After more than half a century of comparative neglect, the crucial period encompassing Charles I’s captivity after his surrender to the Scots at Newark in May 1646 is ripe for thorough re-examination
with fresh perspectives and new insights based upon the most up-to-date research. Not only were the subsequent months before his trial a time when the human dimension of the king’s predicament assumed unparalleled intensity, they were also a critical watershed when the entire nation stood at the most fateful of crossroads. For Charles himself, as subterfuge, espionage and assassination rumours escalated on all fronts, escape attempts foundered, and tensions with his absent wife mounted agonisingly, the test was supreme. Yet, in a painful passage involving both stubborn impenitence and uncommon fortitude in the face of ‘barbarous usage’ by his captors, the ‘Man of Blood’ would ultimately come to merit his unique place in history as England’s ‘martyr king’. AUTHOR: John Matusiak studied at the universities of London and Sussex before embarking upon a teaching career that eventually spanned more than thirty years. For over a third of that time, he was Head of the History Department at Colchester Royal Grammar School, founded by Henry VIII in 1539. He is the author of Henry VIII (THP, 2012), Wolsey (THP, 2013) and the forthcoming The Tudors in 100 Objects (THP, 2015). SELLING POINTS: . An intimate and evocative account of an absolute ruler’s relentless descent into impotence, isolation and ultimate submission to the unthinkable . Significantly, the book is also well paced to benefit from the considerable success already achieved by Charles Spencer’s best-selling Killers of the King, published in 2014 . In its attempt to provide a new and altogether more exhaustive account of the twenty months of Charles I’s incarceration, The Prisoner King also sets out to furnish new perspectives on its central character 20 colour illustrations