His only son has drowned in the English Channel and the predators are gathering ready to devour both England and Normandy. When the last of King Harold’s Housecarls returns to England to die he brings with him a reluctant hero who will save the kingdom. Alfraed, son of Ridley, is the first of a new breed, he is an English Knight. The novel is set in a time when warlords fight for small parcels of land and treachery is the order of the day. English Knight is a fast moving novel set in that most turbulent of times, The Anarchy. Filled with action and battles this is the first in a series of chronicles painting a picture of a bloody time in English history when the only people you could rely on were your household warriors and you slept with a dagger beneath your bed.

    If readers are not already familiar with him as the tyrant whose misgovernment gave rise to Magna Carta, we remember him as the villain in the stories of Robin Hood.Formidable and cunning, but also cruel, lecherous, treacherous and untrusting. Twelve years into his reign, John was regarded as a powerful king within the British Isles. But despite this immense early success, when he finally crosses to France to recover his lost empire, he meets with disaster. John returns home penniless to face a tide of criticism about his unjust rule. The result is Magna Carta – a ground-breaking document in posterity, but a worthless piece of parchment in 1215, since John had no intention of honoring it. Like all great tragedies, the world can only be put to rights by the tyrant’s death. John finally obliges at Newark Castle in October 1216, dying of dysentery as a great gale howls up the valley of the Trent. 16 pages of color and B&W illustrations

    Although no one could allay the dread of plague, the medical profession provided cosmetic procedures, women's sanitary products, dietary advice and horoscopes predicting the sex of unborn babies or the best day to begin a journey. Surgeons performed life-saving procedures, sometimes using anaesthetics, with post-operative antibiotic and antiseptic treatments to reduce the chances of infection. They knew a few tricks to lessen the scarring, too. Yet alongside such expertise, some still believed that unicorns, dragons and elephants supplied vital medical ingredients and the caladrius bird could diagnose recovery or death. This is the weird, wonderful and occasionally beneficial world of medieval medicine. In her new book, popular historian Toni Mount guides the reader through this labyrinth of strange ideas and such unlikely remedies as leeches, meadowsweet, roasted cat and red bed curtains - some of which modern medicine is now coming to value - but without the nasty smells or any threat to personal wellbeing and safety. N.B. No animals, large, furry or mythological, were harmed during research for this book.

    Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later to become King Richard III, takes possession of the castle upon his marriage to a wealthy heiress but this does nothing to diminish the love Christiana has for him. She bears the duke an illegitimate son and against all odds continues to live and work as a servant within the castle walls. Christiana’s devotion spans twenty four years and follows Richard’s fortunes from the north of England to the battlefields of the Wars of the Roses and his ultimate death. Christiana’s story does not end with the death of the king and she finds it within herself to carry on despite being a woman alone and destitute until she eventually finds the love and happiness that had always existed but never acknowledged. Based upon historical fact and recent new evidence that has come to light since the discovery of the mortal remains of Richard III this is a story that weaves a rich tapestry of life in Medieval England and portrays the much-maligned figure of King Richard in a more favourable light.

    But her obligatory marriage to Henry is rife with the threat of violence and the lure of deceit; her secret liaisons with Thom, her husband’s former brother-in-law, could send her to an early grave; and her devotion to the education and equal rights of Henry’s daughters is putting an even bigger strain on her marriage. Does Kate risk her life to gain authority in both her relationship and her political career? Which love will she be led to if she follows her heart? And what kind of future is there for her children if she makes a crucial mistake?“Here is a playwright who is taking on the big themes of feminism with a restless, probing intelligence and political savvy. Her characters are living, breathing, messy human beings who reach for the stars and who stumble in the dirt. These are not mouthpieces for politically correct punditry, but people whose emotions cause chaos and whose ideas drive their passion. In short, this is the best kind of playwriting: thoughtful, full-bodied, and redolent of the stuff of life.” —Bob White, Director of New Plays, Stratford Festival

