Henry III (2007)

Hero or Tyrant?: Henry III, King of France 1574-1589 (2007)

French Monarchs Series - Potential follow-up author


By R.J. Knecht (1926-  )

Emeritus Professor of French History,  University of Birmingham

Robert Knecht wrote the biography of Francis I which was promised as a French Monarchs title but was ultimately published by Cambridge University Press. This later book by the same author was released by another academic publisher in London - Bloomsbury Academic. Using the broad eligibility for inclusion in a reconstructed French Monarchs series this has been chosen because the author would have been a prime candidate for writing this English language biography for a continuing series.


The publisher claims this is the first English language study of Henry III since 1858. The ‘bad kings’ often are fertile ground for re-assessment and this study is no exception. This is a thoroughly academic ‘political history’ biography and one of the premier works in this catalogue. It was published as a hardback only - but is available as a Kindle book from Amazon in Britain and the USA (but grossly overpriced at about £30.00 and US $45 respectively). Needless to say, used copies of the hardback are very expensive to purchase.




To continue seeing a construction of what a French Monarchs series might have looked like had it continued with books from the English Monarchs publishers use the link at the top for Henry IV.



Buy Henry III from Amazon

ISBN data:

Hardback - 9781472429308


Bloomsbury Academic 2007

Welcome to the detour looking at a "French Monarchs" series