Thirty years as a medieval reenactor gave me the background I needed to step into the past. I learned much about everyday activities and I gained familiarity with physical objects such as weapons and armor. My first four books (including The Last Great Saxon Earls trilogy) took place in the eleventh century, and by then I was ready to jump forward three hundred years to the Plantagenet era. In college, I saw Shakespeare's Richard II play, and I was so enthralled with it that I carried Richard around with me for forty years before tackling this book. It ended up being much more complicated than I could ever imagine!
Originally published as The Fears of Henry IV, this book gives us a fascinating look into the usurpation of Richard II and reign of the first Lancastrian king. Although they were first cousins, King Richard II and Henry Bolingbroke were perpetually at odds, and Henry's decision to seize the crown opened up a slew of problems that haunted him throughout his reign. He fought one rebellion after another, and once he put down his enemies, Henry was beset with terrible health problems that led to his early death. Because my series covers the reigns of Richard II through Henry VI (I'm currently writing about Henry IV), this book was critical to my understanding of why things went so wrong after his triumphant return from exile.
From the saviour of the realm to the subject of multiple attempted assassinations in the space of six years. King Henry IV's reign was characterised by his fear and paranoia, but above all a continued quest for survival.
The son of John the Gaunt, Henry was seen as a confident, well-educated, generous, and spiritually fervent young man. And, in 1399, having ousted the insecure tyrannical Richard II, he was enthusiastically greeted as the new King of England.
However, therein lay Henry's weakness. Upon assuming the crown, he found himself surrounded by men who would only support him as long as…
Thirty years as a medieval reenactor gave me the background I needed to step into the past. I learned much about everyday activities and I gained familiarity with physical objects such as weapons and armor. My first four books (including The Last Great Saxon Earls trilogy) took place in the eleventh century, and by then I was ready to jump forward three hundred years to the Plantagenet era. In college, I saw Shakespeare's Richard II play, and I was so enthralled with it that I carried Richard around with me for forty years before tackling this book. It ended up being much more complicated than I could ever imagine!
No study about Richard II would be complete without an understanding of his uncle, the powerful and intimidating John of Gaunt. Before I read this book, I accepted the usual depiction that he was arrogant, unpleasant, and downright nasty. But really, this was a gross exaggeration. Although many contemporaries assumed he coveted the throne, in reality, it would have been against his honor to usurp the king, no matter how helpless, ungrateful, or deserving Richard may have seemed. Gaunt was the only person who stood between the king and his many enemies. Once Richard discovered this for himself, he treated his uncle with much more respect, and this biography certainly helped me put Gaunt into proper perspective.
As younger brother of the Black Prince, and fourth son of Edward III, John of Gaunt was not destined to play an important role in the Plantagenet dynasty’s fortunes.
Yet the Black Prince and Edward died before their time, and John found his influence increased with the accession of his young nephew, Richard II.
Throughout Richard’s reign he would face accusations of seeking to usurp the throne, and as a result fluctuated in and out of favour for the rest of his life.
Never enjoying military successes as his brother or father had, John found his form in the dynastic…
This is very simple as to why there is passionate engagement with the themes listed within each of the five titles chosen. It's about engagement with the story which immediately comes from strongly identifying with the characters and events. The ‘identity factor’ is vital in drawing the reader in, and it's the mystery when writing a story or book which doesn’t begin with a prescribed plan. The mystery is really what creates the story and its characters, wanting to see what happens on the next page. With the reader, after having read a few pages, feeling the compulsion to read on, fully committed, emotionally involved, intrigued, and passionately caught up in the story.
Peter is on his way home from school and discovers a crooked laneway. Soon he looks through the bay window of a junk shop and is ‘drawn’ towards one item inside: a little ship. There is a strange conversation between Peter and the owner of the shop who says, "All the money in the world wouldn’t have bought this ship once [...]. It would cost all the money you have in the world and a bit over!" The man in the shop sells it to Peter.
Along the beach on the way home the ship turns into a real ship with sails. The book is not only about the many adventures with his brothers and sisters involving time travel to many lands but has an overarching plot that one day Peter will have to return the ship where he bought it. Only then will he discover about the ship and…
When Peter sees the model ship in the shop window, he wants it more than anything else on Earth. But this is no ordinary model. The ship takes Peter and the other children on magical flights, wherever they ask to go. Time after time the magic ship takes them on different exciting adventures, to different countries, and to different times. And why should magic ever end?
I am the author of several historical novels covering a wide range of topics, but my main interest remains 12th- to 16th-century Britain. I grew up in Sweden and have been an avid reader of classic literature and historical fiction since I was a child, and am currently studying History at the University of Oxford. When someone asks me what it is that I love about history, I tend to reply that it is all the stories. It sounds obvious, perhaps, but history is made up of countless stories that can be told in countless ways, and there is at least one story for everyone to fall in love with.
