Английские монархи — 36 книг

This title is nominated for "Sunday Times", "Daily Telegraph", "TLS", "Financial Times", "Guardian", "Daily Mail" and "Sunday Telegraph" Books Of The Year. "He were a dark prince, and infinitely suspicious, and his times full of secret conspiracies and troubles". (Sir Francis Bacon). In his remarkable debut, Penn vividly recreates the dark and turbulent reign of Henry VII. He traces the transformation of a young, vulnerable boy, Prince Henry, into the aggressive teenager who would become Henry VIII, and of Catherine of Aragon, his future queen. And at the book's heart is the tragic, magnetic figure of Henry VII - controlling, paranoid, avaricious, with a Machiavellian charm and will to power.

This title is nominated for "Sunday Times", "Daily Telegraph", "TLS", "Financial Times", "Guardian", "Daily Mail" and "Sunday Telegraph" Books Of The Year. "He were a dark prince,…

Includes a new foreword by the author The story of the death, in sinister circumstances, of the boy-king Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, is one of the most fascinating murder mysteries in English history. It is a tale with profound moral and social consequences, rich in drama, intrigue, treason, scandal and violence. In this gripping book Alison Weir re-examines all the evidence - including that against the Princes' uncle, Richard III, whose body was recently discovered beneath a Leicester car park. She brilliantly reconstructs the whole chain of events leading to their murder and reveals how, why and by whose order they died. Previously published as The Princes in the Tower.

Includes a new foreword by the author The story of the death, in sinister circumstances, of the boy-king Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, is one of the most…

This is the second volume of Peter Ackroyd's masterful history of England: the "Tudors". Rich in detail and atmosphere and told in vivid prose, "Tudors" recounts the transformation of England from a settled Catholic country to a Protestant superpower. It is the story of Henry VIII's cataclysmic break with Rome, and his relentless pursuit of both the perfect wife and the perfect heir; of how the brief reign of the teenage king, Edward VI, gave way to the violent reimposition of Catholicism and the stench of bonfires under 'Bloody Mary'. It tells, too, of the long reign of Elizabeth I, which, though marked by civil strife, plots against the queen and even an invasion force, finally brought stability. Above all, however, it is the story of the English Reformation and the making of the Anglican Church. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, England was still largely feudal and looked to Rome for direction; at its end, it was a country where good governance was the duty of the state, not the church, and where men and women began to look to themselves for answers rather than to those who ruled them.

This is the second volume of Peter Ackroyd's masterful history of England: the "Tudors". Rich in detail and atmosphere and told in vivid prose, "Tudors" recounts the…

Henry VIII, renowned for his command of power and celebrated for his intellect, presided over one of the most magnificent–and dangerous–courts in Renaissance Europe. Never before has a detailed, personal biography of this charismatic monarch been set against the cultural, social, and political background of his glittering court. Now Alison Weir, author of the finest royal chronicles of our time, brings to vibrant life the turbulent, complex figure of the King. Packed with colorful description, meticulous in historical detail, rich in pageantry, intrigue, passion, and luxury, Weir brilliantly renders King Henry VIII, his court, and the fascinating men and women who vied for its pleasures and rewards. The result is an absolutely spellbinding read.

Henry VIII, renowned for his command of power and celebrated for his intellect, presided over one of the most magnificent–and dangerous–courts in Renaissance Europe. Never before…

He ordered his uncle to be beheaded; he usurped his father's throne; he started a war which lasted for more than a hundred years, and taxed his people more than any other previous king. Yet for centuries Edward III was celebrated as the greatest king England had ever had, and three hundred years after his death it was said that his kingship was perhaps the greatest that the world had ever known.
In this first full study of the man's character and life, Dr Ian Mortimer shows how Edward personally provided the impetus for much of the drama of his fifty-year reign. In particular he shows how Edward did more than any other monarch before or since to create the English nation as we know it today. Edward overcame the tyranny of his guardians at the age of seventeen,and then set about developing a new form of awe-inspiring chivalric kingship. Under him the feudal kingdom of England became a highly organised, sophisticated nation, capable of raising large revenues and deploying a new type of projectile-based warfare, and without question the most important military nation in Europe. Yet under his rule England itself experienced its longest period of domestic peace in the middle ages, giving rise to a massive increase of the nation's wealth through the wool trade, with huge consequences for society, art and architecture. It is also to Edward that we owe our system of parliamentary representation, our local justice system, our national flag and the English language as the 'tongue of the nation'
All this leads us to wonder why he is normally overlooked in a list of England's greatest kings. The answer is simple: nineteenth century historians saw in him the opportunity to decry a warmonger, and painted himas a self-seeking, rapacious, tax-gathering conquerer. Yet as this book shows, beneath the strong warrior king was a compassionate, conscientious and often merciful man, resolute yet devoted to his wife, friends and family. Through his personal relationships, he emerges as a strikingly modern figure, to whom many will be able to relate. That is not surprising, as the majority of Englishmen alive today are descended from him. He is therefore a father of both the English nation and the English people, and consequently stands alongside William I as one of the two most important medieval figures in the history of England.

