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Warfare, Raiding and Defence in early medieval Britain is an examination of warfare in the period AD400-850, often called the Dark Ages, which is roughly the period between the end of Roman rule and the arrival of large Viking armies. It uses written sources, archaeological evidence and surviving features in the landscape to analyse the nature of warfare in those days, paying particular attention to the large defensive earthworks typical of the period. Luckily these earthworks survive long after the warriors have turned to dust; their locations in the landscape are mute witness to the nature of early medieval warfare. This period helped forge and mould the nations of modern Britain. This book shows that raiding was the driving force behind the political, cultural and linguistic changes that affected post-Roman Britain, and provides a picture of how raids and counter-raiding measures worked in practice.

Henry III is generally classed among the weakest and most incompetent of Englands medieval kings. Darren Baker tells a different story. - Michael Clanchy, author of England and Its Rulers, 10661307A personal and detailed narrativebring[s] alive the glamour and personalities of thirteenth-century England.- Huw Ridgeway, author of Henry III, Oxford Dictionary of National BiographyEnterprising, original and engaging. - David Carpenter, author of The Reign of King Henry III**Henry III (120772) reigned for 56 years, the longest-serving English monarch until the modern era.** Although knighted by William Marshal, he was no warrior king like his uncle Richard the Lionheart. He preferred to feed the poor to making war and would rather spend time with his wife and children than dally with mistresses and lord over roundtables. He sought to replace the dull projection of power imported by his Norman predecessors with a more humane and open-hearted monarchy. But his ambition led him to embark on bold foreign policy initiatives to win back the lands and prestige lost by his father King John. This set him at odds with his increasingly insular barons and clergy, now emboldened by the protections of Magna Carta. In one of the great political duels of history, Henry struggled to retain the power and authority of the crown against radical reformers like Simon de Montfort. He emerged victorious, but at a cost both to the kingdom and his reputation among historians. Yet his long rule also saw extraordinary advancements in politics and the arts, from the rise of the parliamentary state and universities to the great cathedrals of the land, including Henrys own enduring achievement, Westminster Abbey.

Edward IIs murder at Berkeley Castle in 1327 is one of the most famous and lurid tales in all of English history. But is it true? For over five centuries, few people questioned it, but with the discovery in a Montpellier archive of a remarkable document, an alternative narrative has presented itself: that Edward escaped from Berkeley Castle and made his way to an Italian hermitage.In Long Live the King, medieval historian Kathryn Warner explores in detail Edwards downfall and forced abdication in 1326/27, the role possibly played by his wife Isabella of France, the wide variation in chronicle accounts of his murder at Berkeley Castle and the fascinating possibility that Edward lived on in Italy for many years after his official funeral was held in Gloucester in December 1327.

In January 1547 Henry VIII lay dying. His heir, Edward VI, was just 9 years old and all England waited expectantly to see who would hold the reins of power until he came of age. Within days of Henrys death, the privy council overturned the terms of his will and Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset, was named Lord Protector. For nearly three years, Somerset was king in all but name, but, though he was a skilled soldier and leader on the battlefield, Somersets political skills were not so well-honed. His single-mindedness and overbearing attitude towards the privy councillors alienated the very men whose support he most needed. When they lost patience with him, the scene was set for conflict. To the people Edward Seymour was the Good Duke. To his fellow councillors he was a traitor. This is a story of Tudor ambition, power and the ultimate price of failure.

In 2010, a parcel bomb was sent from Yemen by an al-Qaeda operative with the intention of blowing up a plane over America. The device was intercepted before the plan could be put into action, but what puzzled investigators was the name of the person to whom the parcel was addressed: Reynald de Chatillon - a man who died 800 years ago. But who was he and why was he chosen above all others? Born in twelfth-century France and bred for violence, Reynald de Chatillon was a young knight who joined the Second Crusade and rose through the ranks to become the pre-eminent figure in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem - and one of the most reviled characters in Islamic history. In the West, Reynald has long been considered a minor player in the Crusades and is often dismissed as having been a bloodthirsty maniac. Tales of his elaborate torture of prisoners and his pursuit of reckless wars against friends and foe alike have coloured Reynalds reputation. However, by using contemporary documents and original research, Jeffrey Lee overturns this popular perception and reveals him to be an influential and powerful leader, whose actions in the Middle East had a far-reaching impact that endures to this day.In telling his epic story, Gods Wolf not only restores Reynald to his rightful position in history but also highlights how the legacy of the Crusades is still very much alive.

