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

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World

Jack Weatherford · 352 pages

The name Genghis Khan often conjures the image of a relentless, bloodthirsty barbarian on horseback leading a ruthless band of nomadic warriors in the looting of the civilized world. But the surprising truth is that Genghis Khan was a visionary leader whose conquests joined backward Europe with the flourishing cultures of Asia to trigger a global awakening, an unprecedented explosion of technologi

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

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

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

Ian Mortimer · 448 pages

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.

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

Katherine Swynford: The Story of John of Gaunt and His Scandalous Duchess

Alison Weir · 366 pages

In her remarkable new book, Alison Weir recounts one of the greatest love stories of medieval England. It is the extraordinary tale of an exceptional woman, Katherine Swynford, who became first the mistress and later the wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Katherine Swynford’s charismatic lover was one of the most powerful princes of the 14th century, the effective ruler of England behind

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

Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings

Amy Kelly · 442 pages

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

Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Elizabeth of York

Lisa Hilton · 536 pages

The Last Days of Richard III

John Ashdown-Hill · 190 pages

This book contains details about what Richard III did in his last five months, what happened to his body, and how his DNA was found in Canada. This book explores these events from the standpoint of Richard himself and his contemporaries. By deliberately avoiding the hindsight knowledge that he will lose the Battle of Bosworth Field, this book presents a new Richard - not a passive victim, awaiting

Queen Emma: A History of Power, Love, and Greed in 11th-Century England

Harriet O'Brien · 288 pages

The Woodvilles: The Wars of the Roses and England's Most Infamous Family

Susan Higginbotham · 224 pages

224 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : 25 cm

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

She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England Before Elizabeth

Helen Castor · 477 pages

When Edward VI died in 1553, the extraordinary fact was that there was no one left to claim the title of king of England. For the first time, England would have a reigning queen, but the question was which one: Katherine of Aragon's daughter, Mary; Anne Boleyn's daughter, Elizabeth; or one of their cousins, Lady Jane Grey or Mary, Queen of Scots. But female rule in England also had a past. Four h

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

She Wolves: the Notorious Queens of England

Elizabeth Norton · 285 pages

Isabella: The Warrior Queen

Kirstin Downey · 532 pages

Drawing on new scholarship, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Woman Behind the New Deal presents a biography of Isabella of Castile, the controversial Queen of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus' journey to the New World, established the Spanish Inquisition and became one of the most influential female rulers in history.

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

Richard the Third

Paul Murray Kendall · 516 pages

Paul Murray Kendall's masterful account of the life of England's King Richard III has remained the standard biography of this controversial figure.

Royal Panoply: Brief Lives of the English Monarchs

Carolly Erickson · 368 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

Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan

Herbert P. Bix · 800 pages

Winner of the Pulitzer PrizeIn this groundbreaking biography of the Japanese emperor Hirohito, Herbert P. Bix offers the first complete, unvarnished look at the enigmatic leader whose sixty-three-year reign ushered Japan into the modern world. Never before has the full life of this controversial figure been revealed with such clarity and vividness. Bix shows what it was like to be trained from bir