He ordered his uncle to be beheaded; he usurped his father's throne; he started a war which lasted for more than a hundred years, and taxed his people more than any other previous…

This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king – a man born to rule England, who believed that it was his right to rule all of Britain. His reign was one of the most dramatic and important of the entire Middle Ages, leading to war and conquest on an unprecedented scale, and leaving a legacy of division between the peoples of Britain that has lasted from his day to our own.

Edward I is familiar to millions as ‘Longshanks’, conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace (‘Braveheart’). Yet this story forms only the final chapter of the king’s astonishingly action-packed life. Earlier Edward had defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort in battle; travelled across Europe to the Holy Land on crusade; conquered Wales, extinguishing forever its native rulers, and constructing – at Conwy, Harlech, Beaumaris and Caernarfon – the most magnificent chain of castles ever created. He raised the greatest armies of the English Middle Ages, and summoned the largest parliaments; notoriously, he expelled all the Jews from his kingdom. The longest-lived of all England’s medieval kings, he fathered no fewer than fifteen children with his first wife, Eleanor of Castile, and after her death he erected the Eleanor Crosses – the grandest funeral monuments ever fashioned for an English monarch.

In this book, Marc Morris examines afresh the forces that drove Edward throughout his relentless career: his character, his Christian faith, and his sense of England’s destiny – a sense shaped in particular by the tales of the legendary King Arthur. He also explores the competing reasons that led Edward’s opponents (including Llywelyn ap Gruffudd and Robert Bruce) to resist him, and the very different societies that then existed in Scotland, Wales and Ireland. The result is a sweeping story, immaculately researched yet compellingly told, and a vivid picture of medieval Britain at the moment when its future was decided.

This is the first major biography for a generation of a truly formidable king – a man born to rule England, who believed that it was his right to rule all of Britain. His reign…

She was the first woman to inherit the throne of England, a key player in one of Britain’s stormiest eras, and a leader whose unwavering faith and swift retribution earned her the nickname “Bloody Mary.” Now, in this impassioned and absorbing debut, historian Anna Whitelock offers a modern perspective on Mary Tudor and sets the record straight once and for all on one of history’s most compelling and maligned rulers.

Though often overshadowed by her long-reigning sister, Elizabeth I, Mary lived a life full of defiance, despair, and triumph. Born the daughter of the notorious King Henry VIII and the Spanish Katherine of Aragon, young Mary was a princess in every sense of the word—schooled in regal customs, educated by the best scholars, coveted by European royalty, and betrothed before she had reached the age of three. Yet in a decade’s time, in the wake of King Henry’s break with the pope, she was declared a bastard, disinherited, and demoted from “princess” to “lady.” Ever her deeply devout mother’s daughter, Mary refused to accept her new status or to recognize Henry’s new wife, Anne Boleyn, as queen. The fallout with her father and his counselors nearly destroyed the teenage Mary, who faced imprisonment and even death.

It would be an outright battle for Mary to work herself back into the king’s favor, claim her rightful place in the Tudor line, and ultimately become queen of England, but her coronation would not end her struggles. She flouted the opposition and married Philip of Spain, sought to restore Catholicism to the nation, and fiercely punished the resistance. But beneath her brave and regal exterior was a dependent woman prone to anxiety, whose private traumas of phantom pregnancies, debilitating illnesses, and unrequited love played out in the public glare of the fickle court.

Anna Whitelock, an acclaimed young British historian, chronicles this unique woman’s life from her beginnings as a heralded princess to her rivalry with her sister to her ascent as ruler. In brilliant detail, Whitelock reveals that Mary Tudor was not the weak-willed failure as so often rendered by traditional narratives but a complex figure of immense courage, determination, and humanity.