Isabella de Valois was 3 years old when, on a hot August day in 1392, her father suddenly went mad. Less than four years later, she was married by proxy to the English King Richard II and arrived in England with a French retinue and her dolls house. Richards humiliating deposition and brutal murder by his cousin, the future Henry IV, forced Isabellas desperate return to France where she found her country fatally divided. Isabellas sister, Catherine de Valois, became the beautiful young bride of Henry V and is unique in history for being the daughter of a king, the wife of a king, the mother of a king and the grandmother of a king. Like her sister, Catherine was viewed as a bargaining chip in times of political turmoil, yet her passionate love affair with the young Owain Tudor established the entire Tudor dynasty and set in motion one of the most fascinating periods of British history. The Sister Queens is a gripping tale of love, exile and conflict in a time when even royal women had to fight for survival.

In this illustrated book Celtic myths are retold and explained for the modern reader, with personalities and their mythologies described.

Few kings have been more savagely caricatured or grossly misunderstood than Englands first Stuart. Yet, as this biography demonstrates, the modern tendency to downplay his defects and minimise the long-term consequences of his reign has gone too far.In spite of genuine idealism and flashes of considerable resourcefulness, James I remains a perplexing figure a uniquely curious ruler, shot through with glaring inconsistencies. His vices and foibles not only undermined his high hopes for healing and renewal after Elizabeth Is troubled last years, but also entrenched political and religious tensions that eventually consumed his successor. A flawed, if well-meaning, foreigner in a rapidly changing and divided kingdom, his passionate commitment to time-honoured principles of government would, ironically, prove his undoing, as England edged unconsciously towards a crossroads and the shadow of the Thirty Years War descended upon Europe.

In Tudor times the common sort were no different from us, laughing together, mocking each other and sharing bawdy tales in tavern yards, marketplaces and anywhere else that people came together. These stories were later collected in the cheap print of the period, and professional storyteller Dave Tonge has sought them out to assemble here.Within these pages hide smooth-talking tricksters, lusty knaves, wayward youths and stories of the eternal struggle to wear the breeches in the family, for a sometimes coarse but often comic telling of the everyday ups and downs in Tudor life.

The bloody Albigensian Crusade launched against the Cathar heretics of southern France in the early thirteenth century is infamous for its brutality and savagery, even by the standards of the Middle Ages. It was marked by massacres and acts of appalling cruelty, deeds commonly ascribed to the role of religious fanaticism. Here, in the first military history of the whole conflict, Sean McGlynn tells the story of the crusade through its epic sieges of seemingly impregnable fortresses, desperate battles and destructive campaigns, and offers expert analysis of the warfare involved, revealing the crusade in a different light as a bloody territorial conquest in which acts of terror were perpetrated to secure military aims rather than religious ones. The dramatic events of the crusade and its colourful leading characters Simon de Montfort, Louis the Lion, Innocent III, Peter of Aragon, Count Raymond of Toulouse are brought to life through the voices of contemporary writers who fought and experienced it.

In this classic work, Peter Hammond and the late V.B. Lamb survey the life and times of Richard III and examine the contemporary evidence for the events of his reign, tracing the origins of the traditional version of his career as a murderous tyrant and its development since his death. The evident grief of the citizens of York on hearing of the death of Richard III recording in the Council Minutes that he had been piteously slane and murdered to the Grete hevynesse of this citie is hardly consistent with the view of the archetypal wicked uncle who murdered his nephews, the Princes in the Tower, and there is an extraordinary discrepancy between this monster and the man as he is revealed by contemporary records. An ideal introduction to one of the greatest mysteries of English history, this new edition is revised by Peter Hammond and includes an introduction and notes.

In August 1424 the armies of England, Scotland and France met in the open fields outside the walls of Verneuil in a battle that would decide the future of the English conquests in France. The hero king, Henry V, had been dead for two years and the French felt that this was their chance to avenge their startling defeat at Agincourt, and recover the lands that Henry had won for England. Despite its importance, the battle is largely overlooked in accounts of the Hundred Years War. The Battle of Verneuil 1424 is the first proper account of the battle, and is also one of the first books to outline the important part the Scots played in the wars in France in the years between the two great battles of Agincourt and Verneuil.

Less well-known than his brothers, Edward IV and Richard III, little has been written about George, Duke of Clarence, leaving us with a series of unanswered questions: What was he really like? What set him and his brother Edward IV against one another? And who was really responsible for his death? George played a central role in the Wars of the Roses, played out by his family. But was George for York or Lancaster? Is the story of his drowning in a barrel of wine really true? And was false, fleeting, perjurd Clarence in some ways one of the role models behind the sixteenth-century defamation of Richard III? Finally, where was he buried and what became of his body? Could the DNA used recently to test the remains of his younger brother, Richard III, also reveal the truth about the supposed Clarence bones in Tewkesbury? Here, John Ashdown-Hill brings us a new full biography of George, Duke of Clarence, which exposes the myths surrounding this important Plantagenet prince, and reveals the fascinating results of Johns recent reexamination of the Clarence vault and its contents.

