Rulers (and would-be rulers) have always faced the possibility of a violent death. Between the seventh and eighteenth centuries over 20% of all British and European monarchs suffered such a fate. Some died in battle or in accidents but most of them were murdered or executed. During the time of the Tudors and Stuarts some monarchs were the victims of lone assassins, some were killed after palace coups led by relatives or royal officials, and others after being defeated in a civil war. Their manner of death included public beheading, internal injury as a result of a knife attack, being hacked down by a group of noblemen, and ritual strangulation with a silk cord. Killing Monarchs takes us on a journey across Europe. Starting in England and Scotland (Lady Jane Grey and Mary Queen of Scots), it moves to France (Kings Henry III and Henry IV), and then further east to Russia (Tsar Feodor II and various pretenders to the throne) and the Ottoman Empire (Sultans Osman II and Ibrahim I). It then returns to Britain to consider why Charles I was executed. It provides a clear picture of the various forces that existed in society at the time and these are reflected in the motives of the regicides - the killers of monarchs ? even though many were not honest about them. The lust for power, the desire for a more effective leader, religious differences, and occasionally the wish to do away with monarchy altogether, all played a significant role. AUTHOR: Richard Heath is a graduate of the University of Cambridge and enjoyed teaching history for thirty-five years. His life-long interest in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was ignited in his youth by visiting many historic sites in Britain and Europe. He is intrigued by the nature of power and the relationship between rulers and their subjects. Killing Monarchs is his third book following Charles V: Duty and Dynasty (2018) and Henry VIII and Charles V: Rival Monarchs, Uneasy Allies, published by Pen and Sword in 2023. He also curates the website: www.emperorcharlesv.com. 30 b/w illustrations
