The king is killed on a shadowy summer day—and his servant becomes an outlaw On an August day in 1100, King William II of England goes hunting. At the side of the notorious monarch is his loyal servant, Walter Tyrrell, who is ranked among the finest archers in the kingdom. Riding through the New Forest, the king is separated from his party. Tyrrell lets loose a shot at what he thinks is a passing stag, but his arrow buries itself in the king’s chest instead. When he realizes what he has done, Tyrrell escapes from the forest—and into the twilight of English legend. For nearly 1,000 years, scholars have debated whether or not Tyrrell intended to kill the king. In this rollicking novelization of that ancient tragedy, author Michael Cadnum imagines what might have happened to cause that fatal shot—and where the fugitive archer ran to next.
This book THE ROYAL HUNT THE HUNT FOR PRINCE VESPIAN is the sequel for “THE ROYAL HUNT”. Everyone who read “THE ROYAL HUNT”, asked me if there was going to be a sequel. I said No there is not. Needless to say I was talked into it lol. I hope you like this sequel as much as I liked writing it.
Like most empires, the Ming court sponsored grand displays of dynastic strength and military prowess. Covering the first two centuries of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Martial Spectacles of the Ming Court explores how the royal hunt, polo matches, archery contests, equestrian demonstrations, and the imperial menagerie were represented in poetry, prose, and portraiture. This study reveals that martial spectacles were highly charged sites of contestation, where Ming emperors and senior court ministers staked claims about rulership, ruler-minister relations, and the role of the military in the polity. Simultaneously colorful entertainment, prestigious social events, and statements of power, martial spectacles were intended to make manifest the ruler’s personal generosity, keen discernment, and respect for family tradition. They were, however, subject to competing interpretations that were often beyond the emperor’s control or even knowledge. By situating Ming martial spectacles in the wider context of Eurasia, David Robinson brings to light the commensurability of the Ming court with both the Mongols and Manchus but more broadly with other early modern courts such as the Timurids, the Mughals, and the Ottomans.
From antiquity to the nineteenth century, the royal hunt was a vital component of the political cultures of the Middle East, India, Central Asia, and China. Besides marking elite status, royal hunts functioned as inspection tours and imperial progresses, a means of asserting kingly authority over the countryside. The hunt was, in fact, the "court out-of-doors," an open-air theater for displays of majesty, the entertainment of guests, and the bestowal of favor on subjects. In the conduct of interstate relations, great hunts were used to train armies, show the flag, and send diplomatic signals. Wars sometimes began as hunts and ended as celebratory chases. Often understood as a kind of covert military training, the royal hunt was subject to the same strict discipline as that applied in war and was also a source of innovation in military organization and tactics. Just as human subjects were to recognize royal power, so was the natural kingdom brought within the power structure by means of the royal hunt. Hunting parks were centers of botanical exchange, military depots, early conservation reserves, and important links in local ecologies. The mastery of the king over nature served an important purpose in official renderings: as a manifestation of his possession of heavenly good fortune he could tame the natural world and keep his kingdom safe from marauding threats, human or animal. The exchanges of hunting partners—cheetahs, elephants, and even birds—became diplomatic tools as well as serving to create an elite hunting culture that transcended political allegiances and ecological frontiers. This sweeping comparative work ranges from ancient Egypt to India under the Raj. With a magisterial command of contemporary sources, literature, material culture, and archaeology, Thomas T. Allsen chronicles the vast range of traditions surrounding this fabled royal occupation.