She was the first woman to inherit the throne of England, a key player in one of Britain’s stormiest eras, and a leader whose unwavering faith and swift retribution earned her the…

Eight generations of the greatest and worst kings and queens that this country has ever seen - from the White Ship to the Lionheart, bad King John to the Black Prince and John of Gaunt - this is the dynasty that invented England as we still know it today - great history to appeal to readers of Ken Follet, Bernard Cornwell, Tom Holland England's greatest royal dynasty, the Plantagenets, ruled over England through eight generations of kings. Their remarkable reign saw England emerge from the Dark Ages to become a highly organised kingdom that spanned a vast expanse of Europe. Plantagenet rule saw the establishment of laws and creation of artworks, monuments and tombs which survive to this day, and continue to speak of their sophistication, brutality and secrets. Dan Jones brings you a new vision of this battle-scarred history. From the Crusades, to King John's humbling over Magna Carta and the tragic reign of the last Plantagenet, Richard II - this is a blow-by-blow account of England's most thrilling age.

Eight generations of the greatest and worst kings and queens that this country has ever seen - from the White Ship to the Lionheart, bad King John to the Black Prince and John of…

Weir has tirelessly made her way through the entire labyrinth of Tudor history to tell the collective story of the six wives of Henry VIII--a vivid, full-blooded portrait of six very different women--in a work of sound and brilliant scholarship. Illustrations.

Weir has tirelessly made her way through the entire labyrinth of Tudor history to tell the collective story of the six wives of Henry VIII--a vivid, full-blooded portrait of six…

George IV spent most of his life waiting to become king, first a pleasure-loving and rebellious Prince of Wales during the 60-year reign of his father, George III, and for 10 years as Prince Regent, when his father went mad. "The days are very long when you have nothing to do," he once wrote plaintively, but he did his best to fill them with pleasure—women, art, food, wine, fashion, architecture. He presided over the creation of the Regency style, which came to epitomize the era and was, with Charles I, the most artistically literate of all British kings.

George IV spent most of his life waiting to become king, first a pleasure-loving and rebellious Prince of Wales during the 60-year reign of his father, George III, and for 10…

Edward VI, the only son of Henry VIII, became king at the age of nine and died wholly unexpectedly at the age of fifteen. All around him loomed powerful men who hoped to use the child to further their own ends, but who were also playing a long game - assuming that Edward would long outlive them and become as commanding a figure as his father had been.

Stephen Alford's wonderful book gives full play to the murky, sinister nature of Edward's reign, but is also a poignant account of a boy learning to rule, learning to enjoy his growing power and to come out of the shadows of the great aristocrats around him. England's last child monarch, Edward would have led his country in a quite different direction to the catastrophic one caused by his death.

Edward VI, the only son of Henry VIII, became king at the age of nine and died wholly unexpectedly at the age of fifteen. All around him loomed powerful men who hoped to use the…

Richard II (1377-99) came to the throne as a child, following the long, domineering reign of his grandfather Edward III. He suffered from the disastrous combination of an exalted sense of his own power and an inability to impress that power on others. Neither trusted nor feared, Richard battled with failures and emergencies before succumbing to a coup, imprisonment, and murder. Laura Ashe's account of his reign emphasizes the strange gap between Richard's personal incapacity and the amazing cultural legacy of his reign—from the Wilton Diptych to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Canterbury Tales.

Richard II (1377-99) came to the throne as a child, following the long, domineering reign of his grandfather Edward III. He suffered from the disastrous combination of an exalted…

The reign of Edward II (1307-27) was a series of total disasters, making him unsuccessful to an extent almost without equal. He failed to be kingly, preferring ditching and cart-racing to jousting and falconry. His reign was convulsed by rebellion and attempts to reform the king's behavior. In an attempt to throw off the specter of his regal father, Edward I, he invaded Scotland and suffered catastrophic defeat. After 20 ruinous years, betrayed and abandoned by most of his nobles and by his wife and her lover, Edward was imprisoned in Berkeley Castle where he was murdered. Christopher Given-Wilson's remarkable book gives a glimpse into the abyss: the terrors of kingship.

The reign of Edward II (1307-27) was a series of total disasters, making him unsuccessful to an extent almost without equal. He failed to be kingly, preferring ditching and…

This book is a reconstruction of the kingship and politics of the third Tudor king of England, Edward VI (born 1537), who reigned between 1547 (from the age of nine) until his death in 1553. The reign has often been interpreted as a period of political instability, mainly because of the king's age. This book explores how the reign was remarkably stable; and also how, during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) the Edwardian idea of what it was to be a monarch--and many of the same men who had served Edward VI as councillors and courtiers--dominated Tudor politics.

This book is a reconstruction of the kingship and politics of the third Tudor king of England, Edward VI (born 1537), who reigned between 1547 (from the age of nine) until his…

A portrait of Queen Isabella describes her marriage to Edward II, the king's homosexual affairs, her flight back to France, and her alliance with her husband's arch-enemy, Roger Mortimer, with whom she launched a revolution.
Abstract: A portrait of Queen Isabella describes her marriage to Edward II, the king's homosexual affairs, her flight back to France, and her alliance with her husband's arch-enemy, Roger Mortimer, with whom she launched a revolution.

