eBooks de Historia medieval universal, página 28 de 29

In With a Bended Bow Erik Roth presents a comprehensive examination of the archer and his weapon in a time when archery was both economically and militarily vital to the security of England, based on the study of mediaeval writings and period artefacts.As an accomplished artist, his illustrations are an invaluable aid to understanding the manufacture and use of the bow. The book examines the types of weapons and kit produced by guildsmen, the materials used and the work of different specialists including bowyers, fletchers and stringers. It also details the life of the archer himself, how he cared for his equipment, learned to shoot and fought for his country on the battlefields of Scotland and France.With a Bended Bow gives an exceptional insight into the tools, training and fighting techniques of the soldier who defined mediaeval warfare.

The figure of the Troubadour combines the ideals of knighthood with the inspiration of the poet and musician and created a cultural explosion which influenced the whole course of Western art and civilisation. Burl traces the story from the birth of the first Troubadour in 1071 to the execution of the last Cathar Good Man in 1231 and the close of the distinctive southern French culture that had given rise to it. The tale incorporates the Crusades to the Holy Lands and the Albigensian Crusades through the Languedoc and the regular incursions from the English. In telling his story of the Troubadours and their song he brings to life the world of medieval Languedoc. The author is acknowledged as an authority on the Troubadours, one of the most evocative subjects in history.

One of the most charismatic and enigmatic personalities of the High Middle Ages, Edward the Black Prince commanded an English division at the battle of Crecy when just sixteen years old. But despite his battlefield exploits, romantic reputation and popularity among the people, Edward has become notorious as a proponent of scorched earth campaigns, or chevauchee. These expeditions amounted to little more than the licensed plunder of undefended towns and the murder of non-combatants. The premature death of Edward saw his infant son ascend to the throne and led, eventually, to the fracticidal chaos of the Wars of the Roses and the emergence of the Tudor dynasty. In this startling reappraisal of the princes life, David Green assesses his actions in their historical context and examines what might have been had Edward the Black Prince become King Edward IV.

The incredible story of Marco Polos journey to the ends of the earth has for the last seven hundred years been beset by doubts as to its authenticity. Did this intrepid Venetian really trek across Asia minor as a teenager, explore the length and breadth of China as the ambassador of the ruthless dictator, Kublai Khan, and make his escape from almost certain death at the hands of Kublai Khans successors?Robin Browns book aims to get to the truth of Marco Polos claims. Covering his early life, his extraordinary twenty-four-year Asian epic and his reception in Italy on his return, Marco Polo places the intrepid Venetian in context, historically and geographically. What emerges confirms the truth of Polos account. Polo, scholars now agree, opened vistas to the medieval mind and stirred the interest in exploration that prompted the age of the European ocean voyages. All who now enjoy the fruits of Marco Polos incredible journey through Asia - whether in the form of spectacles, fireworks, pasta or any of the many products of the Silk Road - will find in Robin Brown-Lowes book a fascinating portrait of a man who made history happen by bringing about the meeting of East and West.

Downfall of the Crusader Kingdom tells the story of the reason for Richard the Lionhearts infamous Third Crusade, culminating in the disastrous battle of Hattin in 1187. Hattin is one of the few battles in history that can truly be called decisive, and it was a catastrophe for the Crusaders. The leading men of the kingdom of Jerusalem, including the Knights Templar and the Hospitallers, were trapped in arid wasteland, without water and surrounded by hostile forces. The battle ended with thousands of them being taken prisoner. It was the culmination of a series of events that had been progressively leading the kingdom of Jerusalem down the road to oblivion. It was partly the resurgence of the Muslim Middle East and the rise of Saladin that led to the loss of Jerusalem, but there was another equally dangerous element at work the enemy within. W.B. Bartlett tells the story of naked ambition and intrigue that led to bitter infighting and ultimately the downfall of the Christian crusaders.

Richard III is accused of murdering his nephews (the Princes in the Tower) in order to usurp the throne of England. Since Tudor times he has been painted as the black legend, the murderous uncle. However, the truth is much more complicated and interesting. Rather than looking at all the killings Richard III did not commit, this book focuses on the one execution for which we know that he was responsible.On Friday 13 June 1483, William, Lord Hastings was hustled from a meeting of the Royal Council and summarily executed on Tower Green within the confines of the Tower of London. Peter A. Hancock sheds light on the mystery of this precipitate and unadvised action by the then Duke of Gloucester and reveals the key role of William Catesby in Richards ascent to the throne of England. It explains his curious actions during that tumultuous summer of three kings and provides an explanation for the fate of the Princes in the Tower.

King John long ago acquired the epithet Bad, and he is reputed to be the worst of Englands kings. Before his death in 1216, his desperate exploitation of his subjects for ever more money had turned him into the mythical monster of Hollywood legend. In marked contrast to his brother Richard, John appeared incompetent in battle, failing to defend Normandy (1202-04), and was unsuccessful in recovering his lost lands in 1214. A continuing crisis was a constant need for money, forcing John to drain England of funds for campaigns in France, demanding unlawful and oppressive new taxes. Adding to his evil reputation was an ill-tempered personality and a streak of pettiness or spitefulness that led him to monstrous acts, including murdering his own nephew. King Johns unpopularity culminated in a final crisis, a revolt by the English baronage, 1215-16, aimed at subjecting him to the rule of law, that resulted in his grant of Magna Carta.

