Author(s): Jonathan Sumption

History

The eagerly anticipated final volume in Jonathan Sumption's
prize-winning history of the Hundred Years War, "one of the great historical
undertakings of our age." ― Dan Jones, Sunday Times

Triumph and Illusion is the
final volume of Jonathan Sumption's epic history of the Hundred Years War. It
tells the story of the collapse of the English dream of conquest from the
opening years of the reign of Henry VI, when the battles of Cravant and
Verneuil consolidated their control of most of northern France, until the loss
of all their 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. It brought an end to four centuries
of the English dynasty's presence in France, separating two countries whose
fortunes had once been closely intertwined. It created a new sense of national
identity in both countries. 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 from Paris and Rouen; Charles VII of
France, underrated in both countries, who patiently rebuilt his kingdom after
the disasters of his early years; the captains who populate 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.