A portrait of Queen Isabella describes her marriage to Edward II, the king's homosexual affairs, her flight back to France, and her alliance with her husband's arch-enemy, Roger…

From acclaimed historian Chris Skidmore comes the authoritative biography of Richard III, England’s most controversial king, a man alternately praised as a saint and cursed as a villain.

Richard III is one of English history’s best known and least understood monarchs. Immortalized by Shakespeare as a hunchbacked murderer, the discovery in 2012 of his skeleton in a Leicester parking lot re-ignited debate over the true character of England’s most controversial king.

Richard was born into an age of brutality, when civil war gripped the land and the Yorkist dynasty clung to the crown with their fingertips. Was he really a power-crazed monster who killed his nephews, or the victim of the first political smear campaign conducted by the Tudors?

In the first full biography of Richard III for fifty years, Chris Skidmore draws on new manuscript evidence to reassess Richard’s life and times. Richard III examines in intense detail Richard’s inner nature and his complex relations with those around him to unravel the mystery of the last English monarch to die on the battlefield.

From acclaimed historian Chris Skidmore comes the authoritative biography of Richard III, England’s most controversial king, a man alternately praised as a saint and cursed as a…

Three King Richards ruled England in the Middle Ages. All had memorable reigns. Richard I was a crusading hero; Richard II was an authoritarian aesthete who was deposed and murdered; Richard III was the most famous villain in English history, locking his nephews in a tower to secure his reign. This highly readable joint biography shows how much the three kings had in common.. All were younger sons, not expected to come to the throne; all failed to produce an heir, leaving instability on their deaths; all were cultured and pious; and all died violently. For centuries, these three kings have attracted accusations but also fascination, being immortalized in theater, movies, myths, and books. In Three Richards, Nigel Saul shows why.

Three King Richards ruled England in the Middle Ages. All had memorable reigns. Richard I was a crusading hero; Richard II was an authoritarian aesthete who was deposed and…

This book-the first full-length biography of Richard II in more than fifty years-offers a radical reinterpretation of a complex king whose reign was characterized by a mixture of high principle and despotic legislation. Nigel Saul demonstrates that Richards` aim was to exalt and dignify the crown, but in a period of faction and feud his tactical errors and contradictory policies resulted in deposition and assassination.

This book-the first full-length biography of Richard II in more than fifty years-offers a radical reinterpretation of a complex king whose reign was characterized by a mixture of…

A rousing and authoritative new biography of the notorious King John, by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Marc Morris. King John is familiar to everyone as the villain from the tales of Robin Hood—greedy, cowardly, despicable, and cruel. But who was the man behind the legend? Was he truly a monster, or a capable ruler cursed by bad luck? In this new book bestselling historian Marc Morris draws on contemporary chronicles and the king's own letters to bring the real King John vividly to life.

John was dynamic, inventive and relentless, but also a figure with terrible flaws. In two interwoven stories, we see how he went from being a youngest son with limited prospects to the ruler of the greatest dominion in Europe, an empire that stretched from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees. His rise to power involved treachery, rebellion and murder. His reign saw oppression on an almost unprecedented scale: former friends hounded into exile and oblivion; Wales,...

A rousing and authoritative new biography of the notorious King John, by Wall Street Journal bestselling author Marc Morris. King John is familiar to everyone as the villain from…

The powerful and innovative King ?thelstan reigned only briefly (924-939), yet his achievements during those eventful fifteen years changed the course of English history. He won spectacular military victories (most notably at Brunanburh), forged unprecedented political connections across Europe, and succeeded in creating the first unified kingdom of the English. To claim for him the title of "first English monarch" is no exaggeration.In this nuanced portrait of ?thelstan, Sarah Foot offers the first full account of the king ever written. She traces his life through the various spheres in which he lived and worked, beginning with the intimate context of his family, then extending outward to his unusual multiethnic royal court, the Church and his kingdom, the wars he conducted, and finally his death and legacy. Foot describes a sophisticated man who was not only a great military leader but also a worthy king. He governed brilliantly, developed creative ways to project his image as a ruler, and devised strategic marriage treaties and gift exchanges to cement alliances with the leading royal and ducal houses of Europe. ?thelstan's legacy, seen in the new light of this masterful biography, is inextricably connected to the very forging of England and early English identity.

The powerful and innovative King ?thelstan reigned only briefly (924-939), yet his achievements during those eventful fifteen years changed the course of English history. He won…