Brief Lives of the English Monarchs

Brief Lives of the English Monarchs

Author: Carolly Erickson

Publisher: Constable & Robinson

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 450

ISBN-13: 9781845295035

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This book contains wonderfully illuminating portraits of each English monarch from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth II.


Royal Panoply

Royal Panoply

Author: Carolly Erickson

Publisher: Macmillan + ORM

Published: 2007-04-01

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 1429904046

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From medieval conqueror to Renaissance autocrat to Victorian Empress to modern melodrama, Royal Panoply is the story of some of the most fascinating people in world history. With her trademark blend of probing scholarship, lively prose, and psychological insight, Carolly Erickson focuses on each monarch's entire life---from the puny, socially awkward Charles I, to the choleric, violent William the Conqueror, to the well-meaning, deeply affectionate Queen Anne, who was so heavy she had to be carried to her coronation. Royal Panoply recaptures the event-filled, often dangerous, always engaging lives of England's kings and queens, set against the backdrop of a thousand years of Britain's past.


Middle English Literature

Middle English Literature

Author: Christopher Cannon

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2008-04-07

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0745624413

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This book provides a boldly original account of Middle English literature from the Norman Conquest to the beginning of the sixteenth century. It argues that these centuries are, in fundamental ways, the momentous period in our literary history, for they are the long moment in which the category of literature itself emerged as English writing began to insist, for the first time, that it floated free of any social reality or function. This book also charts the complex mechanisms by which English writing acquired this power in a series of linked close readings of both canonical and more obscure texts. It encloses those readings in five compelling accounts of much broader cultural areas, describing, in particular, the productive relationship of Middle English writing to medieval technology, insurgency, statecraft and cultural place, concluding with an in depth account of the particular arguments, emphases and techniques English writers used to claim a wholly new jurisdiction for their work. Both this history and its readings are everywhere informed by the most exciting developments in recent Middle English scholarship as well as literary and cultural theory. It serves as an introduction to all these areas as well as a contribution, in its own right, to each of them.


Gimson’s Kings and Queens

Gimson’s Kings and Queens

Author: Andrew Gimson

Publisher: Random House

Published: 2015-08-20

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 1473521661

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NEWLY REVISED AND UPDATED A book for all lovers of history: the experienced and the novice, the serious and the silly. Gimson's Kings and Queens whirls us through the lives of our monarchs - from 1066 and William the Conqueror right up to Queen Elizabeth II and the present-day - to tell a tale of bastardy, courage, conquest, brutality, vanity, vulgarity, corruption, anarchy, absenteeism, piety, nobility, divorce, execution, civil war, madness, magnificence, profligacy, frugality, philately, abdication, dutifulness, family breakdown and family recovery. Written in Andrew Gimson's inimitable style, and illustrated by Martin Rowson, this is both a primer and a refresher for anyone who can't quite remember which were the good and bad Edwards or Henrys, or why so-and-so succeeded to the throne rather than his second cousin. 'The most entertaining and instructive book on the English monarchy you will ever read' Daily Telegraph


William Rufus

William Rufus

Author: Frank Barlow

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 1983-01-01

Total Pages: 528

ISBN-13: 9780520049369

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William II, better known as William Rufus, was the third son of William the Conqueror and England's king for only 13 years (1087-1100) before he was mysteriously assassinated. In this vivid biography, here updated and reissued with a new preface, Frank Barlow reveals an unconventional, flamboyant William Rufus -- a far more attractive and interesting monarch than previously believed. Weaving an intimate account of the life of the king into the wider history of Anglo-Norman government, Barlow shows how William confirmed royal power in England, restored the ducal rights in France, and consolidated the Norman conquest.


A Brief History of British Kings & Queens

A Brief History of British Kings & Queens

Author: Mike Ashley

Publisher: Hachette UK

Published: 2014-03-27

Total Pages: 544

ISBN-13: 147211731X

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Here is the whole of recorded British royal history, from the legendary King Alfred the Great onwards, including the monarchies of England, Scotland, Wales and the United Kingdom for over a thousand years. Fascinating portraits are expertly woven into a history of division and eventual union of the British Isles - even royals we think most familiar are revealed in a new and sometimes surprising light. This revised and shortened edition of The Mammoth Book of British Kings & Queens includes biographies of the royals of recorded British history, plus an overview of the semi-legendary figures of pre-history and the Dark Ages - an accessible source for students and general readers.


Crown & Sceptre

Crown & Sceptre

Author: Tracy Borman

Publisher: Grove Atlantic

Published: 2022-02-22

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 0802159117

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An in-depth look at the British monarchy that’s “a superb synthesis of historical analysis, politics, and top-notch royal gossip” (Kirkus Reviews). Since William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, crossed the English Channel in 1066 to defeat King Harold II and unite England’s various kingdoms, forty-one kings and queens have sat on Britain’s throne. “Shining examples of royal power and majesty alongside a rogue’s gallery of weak, lazy, or evil monarchs,” as Tracy Borman describes them in her sparkling chronicle, Crown & Sceptre. Ironically, during very few of these 955 years has the throne’s occupant been unambiguously English—whether Norman French, the Welsh-born Tudors, the Scottish Stuarts, and the Hanoverians and their German successors to the present day. Acknowledging the intrinsic fascination with British royalty, Borman lifts the veil to reveal the remarkable characters and personalities who have ruled and, since the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, more ceremonially reigned. It is a crucial distinction explaining the staying power of the monarchy as the royal family has evolved and adapted to the needs and opinions of its people, avoiding the storms of rebellion that brought many of Europe’s royals to an abrupt end. Richard II; Henry VIII; Elizabeth I; George III; Victoria; Elizabeth II: their names evoke eras and the dramatic events Borman recounts. She is equally attuned to the fabric of monarchy: royal palaces; the way monarchs have been portrayed in art, on coins, in the media; the ceremony and pageantry surrounding the crown. Elizabeth II is already one of the longest reigning monarchs in history. Crown & Sceptre is a fitting tribute to her remarkable longevity and that of the magnificent institution she represents. “Crown & Sceptre brings us in short, vivid chapters from William the Conqueror to Elizabeth herself, much of it constituting a dark record of bumping off adversaries, rivals and spouses, confiscating vast estates and military invasions…. [A] lucid, character-rich book.” —Minneapolis Star-Tribune “Borman’s deep understanding of English royalty shines.” —Chris Schluep, Amazon Editors’ Picks, The Best History Books of February 2022


The Kings & Queens of England

The Kings & Queens of England

Author: Ian Crofton

Publisher: Quercus Publishing

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780857385314

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A richly illustrated history of the lives and reigns of the kings and queens of England - from the house of Wessex to the house of Windsor.


A History of the English Monarchy

A History of the English Monarchy

Author: Gareth Russell

Publisher: Madeglobal Publishing

Published: 2015-03-24

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9788494372124

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In A History of the English Monarchy, historian Gareth Russell traces the story of the English monarchy and the interactions between popular belief, religious faith and brutal political reality that helped shape the extraordinary journey of one of history's most important institutions. From the birth of the nation to the dazzling court of Elizabeth I, A History of the English Monarchy charts the fascinating path of the English monarchy from the uprising of 'Warrior Queen' Boadicea in AD60 through each king and queen up to the 'Golden Age' of Elizabeth I. Russell offers a fresh take on a fascinating subject as old as the nation itself. Legends, tales and, above all, hard facts tell an incredible story... a history of the English Monarchy.