Winter King
Winter King

Author: Thomas Penn

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-03-12

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 1439191573

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Originally published in Great Britain by Penguin Books Ltd., 2011.

Henry IV
Henry IV

Author: Chris Given-Wilson

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2016-04-26

Total Pages: 621

ISBN-13: 0300154208

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Henry IV (1399–1413), the son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, seized the English throne at the age of thirty-two from his cousin Richard II and held it until his death, aged forty-five, when he was succeeded by his son, Henry V. This comprehensive and nuanced biography restores to his rightful place a king often overlooked in favor of his illustrious progeny. Henry faced the usual problems of usurpers: foreign wars, rebellions, and plots, as well as the ambitions and demands of the Lancastrian retainers who had helped him win the throne. By 1406 his rule was broadly established, and although he became ill shortly after this and never fully recovered, he retained ultimate power until his death. Using a wide variety of previously untapped archival materials, Chris Given-Wilson reveals a cultured, extravagant, and skeptical monarch who crushed opposition ruthlessly but never quite succeeded in satisfying the expectations of his own supporters.

The Queen's Mistake
The Queen's Mistake

Author: Diane Haeger

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2009-10-06

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1101145382

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From the author of The Secret Bride, the tragic tale of the fifth wife of Henry VIII. When the young and beautiful Catherine Howard becomes the fifth wife of the fifty-year-old King Henry VIII, she seems to be on top of the world. Yet her reign is destined to be brief and heartbreaking, as she is forced to do battle with enemies far more powerful and calculating than she could have ever anticipated in a court where one wrong move could mean her undoing. Wanting only love, Catherine is compelled to deny her heart's desire in favor of her family's ambition. But in so doing, she unwittingly gives those who sought to bring her down a most effective weapon—her own romantic past. The Queen's Mistake is the tragic tale of one passionate and idealistic woman who struggles to negotiate the intrigue of the court and the yearnings of her heart.

The Six Wives of Henry VIII
The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Author: Alison Weir

Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic

Published: 2007-12-01

Total Pages: 676

ISBN-13: 0802198759

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A “brilliantly written and meticulously researched” biography of royal family life during England’s second Tudor monarch (San Francisco Chronicle). Either annulled, executed, died in childbirth, or widowed, these were the well-known fates of the six queens during the tempestuous, bloody, and splendid reign of Henry VIII of England from 1509 to 1547. But in this “exquisite treatment, sure to become a classic” (Booklist), they take on more fully realized flesh and blood than ever before. Katherine of Aragon emerges as a staunch though misguided woman of principle; Anne Boleyn, an ambitious adventuress with a penchant for vengeance; Jane Seymour, a strong-minded matriarch in the making; Anne of Cleves, a good-natured woman who jumped at the chance of independence; Katherine Howard, an empty-headed wanton; and Katherine Parr, a warm-blooded bluestocking who survived King Henry to marry a fourth time. “Combin[ing] the accessibility of a popular history with the highest standards of a scholarly thesis”, Alison Weir draws on the entire labyrinth of Tudor history, employing every known archive—early biographies, letters, memoirs, account books, and diplomatic reports—to bring vividly to life the fates of the six queens, the machinations of the monarch they married and the myriad and ceaselessly plotting courtiers in their intimate circle (The Detroit News). In this extraordinary work of sound and brilliant scholarship, “at last we have the truth about Henry VIII’s wives” (Evening Standard).

I, Jane
I, Jane

Author: Diane Haeger

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2012-09-04

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 1101599685

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Though her path to the throne was long and paved with treachery, Jane Seymour would win the heart of her king—and heal her own. Jane Seymour of Wiltshire is not meant to go to Court. Not a child like her, with her lack of beauty and no title. But family connections are enough to have her named to the bridal retinue of Mary Tudor. At the French Court, the plain and docile Jane meets the girl who will grow into her rival in years to come: the already charismatic and conniving Anne Boleyn. Soon back home in the English countryside, Jane wants nothing more than peace and quiet—and the devotion of her childhood protector, William Dormer. But his family vows to keep them apart, and Jane is called back to Court to serve Katherine of Aragon, who is fighting for her life as Queen in the face of Anne Boleyn’s open seduction of King Henry VIII. In those turbulent years, Jane will learn the value of loyalty and honesty, while holding fast to her convictions. And it is her unblemished soul that will slowly rise above the chaos—and turn a king’s head. READERS GUIDE INCLUDED

Henry IV
Henry IV

Author: David Buisseret

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-10-31

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1040144713

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First published in 1984, Henry IV describes and tries to account for Henry’s extraordinary life and reign. The book is accompanied, and the arguments are strengthened by numerous plates and maps. The life of Henry IV of France was not only dramatic, but it also made a profound difference to the shaping of France in the early 17th century. During his reign, the foundations of the ‘grand siècle’ were laid, not only in military and diplomatic affairs, but also in the arts. Almost as striking as the personal contribution made by the king, is the remarkable willingness of the French nobility to wreck the whole recovery from forty years of domestic chaos by plotting with the Spaniards. Eventually, of course, one of these plots succeeded; Henry was killed, and the kingdom was plunged for a while into chaos. This book is a must read for students and researchers of French history.

Henry III
Henry III

Author: David Carpenter

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2020-05-01

Total Pages: 803

ISBN-13: 0300255500

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The first in a ground-breaking two-volume history of Henry III’s rule, from when he first assumed the crown to the moment his personal rule endedNine years of age when he came to the throne in 1216, Henry III had to rule within the limits set by the establishment of Magna Carta and the emergence of parliament. Pacific, conciliatory, and deeply religious, Henry brought many years of peace to England and rebuilt Westminster Abbey in honor of his patron saint, Edward the Confessor. He poured money into embellishing his palaces and creating a magnificent court. Yet this investment in "soft power" did not prevent a great revolution in 1258, led by Simon de Montfort, ending Henry's personal rule.Eminent historian David Carpenter brings to life Henry's character and reign as never before. Using source material of unparalleled richness—material that makes it possible to get closer to Henry than any other medieval monarch—Carpenter stresses the king’s achievements as well as his failures while offering an entirely new perspective on the intimate connections between medieval politics and religion.