I just watched Henry V for the first time in a while a few days ago. Afterward, I wanted a book to remind me of timelines of what actually happened, as opposed to what Shakespeare said. :) The first book I found on the time period was The Birth of Britain, by Winston Churchill. [Churchhill quoted without much citation...]

No sovereign who ever reigned has won from contemporary writers such a singular unison of praise. He was religious, pure in life, temperate, liberal, careful, and yet splendid, merciful, truthful, and honourable; discreet in word, provident in counsel, prudent in judgment, modest in look, magnanimous in act; a brilliant soldier, a sound diplomatist, and able organiser and consolidator of all forces at his command; the restorer of the English Navy, the founder of our military, international and maritime law. A true Englishman, with all the greatness and none of the glaring faults of his Plantagenet ancestors.

—William Stubbs

I thought this was a particular stunning use of various virtues to describe someone, and thought you all should hear it.

—Balthazar