Medieval English

Medieval queens were seen as mere dynastic trophies, yet many of the Plantagenet queens of the High Middle Ages dramatically broke away from the restrictions imposed on their sex, as Alison Weir shows in this gripping group biography of England's fourteenth-century consorts. Using personal letters and wonderfully vivid sources, Alison Weir evokes the lives of five remarkable queens: Marguerite of France, Isabella of France, Philippa of Hainault, Anne of Bohemia and Isabella of Valois.

In the Robin Hood reimagining, a beautiful maiden poaches to feed the poor, while a handsome forester is on a mission to catch her.

A Medieval Life offers a biography of one woman, a portrait of her world, and an introduction to historical method. Written in a clear and accessible style, it reworks a well-loved book to provide an entirely new resource for students, teachers, and general listeners. Like Cecilia Penifader, most people in the Middle Ages were peasants, humble people living socially below the knights, bishops, and kings who figure so large in history books. Judith M. Bennett shows that peasants, too, made history.

Having recovered from the wounds of battle and having won for himself a fortune, a crew, and a longship, Thorgrim Night Wolf makes ready to leave the Viking town of Dubh-linn for the long journey back to his home in Norway. But the gods have other plans, and Thorgrim and his men wash up in the small Viking longphort of Vík-ló. Thinking themselves among friends, they soon learn that the opposite is true - that Grimarr Giant, the Lord of Vík-ló, has reason to want Thorgrim and his son, Harald, dead.

August 1284. On the heels of King Edward's triumph over Wales, he receives the worst news possible: His eldest living son and heir to the throne of England has died. Concerned that his victories in Wales, and even more the means by which he came by them, have brought the wrath of the Almighty down upon his house, King Edward sends Catrin and Rhys to Windsor Castle to investigate. But although they find victims and villains aplenty, their far greater test is managing the expectations of a grieving king, who fears his son was murdered - and fears even more that he wasn't.

Our capital city has always been a thriving and colorful place, full of diverse and determined individuals developing trade and finance, exchanging gossip and doing business. Abandoned by the Romans, rebuilt by the Saxons, occupied by the Vikings and reconstructed by the Normans, London would become the largest trade and financial center, dominating the world in later centuries. London has always been a brilliant, vibrant, and eclectic place.

Central Europe has long been infamous as a region beset by war, a place where empires clashed and world wars began. In The Middle Kingdoms, Martyn Rady offers the definitive history of the region, demonstrating that Central Europe has always been more than merely the fault line between West and East. Even as Central European powers warred with their neighbors, the region developed its own cohesive identity and produced tremendous accomplishments in politics, society, and culture.

The Margrave of Thornbeck has to find a bride - fast. He invites 10 noble-born ladies who meet the king's approval to be his guests at Thornbeck Castle for two weeks - a time to test these ladies and reveal their true characters. Avelina has only two instructions: keep her true identity a secret and make sure the margrave doesn't select her as his bride. Since the latter seems unlikely, she concentrates on not getting caught. No one must know she is merely a maidservant sent by the Earl of Plimmwald to stand in for his daughter, Dorothea.

Wonderland is at war. The death of the King of Hearts has driven the Queen mad. She's embarked on a merciless campaign to conquer all of Wonderland. With the Card Kingdoms already collected, the Queen of Hearts moves onto the Chess Kingdoms. But they have a new champion. He's brave, virile, and from another world. And he's just infiltrated the Hearts Court. Alec may be destined to turn the tide of the war, but within the Queen of Hearts' court he finds his greatest obstacle—the Knave of Hearts. Favorite of the Queen and the Hero of Hearts, the Knave is Alec's undisputed enemy and the ...

Pursued by her enemies, flattered and courted for her lands, a powerful, devious princess is desperate to reach refuge. Haunted by the shadow of the young assassin set upon her, Princess Melanthe knows that an ice cold countenance is her only protection. To succumb to love is the greatest danger of all. She can trust only one man amid the lies, the mysterious Green Knight - a true knight who never wavers once he gives his heart; a man who cannot comprehend deceit.