    Thrust into the center of the new Norman court and a dizzying web of political intrigue and plotting princes, she must choose her alliances carefully in a game of thrones where the stakes are unimaginably high. Embroiled in rebellions and betrayals, Aislinn learns the price of loyalty, struggles to find her home, and save those she loves – and, perhaps, her own soul as well.Almost nine hundred years later in 1987, Selma Murray, an American graduate student at Oxford University, is researching the mysterious “Aethelinga” manuscript, as Aislinn’s chronicle has come to be known. Trying to work out the riddles of someone else’s past is a way for Selma to dodge her own troubling ghosts – yet the two are becoming inextricably intertwined. She must face her own demons, answer Aislinn’s questions, and find forgiveness – for herself and others – in this epically scaled but intimately examined, extensively researched look at the creation of history, the universality of humanity, and the many faces it has worn no matter the century: loss, grief, guilt, redemption, and love.

    Yet before his twenty-seventh birthday the turn of fortune's wheel had brought him the crown of England. The kingdom he inherited as Henry V was deeply divided after the seizure of the throne by his father, the first Lancastrian king. Within a short time, however, by sheer force of personality and will, Henry had mended the rifts, pardoned and released prisoners, and united the whole country behind his claim not just to be King of England, but also King of France. One staggering victory against all the odds on the field of Agincourt brought him lasting fame, and took him within touching distance of succeeding in his claim. Henry V looks at the life and legacy of a king whose heroic achievements and tragic early death may truly be said to have changed the course of British history.

    "Bones of a King" presents the official behind-the-scenes story of the Grey Friars dig based directly on the research of the specialists directly involved in the discovery.?A behind-the-scenes look at one of the most exciting historical discoveries of our timeFeatures numerous photographs of the dig as well as the king's remainsExplains the scientific evidence behind his identification, including DNA retrieval and sequencing, soil samples, his wounds and his scoliosis, and what they reveal about his life, his health and even the food he ateBuilds an expansive view of Richard's life, death and burial, as well as accounts of the treatment of his body prior to burial, and his legacy in the public imagination from the time of his death to the presentThe most extensive and authoritative? book written for non-specialists by the team who discovered Richard III

    You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

    Cymru (Wales) Melangell is a ‘Lifebringer’, a dragon-maiden learning to protect one of the land’s most ancient mysteries, y Ddraig. She expects to pass her years as have a score of teachers before her—hidden away, safeguarding an egg that barely moves from year to year, never using the deadly and secret skills she has been taught. But the King’s relentless pursuit of this most holy relic throws her into the middle of war and though she is not yet adept Melangell must enter captivity with the egg to defend the sleeping dragonling within. Her abductor is Cai ap Cynyr—fierce warrior, loyal brother and sword-arm to the high Chieftain, Artwr. He has been scouring the land for the relics Artwr demands to ensure triumph against the Angles invading from the east. Cai uses the Lifebringer’s mystique to master his armsmen, but when he spirits Melangell and the dragon egg further into seclusion, she grows intrigued by her captor. But she is a Lifebringer—sworn only to y Ddraig—and Cai must deliver the dragonling to Artwr to at last drag himself out of his legendary brother’s deep shadow. [Sacrifice is the first in a series of three books based around y Ddraig (the Dragon) set in sixth-century Arthurian Wales, featuring characters based on Welsh myth, literature and/or history.]

    Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink offers the first full survey of Jewish illuminated manuscripts, ranging from their origins in the Middle Ages to the present day. Featuring some of the most beautiful examples of Jewish art of all time—including hand-illustrated versions of the Bible, the Haggadah, the prayer book, marriage documents, and other beloved Jewish texts—the book introduces readers to the history of these manuscripts and their interpretation.Edited by Marc Michael Epstein with contributions from leading experts, this sumptuous volume features a lively and informative text, showing how Jewish aesthetic tastes and iconography overlapped with and diverged from those of Christianity, Islam, and other traditions. Featured manuscripts were commissioned by Jews and produced by Jews and non-Jews over many centuries, and represent Eastern and Western perspectives and the views of both pietistic and liberal communities across the Diaspora, including Europe, Israel, the Middle East, and Africa.Magnificently illustrated with pages from hundreds of manuscripts, many previously unpublished or rarely seen, Skies of Parchment, Seas of Ink offers surprising new perspectives on Jewish life, presenting the books of the People of the Book as never before.

