Great Tales from English History

Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe

Norman Davies · 672 pages

The past is a foreign country' has become a truism, yet we often forget that the past is different from the present in many unfamiliar ways, and historical memory is extraordinarily imperfect. We habitually think of the European past as the history of countries which exist today - France, Germany, Britain, Russia and so on - but often this actually obstructs our view of the past, and blunts our se

The King's Grave: The Discovery of Richard III’s Lost Burial Place and the Clues It Holds

Michael K. Jones, Philippa Langley

This is the first full-length book about the discovery of Richard III's remains by the person who led the archeology team and the historian whose book spurred her on. The mystery of who Richard III really was has fascinated historians, readers and audiences familiar with Shakespeare's dastardly portrait of a hunchback monster of royalty for centuries. Earlier this year, the remains of a man with a

The Birth of Britain

Winston S. Churchill · 535 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

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

Byzantium: The Early Centuries

John Julius Norwich · 416 pages

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.

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire

Jack Weatherford · 317 pages

A history of the ruling women of the Mongol Empire, this work reveals their struggle to preserve a nation that shaped the world.

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

Harriet O'Brien · 288 pages

The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici

Christopher Hibbert · 366 pages

Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty

Dan Jones · 231 pages

The Magna Carta is revered around the world as the founding document of Western liberty. Its principles--even its language--can be found in our Bill of Rights and in the Constitution. But what was this strange charter and how did it gain such legendary status? Historian Dan Jones takes us back to the turbulent year of 1215, when, beset by foreign crises and cornered by a growing domestic rebellion

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

The Greatest Traitor: The Life of Sir Roger Mortimer, Ruler of England 1327-1330

Ian Mortimer · 246 pages

In Search of the Dark Ages

Michael Wood · 256 pages

A Child's History of England

Charles Dickens · 392 pages

IF you look at a Map of the World, you will see, in the left-hand upper corner of the Eastern Hemisphere, two Islands lying in the sea. They are England and Scotland, and Ireland. England and Scotland form the greater part of these Islands. Ireland is the next in size. The little neighbouring islands, which are so small upon the Map as to be mere dots, are chiefly little bits of Scotland, - broken

The Borgias: The Hidden History

G.J. Meyer · 478 pages

Sweeping aside the gossip, slander, and distortion that have shrouded the Borgias for centuries, G. J. Meyer offers an unprecedented portrait of the infamous Renaissance family and their storied milieu. They burst out of obscurity in Spain to capture the great prize of the papacy, not once but twice. Throughout a tumultuous half-century--as popes, statesmen, warriors, lovers, and breathtakingly am

Royal Blood: Richard III and the Mystery of the Princes

Bertram Fields · 343 pages

In this comprehensive, meticulously researched new book, renowned litigator Bertram Fields goes back more than 500 years to offer a compelling look at the case of Richard III. Applying the same modern techniques he successfully uses in the courtroom, Fields outlines and evaluates the arguments on both sides, weighs the evidence, and offers the definitive truth about this extraordinary man. Fields

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 & 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

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

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

She Wolves: the Notorious Queens of England

Elizabeth Norton · 285 pages

The Ottoman Centuries

John Patrick Douglas Balfour · 640 pages