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In his new book, Powers and Thrones: A New History of the Middle Ages, Dan Jones presents a truly epic history of Europe and beyond, spanning everything from the heights of the Late Roman Republic to the depths of religious division during the Reformation, neatly sandwiching the text between two sacks of Rome.

James I of England (and VI of Scotland) has not always had a good reputation. Known as ‘the wisest fool in Christendome’, he was considered slovenly, his tongue was reportedly too big for his mouth, making him both a messy eater and occasionally difficult to understand, and he took too personal an interest in people’s private affairs.

Catherine Fletcher is a historian of Renaissance Europe, having written books on sixteenth-century Italy, Duke Alessandro de’ Medici, and the divorce of Henry VIII. She has also advised on TV series such as Wolf Hall, as well as contributing to a number of history programmes herself. When not busy with popular history, she is Professor of History…