    Join this couple in a race across 17th century Japan where political unrest has created dangerous ronin, civil uprisings, and war-ravaged castles. Caught in the middle of the struggle between Shogun's rise to rule and the old regime, this warrior princess is forced to battle for her life. In the end, she must choose between family honor and her heart's desire.

    As a young girl she witnessed Earl Harold standing barefoot in his handfast marriage to the beautiful Lady Svana and has yearned for her own love match ever since.Amongst England's royal court, marriages are not often chosen for love and political matches are rife while King Edward is still without an heir. When her family are exiled to the wild Welsh court, Edyth unexpectedly finds herself falling for the charismatic Griffin - first King of all of Wales. Becoming his Queen catapults Edyth onto the opposing side of a bitter feud between England and Wales. She has to grow up fast but has the support and encouragement of her closest friend, Lady Svana.Years later, Edyth is in line to take the crown of England. This time the lines of love and duty are far more blurred. As 1066 dawns, Edyth and Svana will be asked to make an even greater sacrifice, perhaps the greatest of all. In the midst of war, can love - and freedom - survive?

    The Medieval Manuscript Book redresses this by focusing on aspects of the medieval book in its cultural situations. Written by experts in the study of the handmade book before print, this volume combines bibliographical expertise with broader insights into the theory and praxis of manuscript study in areas from bibliography to social context, linguistics to location, and archaeology to conservation. The focus of the contributions ranges widely, from authorship to miscellaneity, and from vernacularity to digital facsimiles of manuscripts. Taken as a whole, these essays make the case that to understand the manuscript book it must be analyzed in all its cultural complexity, from production to transmission to its continued adaptation.

    Well-researched and well-written, the book does an excellent job of showing the wider cultural significance of automata within medieval history and the history of science."—Pamela O. Long, author of Openness, Secrecy, Authorship: Technical Arts and the Culture of Knowledge from Antiquity to the Renaissance.A thousand years before Isaac Asimov set down his Three Laws of Robotics, real and imagined automata appeared throughout European courts, liturgies, and literary texts. Medieval robots took such forms as talking statues, mechanical animals, or silent metal guardians; some served to entertain or instruct while others performed disciplinary or surveillance functions. Variously ascribed to artisanal genius, inexplicable cosmic forces, or demonic powers, these marvelous fabrications raised fundamental questions about knowledge, nature, and divine purpose in the Middle Ages.Medieval Robots recovers the forgotten history of fantastical, aspirational, and terrifying machines that especially captivated Europe in imagination and reality between the ninth and fourteenth centuries. E. R. Truitt traces the different forms of self-moving or self-sustaining manufactured objects from their earliest appearances in the Latin West through centuries of mechanical and literary invention. Chronicled in romances and song as well as histories and encyclopedias, medieval automata were powerful cultural objects that probed the limits of natural philosophy, illuminated and challenged definitions of life and death, and epitomized the transformative and threatening potential of foreign knowledge and culture. This original and wide-ranging study reveals the convergence of science, technology, and imagination in medieval culture, and demonstrates the striking similarities between medieval and modern robotic and cybernetic visions.E. R. Truitt teaches history at Bryn Mawr College.

    In this award-winning novel, you'll travel through strange but real medieval events with a heroic trio on a quest that's both weird and wonderful. And that's not all: --Roll across continents on horses, ships and camels with a well-versed, naive and love-struck teenager. --March across medieval Europe with an army of misfits led by a boy prophet. --Train with stoned and unlikely killers who terrorize Middle East rulers. --Peek inside Hassan i Sabbah's ancient library of mystical and profane literature. --Touch the petrified body of the world's first man, Adam. --Get juicy gossip from a fresh, fast-talking, funny vegetable. Orphans, Assassins and the Existential Eggplant shimmies through the early 13th century with a female alchemist, teenage prodigy and the one-and-only ancient, shrunken and truly heroic eggplant that can speak to whomever wears it. In search of the fabled Lost Stone of Eden, they cross Europe and the Mediterranean with the Children's Crusade, hijack a caravan in the Sahara desert, live with hashish-fueled Assassins in the mountains of Persia and rediscover paradise on the island of Bahrain. Orphans, Assassins and the Existential Eggplant won the Silver Medal Winner for Historic Fiction in The Wishing Shelf Book Awards, 2015.

