glory days of Henry V with his son's inglorious loss of two kingdoms. Among the most notable figures to be included are many prominent military leaders of the final phase of the Hundred Years' War; literary figures, including Sir Thomas Mallory, the author of the Morte D'Arthur; and numerous men of considerable consequence within their local communities, whose lives only now receive full treatment. Alongside their biographies stand the detailed surveys of 144 constituencies, supplying economic and constitutional backgrounds of cities and boroughs to demonstrate the interaction between the gentry of the shires and central government, and analysis of electoral processes. The breadth and depth of these volumes offers a unique and invaluable resource capable of transforming the study not only of parliaments and politics, but of the social, economic and cultural history of late medieval England.