Some of the queens featured in She Wolves are well known and have been the subject of biography Eleanor of Aquitaine, Emma of Normandy, Isabella of France and Anne Boleyn, for example others have not been written about outside academic journals. The appeal of these notorious queens, apart from their shared taste for witchcraft, murder, adultery and incest, is that because they were notorious they attracted a great deal of attention during their lifetimes. She Wolves reveals much about the role of the medieval queen and the evolution of the role that led, ultimately, to the reign of Elizabeth I and a new concept of queenship.

It took Henry VIII twenty-eight years, three wives, and a break with Rome before he secured a legitimate male heir. Yet he already had a son the illegitimate Henry Fitzroy. Fitzroy was born in 1519 after the Kings affair with Elizabeth Blount. He was the only illegitimate offspring ever acknowledged by Henry VIII, and Cardinal Wolsey was even one of his godparents. So just how close did he come to being Henry IX?

When Edward IV died in 1483, the Yorkist succession was called into question by doubts about the legitimacy of his sons (the Princes in the Tower). The crown therefore passed to Edward IVs undoubtedly legitimate younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. But Richard, too, found himself entangled in the web of uncertainly, since those who believed in the legitimacy of Edward IVs children viewed Richard IIIs own accession with suspicion.From the day that Edward IV married Eleanor, or pretended to do so, the House of York, previously so secure in its bloodline, confronted a contentious and uncertain future. John Ashdown-Hill argues that Eleanor Talbot was married to Edward IV, and that therefore Edwards subsequent union with Elizabeth Widville was bigamous, making her children illegitimate.In his quest to reveal the truth about Eleanor, he also uncovers fascinating new evidence that sheds fresh light on one of the greatest historical mysteries of all time the identity of the bones in the urn in Westminster Abbey, believed for centuries to be the remains of the Princes in the Tower.

Eleanor of Aquitaine was the only person ever to sit on the thrones of both France and England. In this account of the turbulent adventures of the extraordinary mother of Richard the Lionheart and King John, author Douglas Boyd takes us into the heart and mind of the woman who changed the shape of Europe for 300 years by marrying Henry of Anjou to make him Englands Henry II. Brought up in the comfort- and culture-loving Mediterranean civilisation of southern France, she was a European with a continent-wide vision and a peculiarly modern woman who rejected the subordinate female role decreed by the Church. In this biography, using French, Old French, Latin and Occitan sources, Douglas Boyd lays bare Eleanors relationship and vividly brings her world to life.

Bannockburn 1314 is a history of the most celebrated battle between Scotland and England, in which a mere 7,000 followers of Robert the Bruce defeated more than 15,000 of Edward IIs troops. The Battle of Bannockburn, fought over two days on 23 and 24 June 1314 by a small river crossing just south of Stirling, was a decisive victory for Robert, and secured for Scotland de facto independence from England. It was the greatest defeat the English would suffer throughout the Middle Ages, and a huge personal humiliation for Edward. Chris Browns account recreates the campaign from the perspectives of both the Scots and English. Through an in-depth investigation of contemporary narrative sources as well as administrative records, and with a fresh look at the terrain where the battle was fought, he is able to come to firmer conclusions as to exactly what happened, and why, and thereby to rewrite the traditional history of the battle.

The Crusades continue to exert a fascination in the West as a story of perceived gallantry and battles against impossible odds. Yet what is less often considered is their effect on the Holy Land, and in particular the response of the Muslim world to the invasions of European Crusaders. In this book, W. B. Bartlett, author of four books on the Crusades, looks at these great events from the Muslim point of view. One of the effects was to unite a previously divided Islamic world against a common enemy. In the process, they gave an unstoppable impetus towards the declaring of jihad against the West, a holy war against Christendom. They also helped to shape the careers of some important figures, most notably Saladin, but also other great men like Sultan Baibars and Nur al-Din. The rise of these great leaders is traced in this book, as are the many great battles that were fought by men just as devoted to their cause as the Crusaders were.

The victory at Poitiers by an English force outnumbered two-to-one, led by Edward the Black Prince on 19th September 1356 was one of the most significant of the Hundred Years War. The consequences of the battle resonated throughout the remainder of the century and influenced the war to its end in 1453. David Green has researched the battle and the raids that preceded it exhaustively and details the strategy, tactics, arms and armour used by both sides. He reconstructs the battle using an array of contemporary sources and discusses the protagonists, the siting, course and outcome of the encounter and considers the implications of the capture of King Jean II of France and many of the most important members of the French nobility.

Waged on 14 October 1322, the battle of Byland (an area north-east of Thirsk) was fought between the two monarchs, Edward II and Robert the Bruce, and their forces. The Scots motive for the engagement was to force the English into accepting the independence that Bannockburn hadnt actually achieved, the aim being to capture the King and force his hand. The plan nearly worked, and Edward II had to make a humiliating escape, losing his baggage train (again), putting his queen, Isabella, dangerously close to capture, and allowing the the Scots to pursue him to the gates of York. This new history of one of Robert the Bruces most significant victories shows how close the Scots came to capturing the King.