This book might be my definition of ‘fact more entertaining than fiction’. It is a relatively light read that was easy to get through, without feeling under-researched in the least. I bought it as an introduction to the life, reign, and personality of Richard II, who incidentally is one of England’s most fascinating kings in my view. Warner’s analysis of his character and relationships was what truly got me flipping the pages, anxious to read more about potential romances and debated narcissism.
Richard II is a figure famous in England's national myths - the king who went insane, the narcissist, the tyrant of Shakespeare's play. History regards his rule either as that of a superhuman monarch or a crazed and vicious ruler. But Richard II was a complex and conflicted man - a person with faults and shortcomings thrust into a role that demanded greatness. In this book, Kathryn Warner returns with the first modern biography of Richard II in decades, to paint a portrait of the king with all of his strengths and imperfections left in the picture. An aesthete and…
I have been writing the Owen Archer mysteries, set in and around the city of York in the late 14th century, for 30 years, ever since falling in love with the city of York on a visit. As I studied medieval literature and culture in graduate school, with a special interest in Chaucer, I’ve focused my research on the period in which he lived. I’ve spent months walking the streets of the city, hiking through the countryside, and meeting with local historians. Besides the 13 Owen Archer mysteries I’ve also published 3 Kate Clifford mysteries covering Richard II’s downfall, both series grounded in the politics and culture of medieval York and Yorkshire.
Why would this 50 year period be so interesting in these two cities? In these years Bristol and York were second only to London in influence and growth within the realm, and as the rising merchant class accrued wealth they used it to make agreements with the crown—to their advantage, of course. With King Edward III it was all about his war with France; with his grandson and successor King Richard II it was about gaining charters that made them more independent of royal interference as well as negotiating their way between the political factions within the nobility.
Richard’s reign was a dangerous time, especially at the end when York merchants chose to loan money to Henry Bolingbroke’s uprising against his cousin the king. The stakes were high and the personalities larger than life.
The strengthening of ties between crown and locality in the fourteenth century is epitomised by the relationships between York and Bristol (then amongst the largest and wealthiest urban communities in England) and the crown. Thisbook combines a detailed study of the individuals who ruled Bristol and York at the time with a close analysis of the texts which illustrate the relationship between the two cities and the king, thus offering a new perspective onrelations between town and crown in late medieval England. Beginning with an analysis of the various demands, financial, political and commercial, made upon the towns by the…
I have been writing the Owen Archer mysteries, set in and around the city of York in the late 14th century, for 30 years, ever since falling in love with the city of York on a visit. As I studied medieval literature and culture in graduate school, with a special interest in Chaucer, I’ve focused my research on the period in which he lived. I’ve spent months walking the streets of the city, hiking through the countryside, and meeting with local historians. Besides the 13 Owen Archer mysteries I’ve also published 3 Kate Clifford mysteries covering Richard II’s downfall, both series grounded in the politics and culture of medieval York and Yorkshire.
If you want even earlier information than 1068, Palliser begins with Roman York, Eboracum, moves through Scandinavian York, Jorvik, and then joins up with the city as it grows in the middle ages. The introduction discusses why a city grew in this particular spot, the strategic, geologic, and geographic advantage of the Vale of York.
This is the perfect complement to Rees Jones’s book, with more emphasis on the political and military history than hers and extending past the Black Death into the large degree of independent rule gained in two charters granted by King Richard II, then on to the gradual decline of the city in the 16th century.
Medieval York provides a comprehensive history of what is now considered England's most famous surviving medieval city, covering nearly a thousand years. The volume examines York from its post-Roman revival as a town (c. 600) to the major changes of the 1530s and 1540s, which in many ways brought an end to the Middle Ages in England. York was one of the leading English towns after London, and in status almost always the 'second city'.
Much research and publication has been carried out on various aspects of medieval York, but this volume seeks to cover the field in its entirety.…
Thirty years as a medieval reenactor gave me the background I needed to step into the past. I learned much about everyday activities and I gained familiarity with physical objects such as weapons and armor. My first four books (including The Last Great Saxon Earls trilogy) took place in the eleventh century, and by then I was ready to jump forward three hundred years to the Plantagenet era. In college, I saw Shakespeare's Richard II play, and I was so enthralled with it that I carried Richard around with me for forty years before tackling this book. It ended up being much more complicated than I could ever imagine!
An oldie but goodie! Any aspiring historian will benefit greatly from this four-book series written in the 1960s. This is a popular history and very easy to read. Although I discovered these books years before I started writing, I periodically revisit them purely for enjoyment. Costain covered a lot of information in a way that stayed with me for years. I would even go so far as to say he influenced me to continue my reading on the subject. This particular volume gives us a lot of insight into Richard II.
Copyright 1962 - Paperback A great storyteller's most dazzling bestseller Here is Thomas B. Costain's most magnificent performance, rivaling even THE BLACK ROSE for color and drama. Here are history's most spectacular Kings and Queens - and a brilliant new probing of the greatest mystery of all time, the death of the Princess in the Tower.
