Medieval England

The year is 1066. The Duke of Normandy has arrived on English soil, quickly quashing any uprising from the native Saxons and wresting the crown from King Harold. The men of Tresche are a strong Saxon family. Made up mostly of bastards, the men are warriors from the moment they are old enough to hold a wooden sword in their tiny hands. Nothing could prepare them for the army of Duke William, and nothing could prepare them for the losses they suffer at the Battle of Hastings. They are left with only their memories of the past as they embark on a journey to bring the shattered pieces of their ...

A captivating true story that chronicles the exploits of Sir Francis Walsingham - the first great English spymaster and the man who saved Elizabeth's regime and the country's independence. Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time of insecurity and unrest. Rivals threatened her reign; England was a Protestant island, isolated in a sea of Catholic countries. Spain plotted an invasion, but Elizabeth's Secretary, Sir Francis Walsingham, was prepared to do whatever it took to protect her. He ran a network of agents in England and Europe who provided him with information about invasions or assassination plots.

Though it's often forgotten today, Robert the Bruce was a bit shiftier, if only out of necessity. Robert the Bruce has become a figure of Scottish national legend, renowned as the man who threw off the shackles of English oppression. Prior to 1306, this Anglo-Scottish nobleman did little to cover himself in glory or to earn a reputation as a hero of the national cause. A member of one of Scotland's leading noble families, Bruce inherited his grandfather's claim to the right to be king of the Scots.

The exciting saga of the serf who rose to be the captain of a company of English longbow archers in medieval England continues. Anne is avenged and the king and his barons are surprised as arrows fly, knights and barons go down, and kings and churchmen are gulled when William and his lieutenants attempt to sell the priceless religious relics the company "rescued" when Constantinople was being sacked by the crusaders.

The reign of Richard III, the last Yorkist king and the final monarch of the Plantagenet dynasty, marked a turning point in British history. But despite his lasting legacy, Richard only ruled as king for the final two years of his life. While much attention has been given to his short reign, Michael Hicks explores the whole of Richard's fascinating life and traces the unfolding of his character and career from his early years as the son of a duke to his violent death at the battle of Bosworth.

Join Matthew Lewis and the creators of History Hit on a guided tour spanning more than five centuries of English medieval history and witness spectacular changes in military, political and economic spheres. At home and overseas, England's status and identity was in constant flux, and yet through it all, the nation withstood the turmoil of everything from the 9th century attack of the Great Heathen Army to the year of three kings in 1483 - just.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Athelstan: The Making of England by Tom Holland, read by Roy McMillan. The formation of England happened against the odds - the division of the country into rival kingdoms, the assaults of the Vikings, the precarious position of the island on the edge of the known world. But King Alfred ensured the survival of Wessex, his son Eadweard expanded it, and his grandson Æthelstan finally united Mercia and Wessex, conquered Northumbria and became Rex totius Britanniae.

The Battle of Hastings and its aftermath nearly wiped out the leading families of Anglo-Saxon England—so what happened to the children this conflict left behind? Conquered offers a fresh take on the Norman Conquest by exploring the lives of those children, who found themselves uprooted by the dramatic events of 1066. Among them were the children of Harold Godwineson and his brothers, survivors of a family shattered by violence who were led by their courageous grandmother Gytha to start again elsewhere.

The Three Edwards, third in Thomas B. Costain's survey of Britain under the Plantagenets, covers the years between 1272 and 1377 when three Edwards ruled England. Edward I brought England out of the Middle Ages. Edward II had a tragic reign but gave his country Edward III, who ruled gloriously, if violently.

When young nun Joanna Calverley dies of a fever in the town of Beverley in the summer of 1365, she is buried quickly for fear of the plague. But a year later, Archbishop Thoresby learns of a woman who has arrived in York claiming to be the resurrected nun, talking of relic-trading and miracles. And death seems to ride in her wake. The archbishop sends Owen Archer to retrace the woman's journey, an investigation that leads him across the north. Along the way he encounters Geoffrey Chaucer, a spy for the king of England.

