For two years in the mid-thirteenth century, England was torn by a
bloody civil war between the king and his nobles. For a short time, the
country came close to unseating the monarchy, and the outcome changed
the course of English history. Yet this critical episode receives far
less attention than the Wars of the Roses and the English Civil Wars
that followed. John Sadler, in this highly readable and perceptive study
of the Barons' War, describes events in vivid detail. He explores the
leading personalities, whose bitter quarrel gave rise to the conflict -
Henry III, his son Prince Edward, later Edward I, and their most famous
opponent, Simon de Montfort, whose masterful charisma galvanized support
among the discontented nobility. The clash of interests between the king
and his overmighty subjects is reconsidered, as are the personal and
political tensions that polarized opinion and tested loyalties to the
limit. But the main emphasis of John Sadler's account is on events in
the field, in particular the two major campaigns that determined the
course of the war and indeed the future government of England - the
battles fought at Lewes and Evesham.
