Richard Mortimer's book covers the reigns of Henry II, his sons Richard the Lionheart and John, and much of that of his grandson Henry III. The period was beset by constant wars with France, frequent troubles with the popes, and baronial rebellions culminating in Magna Carta. But Angevin rule also witnessed the re-establishment of a strengthened royal authority and administration, a burgeoning prosperity, the beginnings of the common law, and the foundations of universities at Oxford and Cambridge. This is not only a history of the politics of the period but of society and culture, and the interactions of the three. The author seeks to capture the energy of the time, exploring and describing lifestyles, literacy, learning, saints, knights, peasants, pilgrims, and the landscape itself, with its thick woodlands and forests and largely unpaved roads. This was a formative and a creative age: written records largely replaced oral traditions, English re-emerged as a literary language, a distinctive style of gothic architecture evolved, and the sense of Englishness, submerged by the troubles of the Norman conquest, became once more apparent among all ranks of the people. The book is appropriately illustrated with maps, genealogies and photographs, is fully referenced and contains an extensive guide to primary and secondary sources divided by subject.