    A daring counterattack against the Saracens’ last-ditch effort to relieve the besieged city of Acre has not only saved the Christian host from a fatal defeat; it has also brought the leader of that counterattack, English Templar Michael Fitz Alan, to the attention of King Richard the Lionheart. In the days that follow, the king charges Fitz Alan with a life-or-death mission – to recover the long-lost Holy Lance, a religious relic widely believed to be responsible for the near-miraculous success of the First Crusade. The ensuing quest leads Fitz Alan and a hand-picked band of Templars on a journey deep into enemy territory, where they battle Saracens, Assassins, hostile Christians and even a traitor within their own ranks as they seek to return the Holy Lance to Christian hands and thereby ensure the success of the crusade.

    The Middle Ages Unlocked provides an introduction to this complex and dynamic period in England.Exploring a wide range of topics from law, religion and education to landscape, art and magic, between the eleventh and early fourteenth century, the structures, institutions and circumstances that form the basis for daily life and society are made accessible. Drawing on their expertise in history and archaeology, Dr Gillian Polack and Dr Katrin Kania look at the tangible aspects of daily life, ranging from the raw materials used for crafts, clothing and jewelry to housing and food, in order to bring the Middle Ages to life.The Middle Ages Unlocked dispels modern assumptions about this period, revealing the complex tapestry of medieval England, its institutions and the people who lived there.

    This new book, published on the 500th anniversary of Bosch's death, explores his best-known paintings and drawings, revealing them as never before in amazing full-page close-up details. Organized by characteristic themes in Bosch’s work, such as faces, heaven and hell, the four elements, landscapes, and creatures both fantastic and monstrous, it offers exceptional views of masterpieces like The Garden of Earthly Delights, The Haywain Triptych, The Temptation of St. Anthony, and The Seven Deadly Sins. Till-Holger Borchert, an expert on Netherlandish art, guides readers through the painter’s work in clear and accessible language, and from less-familiar and surprising angles.Bosch in Detail is the latest in the successful series that also includes Bruegel in Detail and Caravaggio in Detail.

    The transition from Republic to Imperium and the more hierarchical structure that entailed, and the absorption of Christianity into state processes, had pushed the development of court ceremonial apace, and particularly driven its embodiment and display in ever more opulent regalia. The regalia embraced not only garments of distinctive form and decoration, but also both dress and non-dress accessories. It was crucial in displaying rank and function on an everyday basis, yet was also varied considerably for special occasions. Military dress largely reflected forms current amongst ordinary men, but with an emphasis on functionality, eschewing the excesses of fashion. Detailed literary and artistic sources, archaeology and insights derived from reconstruction and practical experience has gone into creating an incredibly lavish picture of the clothing of the longest-enduring political entity in history.

    Her era was troubled by war, plague, and schism within the Catholic Church, and Ermine could easily have slipped unobserved through the cracks of history. After the loss of her husband, however, things took a remarkable but frightening turn. For the last ten months of her life, Ermine was tormented by nightly visions of angels and demons. In her nocturnal terrors, she was attacked by animals, beaten and kidnapped by devils in disguise, and exposed to carnal spectacles; on other nights, she was blessed by saints, even visited by the Virgin Mary. She confessed these strange occurrences to an Augustinian friar known as Jean le Graveur, who recorded them all in vivid detail.Was Ermine a saint in the making, an impostor, an incipient witch, or a madwoman? Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski ponders answers to these questions in the historical and theological context of this troubled woman's experiences. With empathy and acuity, Blumenfeld-Kosinski examines Ermine's life in fourteenth-century Reims, her relationship with her confessor, her ascetic and devotional practices, and her reported encounters with heavenly and hellish beings. Supplemented by translated excerpts from Jean's account, The Strange Case of Ermine de Reims brings to life an episode that helped precipitate one of the major clerical controversies of late medieval Europe, revealing surprising truths about the era's conceptions of piety and possession.