The Battle of Bannockburn is the most celebrated battle in history between Scotland and England. Fought over two days on 23 and 24 June 1314 by a small river crossing in Stirling, it was a decisive victory for Robert the Bruce in the Scottish Wars of Independence against the English, which saw a mere 7,000 Bruce followers defeat over 15,000 of Edward IIs troops. It was the greatest defeat the English would suffer throughout the Middle Ages, and a huge personal humiliation for King Edward II. Chris Browns startling account recreates the campaign and battle from the perspectives of both the Scots and the English. Only now, through an in-depth investigation of the contemporary narrative sources as well as the administrative records, and through a new look at the terrain where the battle was fought, can we come to firmer conclusions on what exactly happened and why.

When people think of Richard the Lionheart they recall the scene at the end of every Robin Hood epic when he returns from the Crusades to punish his treacherous brother John and the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham. In reality Richard detested England and the English, was deeply troubled by his own sexuality and was noted for greed, not generosity, and for murder rather than mercy. In youth Richard showed no interest in girls; instead, a taste for cruelty and a rapacity for gold that would literally be the death of him. To save his own skin, he repeatedly abandoned his supporters to an evil fate, and his indifference to women saw the part of queen at his coronation played by his formidable mother, Queen Eleanor. His brief reign bankrupted England twice, destabilised the powerful empire his parents had put together and set the scene for his brothers ruinous rule.So how has Richard come to be known as the noble Christian warrior associated with such bravery and patriotism? Lionheart reveals the scandalous truth about Englands hero king a truth that is far different from the legend that has endured for eight centuries.

Bannockburn 1314 is the most celebrated battle between Scotland and England. A decisive victory for Robert Bruce, it secured for Scotland independence from England. It was the greatest defeat the English would suffer throughout the Middle Ages, and a huge personal humiliation for Edward II. Chris Browns account recreates the campaign from the perspectives of both the Scots and English. If you want to know what happened and why read Battle Story.

This compelling new account of Henry VIII is by no means yet another history of the old monster and his reign. The monster displayed here is, at the very least, a newer type, more beset by anxieties and insecurities, and more tightly surrounded by those who equated loyalty with fear, self-interest and blind obedience. This ground-breaking book also demonstrates that Henry VIIIs priorities were always primarily martial rather than marital, and accepts neither the necessity of his all-consuming quest for a male heir nor his need ultimately to sever ties with Rome. As the story unfolds, Henrys predicaments prove largely of his own making, the paths he chooses neither the only nor the best available. For Henry VIII was not only a bad man, but also a bad ruler who failed to achieve his aims and blighted the reigns of his two immediate successors. Five hundred years after he ascended the throne, the reputation of Englands best known king is being rehabilitated and subtly sanitized. Yet Tudor historian John Matusiak paints a colourful and absorbingly intimate portrait of a man wholly unfit for power.

This collection of five tales and one play contains the definitive Robin Hood. They are the earliest ballads and play and still the best of the bunch. Robin Hood and the Monk is the earliest surviving manuscript, dated c.1450, and is considered the greatest of the ballads, though it was probably not sung, being described as a talkyng; Robin Hoods Death is one of the most satisfying tragedies in the English language; while A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode is a comprehensive account of the famous English outlaw - complete, unified and pointing quite clearly to the reign of Edward II as a probable time for an historical Robin Hood, despite the opinions of most of the experts.

Who were Tubalcain, Aholiab and Zabud and what is their significance for the Freemason? There is a general interest in the rituals of Freemasonry, generated in part by the apparently obscure references they contain. This is the only book that offers a guide to the stories used in Masonic ritual and their links to the Bible and Christianity. The new Mason is directed to a serious contemplation of the Volume of the Sacred Law but that is easier said than done without a grounding in the Scriptures, something that fewer and fewer people have. The historical and geographical setting of the Bible is explained here, making such contemplation easier for Mason and non-Mason alike.Mike Neville has systematically cross-referenced the most influential Chapters of the Bible to the ceremonies. It is his intention to get Freemasons to understand the ritual not just to memorise and regurgitate as well as to elucidate for the non-Mason. Sacred Secrets will aid the clergy, theologians and any other person interested in Freemasonry to see the links between ritual and scripture.

In 1455 John Howard was an untitled and relatively obscure Suffolk gentleman. Thirty years later, at the time of his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field, he was Earl Marshal, Duke of Norfolk, Lord Admiral and a very rich man (and his direct descendant is Duke of Norfolk today). How had Howard attained these elevations? Through his service to the House of York, and in particular to King Richard III during the setting aside of Edward V.John Ashdown-Hill examines why Howard chose to support Richard, even ultimately at the cost of his life; what secrets he knew about Edward IV; what he had to do with the fate of the Princes in the Tower; and what naval innovations, hitherto ascrided to the Tudors, he promoted. Based on original research and containing previously unpublished material, Richard IIIs Beloved Cousyn is an important contribution to Ricardian scholarship.