About the Author

Richard Wilkinson gained his doctorate at Cambridge and was Headmaster of Scarborough College and King Edward’s school, Witley. Now retired, he teaches history at Marlborough College summer school. His previous publications include Louis XIV , France and Europe 1661-1715 (2002) and Years of Turmoil (1999).

Reviews

'Wilkinson's prose is vigorous, direct, and often very funny (particularly at the expense of bishops). There is not a dull page in the book. At the same time, its purpose is entirely serious... There could scarcely be a better way of drawing the non-specialist reader into the intricate world of seventeenth-century France' – History Review