Medieval scandals in three new books

Medieval scandals are the hot reads of the day according to London Times reviwer Nicholas Vincent who reviews three new books dealing with powerful men - and women - of the Middle Ages.

Vincent looks at:

• Power and Identity in the Middle Ages: Essays in Memory of Rees Davies, edited by Huw Pryce and John Watts.

• Katherine Swynford: the Story of John of Gaunt and his Scandalous Duchess by Alison Weir.

• The Fears of Henry IV: the Life of England's Self-Made King by Ian Mortimer.

Vincent writes:

"All three of the books under review here claim to broadcast new historical “truths”. All three deal with roughly the same places and period: later-medieval Britain, with a particular emphasis on the years 1250 to 1450. How justified are their claims to tell new truths about the past, and what is distinctive in their various approaches?"