Pain is experienced by everyone at some point in their life. Some people experience pain that hangs around far longer than it should. This books tells the stories of people who have experienced persistent pain and recovered from it. It also gives some practical, evidence based advice on how to embrace what modern science tells us about pain in order to recover. No quick fixes or magic silver bullets, just sensible advice that is echoed by the lived experiences in the stories of the Pain He...

This book provides an excellent overview of Tudor food and eating habits. Chapters cover food and society in the sixteenth century, kitchens and cooking, what people drank, food and health (including Tudor ideas on healthy eating), setting the table and table manners, feasting and banquets.Alison Sim shows that dining habits in the sixteenth century were not the same as those of the Middle Ages and that tudor dining, at least for the wealthier section of the popula...

Although life in Tudor was ordered in a strict hierarchy, service was common for all classes, and servants were not necessarily the lowest stratum in society. This book looks at the servant life in the Tudor period. It examines relations between servants and their masters, peering into the bedrooms, kitchens and parlours of the ordinary folk.

How did the Tudors enjoy themselves? For the men and women of Tudor England there was, just as there is today, more to life than work. Four hundred years before the invention of television and radio, they did not lead boring or mundane lives. Indeed, in many ways the richness of Tudor entertainment shames us.While continuing the medieval tradition of tournament and pageantry, the Tudors also increasingly read and attended the theatre. Dancing and music were also po...

The political and military history of the sixteenth century is well known, and much written about, but what of the thousands of women who have, for the most part, eluded the historian's pen? The Tudor Housewife aims to answer this question, providing a unique and accessible introduction to the everyday life and responsibilities of women from all levels of society in the age of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. With chapters on marriage, childbirth, the upbringing of chi...

Our nation is a treasury of outstanding palaces and fine merchant houses from this rich period in our past. The Tudor period is one that feels familiar to many of us with famous monarchs such as Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, but we perhaps are not as familiar with the everyday life of the era.Here we uncover what these remarkable buildings can tell us about Tudor lives and times. Alison Sim's guide explores noble to ordinary households, how Tudors cared for their homes, and their dai...

An eye-opening portrait of an enthralling group of royal servants, Courtiers throws new light on the dramatic life of George II and Queen Caroline and their court at Kensington Palace.In the eighteenth century, the palace's most elegant assembly room was in fact a bloody battlefield. This was a world of skulduggery, politicking, wigs and beauty-spots, where fans whistled open like flick-knives...Ambitious and talented people flocked to cou...

In medieval England, man was the ruler of woman, and the King was the ruler of all. How, then, could royal power lie in female hands?In She-Wolves, celebrated historian, Helen Castor, tells the dramatic and fascinating stories of four exceptional women who, while never reigning queens, held great power: Matilda, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou. These were women who paved the way for Jane Grey, Mary Tudor and Elizabeth I - the Tudor queens who...

New York Times 'Could hardly be a more timely parable for our day' Evening Standard 'An engrossing and vivid impression of those terrible days' Sunday Express 'Absorbing. . .an excellent account of the two most fantastic years in London's history' This book chronicles the horror and human suffering of two of the most terrible years in London's long and vivid history. 1665 brought the plague and cries of "Bring Out Your Dead" echoed the city. A year later, the ...

TRAVEL BACK IN TIME WITH THE BBC'S RUTH GOODMANWe know all about the dramas that played out in the Tudor court - most notably those of Henry VIII - but what was life really like for a commoner like you or me?To answer this question, the renowned "method historian" Ruth Goodman has slept, washed and cooked as the Tudors did - so you don't have to!She is your expert guide to this fascinating era, drawing on years of practical...

Which king's guards massacred a group of his supporters by mistake? Who had an oversized tongue and had to slobber when they ate food? Who was so large when they died that they had to be buried in a square coffin? Who survived seven assassination attempts? As you can tell from the bizarre questions above, it wasn't all thrones and sceptres for British kings and queens. Some of them were completely batty, and others were downright vicious. On the other hand, some monarchs were an icon to th...

How would you feel if you woke up in a medieval castle tomorrow morning? What would your bed be like? What would you eat? What sights and smells would be around you? Whisking you back in time, this little book will show you exactly what it would be like to be there.