A brilliant global history of the Normans, who—beyond the conquest of England—spread their empire to eventually dominate Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.14th October 1066.As Harold II, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England, lay dying in Sussex, the Duke of Normandy was celebrating an unlikely victory. William "The Bastard" had emerged from interloper to successor of the Norman throne. He had survived the carnage of the Battle of Hastin...

An imaginative reassessment of Æthelred "the Unready," one of medieval England’s most maligned kings and a major Anglo-Saxon figure The Anglo-Saxon king Æthelred "the Unready" (978–1016) has

An in-depth exploration of documentary forgery at the turn of the first millenniumForgery and Memory at the End of the First Millennium takes a fresh look at documentary forgery and historical memory in the Middle Ages. In the tenth and eleventh centuries, religious houses across Europe began falsifying texts to improve local documentary records on an unprecedented scale. As Levi Roach illustrates, the resulting wave of forgery signaled major shifts in soc...

This engaging study focuses on the role of assemblies in later Anglo-Saxon politics, challenging and nuancing existing models of the late Anglo-Saxon state. Its ten chapters investigate both traditional constitutional aspects of assemblies - who attended these events, where and when they met, and what business they conducted - and the symbolic and representational nature of these gatherings. Levi Roach takes into account important recent work on continental rulership, and argues that assem...

A brilliant global history of the Normans, who—beyond the conquest of England—spread their empire to eventually dominate Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Middle EastFourteenth October 1066.As Harold II, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon king of England, lay dying in Sussex, the Duke of Normandy was celebrating an unlikely victory. William “The Bastard” had emerged from interloper to successor of the Norman throne. He had survived the carnage of the Battle of Hastings and, two ...

A humorous deep-dive into the varied - and oft-gruesome - deaths of the King and Queens of England and Scotland.How the monarchs of England and Scotland met their deaths has been a wonderful mixture of violence, infections, overindulgence and occasional regicide. In Mortal Monarchs, medical historian Dr Suzie Edge examines 1,000 years of royal deaths to uncover the plots, accusations, rivalries, and ever-present threat of poison that the kings and queens o...

Inspired by the lapidaries of the ancient world,this audiobook is a beautiful collection of true stories about sixty different stones that have influenced our shared historyThe earliest scientists ground and processed minerals in a centuries-long quest for a mythic stone that would prolong human life. Michelangelo climbed mountains in Tuscany searching for the sugar-white marble that would yield his sculptures. Catherine the Great wore the wealth of Russia stitched...

'BRILLIANTLY ARRANGED AND RICH WITH FRESH INSIGHTS, UNCOMMON WEALTH REMINDS US HOW THE FORGOTTEN STORIES OF EMPIRE AND DECOLONISATION CONTINUE TO IMPACT OUR DAILY LIVES IN BRITAIN - AND THROUGHOUT THE WORLD - UP TO TODAY' AKALABritain didn't just put the empire back the way it had found it.In Uncommon Wealth, Kojo Koram traces the tale of how after the end of the British empire an interconnected group of well-heeled Britis...

'BRILLIANT' ANDREW MARR'HAD ME OPEN-MOUTHED WITH AMAZEMENT' ED BALLS'ESSENTIAL' JON SOPEL'A GRIPPINGLY WRITTEN, DETAILED BOOK THAT ANSWERS SO MANY QUESTIONS' ISABEL HARDMAN'SUPERB' EVAN DAVISThe explosive full story of the past dozen years of Tory rule, from coalition to self-destruction; f****ully updated to include the general election.

'HUGELY IMPRESSIVE' - THE INDEPENDENT'AN ASTONISHINGLY FINE HISTORY' - COUNTRY LIFE'FASCINATING' - DAILY MAILThe history of the world's most successful military alliance, from the wrecked Europe of 1945 to Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.As they signed NATO into being after World War II, its founders fervently believed that only if the West's democracies banded ...

'A compelling tale of a family caught up in the turmoil of the Wars of the Roses... Be warned: it's dangerously addictive' TRACY BORMANEngland. 1469.A fortunate marriage will change history.A scandal could destroy everything...Margaret Paston, matriarch of the Paston family, knows that a favourable match for one of her unruly daughters is the only way to survive the loss of their re...