The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici

The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors

Dan Jones · 392 pages

The crown of England changed hands five times over the course of the fifteenth century, as two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty fought to the death for the right to rule. Celebrated historian Dan Jones describes how the longest-reigning British royal family tore itself apart until it was finally replaced by the Tudors. Some of the greatest heroes and villains of history were thrown together in

The Wars of the Roses

Alison Weir · 462 pages

Lancaster and York. For much of the fifteenth century, these two families were locked in battle for control of the British monarchy. Kings were murdered and deposed. Armies marched on London. Old noble names were ruined while rising dynasties seized power and lands. The war between the royal House of Lancaster and York, the longest and most complex in British history, profoundly altered the course

The Medici: Godfathers of the Renaissance

Paul Strathern · 430 pages

Winter King

Thomas Penn · 458 pages

It was 1501. England had been ravaged for decades by conspiracy, violence, murders, coups and counter-coups. Henry VII had clambered to the top of the heap - a fugitive with a flimsy claim to England's crown who through luck, guile and ruthlessness had managed to win the throne and stay on it for sixteen years. Although he built palaces, hosted jousts, gave out lavish presents and sent ambassadors

In Search of the Dark Ages

Michael Wood · 256 pages

Two Lives of Charlemagne

Einhard, Notker the Stammerer · 227 pages

"These two LIVES provide a fascinating contrast. Einhard, who spent twenty-three years in Charlemagne's service, chose to approach his Vita Caroli as a public history and, in beautifully expressed language, recounts Charlemagne's personal life and his achievements in warfare, learning, art, building, and in the skilful administration of the state. Notker the monk's De Carolo Magno is a collection

The Waning of the Middle Ages: A Study of the Forms of Life, Thought and Art in France and the Netherlands in the Dawn of the Renaissance

Johan Huizinga · 344 pages

Lost to the West: The Forgotten Byzantine Empire That Rescued Western Civilization

Lars Brownworth · 352 pages

In AD 476 the Roman Empire fell--or rather, its western half did. Its eastern half, which would come to be known as the Byzantine Empire, would endure and often flourish for another eleven centuries. Though its capital would move to Constantinople, its citizens referred to themselves as Roman for the entire duration of the empire's existence. Indeed, so did its neighbors, allies, and enemies: When

Foundation: The History of England from Its Earliest Beginnings to the Tudors

Peter Ackroyd · 496 pages

The Hundred Years War: The English in France 1337-1453

Desmond Seward · 296 pages

From 1337 to 1453 England repeatedly invaded France on the pretext that her kings had a right to the French throne. Though it was a small, poor country, England for most of those "hundred years" won the battles, sacked the towns and castles, and dominated the war. The protagonists of the Hundred Years War are among the most colorful in European history: Edward III, the Black Prince; Henry V, who w

The Birth of Britain

Winston S. Churchill · 535 pages

A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain

Marc Morris · 471 pages

The Three Edwards

Thomas B. Costain · 479 pages

Byzantium: The Early Centuries

John Julius Norwich · 416 pages

The Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation

Ian Mortimer · 448 pages

The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily

Nancy Goldstone · 384 pages

From inside book jacket: Amid intrigue, betrayal, and conspiracy, Joanna I ... became the only female monarch of her day to rule in her own name, and one of the most courageous women in history. Married ... at the age of seven to her 6 year old Hungarian cousin, Joanna saw her ... world shattered 12 years later by the brutal assassination of her husband. Accused of the murder by her powerful in-la

Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I

Tracy Borman · 295 pages

Tracy Borman lays out Matilda's remarkable story against one of the most fascinating and transformative periods in European history. Stirring, richly detailed, and wholly involving, Queen of the Conqueror reveals not just an extraordinary figure but an iconic woman who shaped generations, and an era that cast the essential framework for the world we know today.

Blood & Roses: the Paston Family and the Wars of the Roses

Helen Castor · 426 pages

The Wars of the Roses turned England upside down between the years of 1455 and 1485. Yet, as they navigated their disintegrating world, a Norfolk family called the Pastons were writing letters--about politics, business, shopping, love--and about each other. Extraordinarily, these letters have survived. Drawing on these remarkable letters, Castor has written an intimate and compelling family biogra

Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science and Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe

Thomas Cahill · 368 pages

From the bestselling author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, this book is a fascinating look at how medieval thinkers created the origins of modern intellectual movements. After the long period of decline known as the Dark Ages, medieval Europe experienced a rebirth of scholarship, art, literature, philosophy, and science and began to develop a vision of Western society that remains at the hea

The Greatest Knight: The Remarkable Life of William Marshal, The Power Behind Five English Thrones

Thomas Asbridge · 464 pages

The story of the largely forgotten William Marshal Pembroke of the English medieval period, who, "as a five-year-old boy ... was sentenced to execution and led to the gallows, yet this landless younger son survived his brush with death, and went on to train as a medieval knight. Against all odds, [he] rose through the ranks--serving at the right hand of five English monarchs--to become a celebrate

Blood Sisters: The Women Behind The War Of The Roses

Sarah Gristwood · 408 pages

"In Pembroke Castle, on 28 January 1457, the 13-year-old Margaret Beaufort gave birth to a son she named Henry. Her husband was already dead; her sufferings in childbirth were grave... England was in the grip of civil war - the War of the Roses. Known to contemporaries as 'The Cousins War', beyond the fields of battle raged a family feud, a violent and emotional domestic drama. For the noble women

A History of Britain: At the Edge of the World? 3500 BC-AD 1603

Simon Schama · 356 pages

'The British Wars' is a compelling chronicle of the changes that transformed every strand and strata of British life, faith and thought from 1603 to 1776. It explores the forces that tore Britain apart during two centuries of dynamic change.

Alfred the Great: Asser's Life of King Alfred and Other Contemporary Sources

Asser, Alfred the Great · 368 pages

Asser's Life of King Alfred, written in 893, is a revealing account of one of the greatest of medieval kings. Composed by a monk of St David's in Wales who became Bishop of Sherborne in Alfred's service and worked with him in his efforts to revive religion and learning in his kingdom, this life is among the earliest surviving royal biographies. It is an admiring account of King Alfred's life, writ

The Women of the Cousins' War: The Duchess, the Queen, and the King's Mother

Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin, Michael K. Jones · 342 pages

A non-fiction companion to The White Queen, The Red Queen, and The Lady of the Rivers. Philippa Gregory and two historians, leading experts in their field, tell the extraordinary 'true' stories of the lives of these women who until now have been largely forgotten by history, their background and times, highlighting questions which are raised in the fiction and illuminating the novels. With a forew