In 871, three of England’s four kingdoms were overrun by Vikings, the ruthless, all-conquering Scandinavian raiders who terrorized early medieval Europe. With the Norsemen murdering one king with arrows and torturing another to death by ripping out his lungs, the prospects that faced the kingdom of Wessex were bleak. Worse still, the Saxons were now led by a young man barely out of his teens who was more interested in God than fighting.

When she refuses to accompany her family to London for the new king's coronation—and to accept an unwelcome offer of marriage—Isolde FitzHugh knows she's merely putting off the inevitable. But for now the eldest daughter of a Welsh patriot and an English nobleman revels in her temporary freedom. In the village, she spies a bearded, dark-haired stranger and feels an unexpected surge of desire. But the man who seduces her in the dead of night is no wandering minstrel. He is her family's most treacherous foe.

Starting AD 400 (around the time of their invasion of England) and running through to the 1100s (the 'Aftermath'), historian Geoffrey Hindley shows the Anglo-Saxons as formative in the history not only of England but also of Europe. The society inspired by the warrior world of the Old English poem Beowulf saw England become the world's first nation state and Europe's first country to conduct affairs in its own language, and Bede and Boniface of Wessex establish the dating convention we still use today.

The Abbey Mice are preparing for Christmas. Collecting food to last them through the winter. Arranging their home high up in the tower of Ramsley Abbey. The spirit of Christmas is alive when they meet the poor Country Mice and bring them happiness and comfort. The Abbey Mice have lived for generations high up in the safety of Ramsley Abbey tower. From there they set out on their tales of friendships made, courage shown, adventures and excitement experienced. The Adventures of the Abbey Mice series were written over forty years ago now. Loosely based on the beautiful historic Romsey Abbey in...

Waking up is only the beginning. Princess Aquamarine (Marin) was happily married to the most accomplished Naval Admiral of Rezhina Valley, but her life turned upside-down the night that her sister Emer was poisoned. On the run from an unknown danger, she never expected to fall under a similar poisonous trap. Like Emer, Marin dreams of a world beyond imagining: modern England. Marin must brave the dangers of the Atlantic to wake up and return her husband from the form of a detestable frog. Meanwhile, Princess Pearl has fallen to poisoned dreams of a Renaissance Fair. No one, even her father,...

Adored by her parents and pampered by the court, the infant Princess Mary’s life changes suddenly and drastically when her father’s eye is taken by the enigmatic Anne Boleyn. Mary stands firm against her father’s determination to destroy both her mother’s reputation and the Catholic church. It is a battle that will last throughout both her father’s and her brother’s reign, until she is almost broken by persecution.

Mary Stuart was born into a powerful royal dynasty that was at war with the rest of Europe and with itself. Mary’s ascent to the throne was disarmingly easy and she reached adulthood completely unprepared for the plots and betrayals she would be subject to. As the head of a resolutely unstable country, Mary struggled to maintain her grip on the precarious crown on her head and was removed from the throne by an armed rebellion.

From the Norman Conquest to the Battle of Bosworth Field - how Britain was invaded and became a nation. The first volume in the stunning four-volume Brief History of Britain series. From the Battle of Hastings to the Battle of Bosworth Field, Nicholas Vincent tells the story of how Britain was born. When William, Duke of Normandy, killed King Harold and seized the throne of England, England’s language, culture, politics, and law were transformed.

London, 1385: Surrounded by ruthless courtiers - including his powerful uncle, John of Gaunt, and Gaunt's artful mistress, Katherine Swynford - England's young king, Richard II, is in mortal peril. Songs are heard across London - catchy verses said to originate from an ancient book that prophesies the ends of England's kings - and among the book's predictions is Richard's assassination. Only a few powerful men know that the cryptic lines derive from a "burnable book", a seditious work that threatens the stability of the realm.

In Volume 4, Hume closes his account of ‘England Under the House of Tudor' begun in Volume 3, and devotes it entirely to the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. It was not really expected that she would survive to accede to the monarchy; and it was certainly unexpected that she would rule for so long (1558-1603) while steadfastly declining to take a husband. All in all, her reign was a remarkable achievement. Elizabeth had so much to contend with over the years. From the start, she had to oversee the reinstatement of the Protestant religion after the tumultuous reign of her sister, Mary.