    A man of great heart and high spirit was he, yet unlucky, doomed to a sad end. His foes were many and his misfortunes great, but he lived like a man, and like a man he died.” Thus begins this acclaimed version for young people of a great Icelandic saga. Grettir, living at the dawn of Christianity’s coming to Iceland, had a gift of “ridding lands of their pests.” Heathen pests: trolls, ghosts, sorcerers, to be sure; and worse were the self-serving men who found strong Grettir in their way. Unjustly accused, Grettir is driven to seek help at the Althing, Iceland’s court of justice. There, where cunning men manage to force the law in their favor, he will be required to accept a sentence of 20 years’ outlawry. Nevertheless, in those twenty years outside the boundaries of society, Grettir will remain a man true to his word, doing deeds to make men marvel, living in sorrow and troubles and yet undaunted in spirit. Is Grettir a figure of fantasy? Author Allen French tells us in his Preface: “In spite of many supernatural incidents [found in the story] Grettir was doubtless a real man...a grand and tragic character.” All admirers of Nordic tales will value this exceptional retelling by the author of The Story of Rolf and the Viking Bow.

    Produced by the U.S. Military Academy in partnership with Rowan Technology, these new chapters allow readers to experience the Middle Ages like never before, with animated maps, interactive timelines, and other custom-built digital tools.The West Point History of Warfare: Medieval is easily accessible on Windows, Apple, and Android devices.Major features include:Animations of the Battles of Hastings, Crécy, and AgincourtHotspot annotations of an English longbowman and a Norman knight3D model of Orford CastleInteractive timeline of battles and reigns throughout the Middle AgesVideo interview with the author…And more revolutionary educational tools!Available here: https://shop.westpointhistoryofwarfar...

    "Sleepwalking into a New World" takes a bold new look at how these autonomous city-states came about, and fundamentally alters our understanding of one of the most important political and cultural innovations of the medieval world.Chris Wickham provides richly textured portraits of three cities Milan, Pisa, and Rome and sets them against a vibrant backcloth of other towns. He argues that, in all but a few cases, the elites of these cities and towns developed one of the first nonmonarchical forms of government in medieval Europe, unaware that they were creating something altogether new. Wickham makes clear that the Italian city commune was by no means a democracy in the modern sense, but that it was so novel that outsiders did not know what to make of it. He describes how, as the old order unraveled, the communes emerged, governed by consular elites chosen by the people, and subject to neither emperor nor king. They regularly fought each other, yet they grew organized and confident enough to ally together to defeat Frederick Barbarossa, the German emperor, at the Battle of Legnano in 1176."Sleepwalking into a New World" reveals how the development of the autonomous city-state took place, which would in the end make possible the robust civic culture of the Renaissance."

    1689. The city’s inhabitants resist all attempts by the King James’s men to storm their gates. Outside, the soldiers reckon the only effective weapon they have left is to starve them out...Inside the city, the Sherrard family are among those divided on whether to risk the lives of their remaining loved ones or to beg the church leaders to surrender the city.

    A former mercenary with a formidable pedigree, Lasalle is a man singularly averse to conventions secular and spiritual. When a messenger arrives from the Holy Land and entices Lasalle back into a life he had abandoned, Juliana embarks on a perilous journey only to find herself trapped in intrigues as byzantine as they are deadly between the Lusignans, a family rumored to be descended from the half-serpent Lady Mélusine, and their rivals, the Ibelíns. On Cyprus, the island of Aphrodite, Juliana and Lasalle find that loyalty, like love, comes in many guises, and that duty and honor require of them a terrible sacrifice. Set in 13th-century France and Cyprus, The Serpent's Crown continues the story that began in The Sixth Surrender.