With LETTERS OF FIRE AND SWORD, Dorothy Wiley has merged Scotland’s gut-wrenching history with extraordinary fiction.In the year of our Lord, 1306, patriots of Scotland, support Robert the Bruce’s fight to free both their conquered country and his family, imprisoned by the English king. Powerful knights like Highlander Sir Alexander MacMillan join the struggle fighting battle after battle for eight long years. All the while, Alexander’s first love, Lady Erca MacNeill, is imprisoned alongside the woman who dared to crown Bruce king of Scotland, Countess Isabella MacDuff. The brutal ...

With 20 custom illustrations, Medieval Torture and Execution of Modern Serial Killers explores the real life atrocities of both ancient and modern man. This shocking yet morbidly amusing book examines nine real life serial killers and discusses their crimes and motives. In each biopic, their most deplorable acts are reviewed and reckoned, for they will be the determining factors for punishment. As a thought experiment, each serial killer is placed in a primitive time where justice is carried out by way of a medieval executioner. Through documented eye-witness accounts, you will read how ...

Valkyries: the female supernatural beings that choose who dies and who lives on the battlefield. They protect some, but guide spears, arrows, and sword blades into the bodies of others. Viking myths about valkyries attempt to elevate the banality of war - to make the pain and suffering, the lost limbs and deformities, the piles of lifeless bodies of young men, glorious and worthwhile. Rather than their death being futile, it is their destiny and good fortune, determined by divine beings.

Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring and provides those who have read The Lord of the Rings with a whole collection of background and new stories from the 20th century’s most acclaimed popular author.

Oxford, late summer, 1353. On hearing that his cousin is short-handed for the harvest, Nicholas Elyot takes a group of friends back to the family farm to help. When a deer hunt in Wychwood ends in tragedy, suspicion is directed toward the huntsman, a boyhood friend of Nicholas. But the victim has made many other enemies, any one of whom could have shot the fatal arrow. Can Nicholas uncover the real killer before it is too late?

With hindsight, the victory of Parliamentarian forces over the Royalists in the English Civil War may seem inevitable, but this outcome was not a foregone conclusion. Timothy Venning explores many of the turning points and discusses how they might so easily have played out differently.

Lovisa evaded capture for killing the prince in a tournament, but can she win the Orc King's heart and evade being shared by his savage men? Fleeing through a treacherous forest, Lovisa, a fierce female warrior, evades pursuit, seeking refuge in the Orc realm. Yet, her respite is short-lived as she falls into the clutches of the formidable Orc King. Now, ensnared in the heart of enemy territory, her survival and future happiness depend on strength, courage, and cunning amidst the savage horde. If you love steamy orc fantasy short stories with fiercely possessive Orcs, sassy maidens, and ...

Westley de Lohr has a secret—he's been betrothed to the young girl who was his "best friend" when he was about five years of age. Her father was a powerful neighbor, and Westley's father, seeing an opportunity, brokered a betrothal for his youngest son. As her father's only child, she would inherit a strong fiefdom, and Christopher wanted that for his son. But things have changed.

In The Knight at Dawn, Jack and Annie find peacocks for dinner and boys in skirts when the Magic Tree House transports them back to the Middle Ages for another wild adventure. In this second book in the series, inquisitive, notebook-carrying Jack and his animal-charming younger sister, Annie, find themselves in the middle of an enormous castle. They can hear the beginnings of a feast under way in the Great Hall.

When the Emperor's army comes recruiting, Mai signs up, seeing it as the perfect escape from her stepmother and a lifetime of drudgery. Armed with her mother's armor and a pair of magic shoes, Mai marches off to war only to find herself sharing a tent with the General's arrogant nephew, Prince Yi. The best swordsman in the Empire, Prince Yi wants to make war, not love, but the Emperor insists this will be Yi's last campaign before he must marry. Prince Yi has never met his match until now.