An upstart French duke who sets out to conquer the most powerful & unified kingdom in Christendom An invasion force on a scale not seen since the days of the Romans One of the bloodiest & most decisive battles ever fought This riveting book explains why the Norman Conquest was the single most important event in English history Assessing the original evidence at every turn Marc Morris goes beyond the familiar outline to explain why England was at once so powerful & yet so vulnerable to William the Conqueror's attack Why the Normans in some respects less sophisticated possessed the military cutting edge How William's hopes of a united Anglo-Norman realm unravelled dashed by English rebellions Viking invasions & the insatiable demands of his fellow conquerors This is a tale of powerful drama repression & seismic social change the Battle of Hastings itself & the violent ' Harrying of the North'; the sudden introduction of castles & the wholesale rebuilding of every major church; the total destruction of an ancient ruling class Language law architecture even attitudes towards life itself were altered forever by the coming of the Normans Marc Morris author of the bestselling biography of Edward I A Great & Terrible King approaches the Conquest with the same passion verve & scrupulous concern for historical accuracy This is the definitive account for our times of an extraordinary story a pivotal moment in the shaping of the English nation ...

Please note this is a region 2 DVD & will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play The Normans Professor Robert Bartlett embarks on an ambitious journey deep into the hearts & minds of a band of warriors who transformed medieval Europe Bursting with colourful characters & illuminating detail Professor Bartlett’s story follows the fortunes of the Normans all the way from Scandinavia to Normandy & England in 1066 He then follows them south to Jerusalem via southern Italy Sicily & modern day Turkey He draws on Anglo-Saxon chronicles medieval manuscripts & some of the most powerful examples of Norman architecture in an epic sweep of the period of Norman supremacy & he reveals how the Norman legacy lives on in our culture & politics to this day Domesday In a fascinating exploration of Domesday Book medieval historian Dr Stephen Baxter reveals the human & political drama that lies within the parchment of England’s earliest surviving public record He also finds out the real reason it was commissioned by William the Conqueror Most historians believe Domesday is some kind of tax book for raising revenue But Baxter reveals why Domesday Book couldn’t have been used to collect taxes He argues that its real purpose was to give revolutionary new powers to England’s first Norman King ...

Who were the Norse gods
- the mighty Aesyr led by Odinn & the mysterious Vanir? In The Norse Myths we meet this passionate & squabbling
...

Welcome to the NC500 This tourist route takes in over 500mi (900km) of some of the UK's most stunning scenery The North Coast ...

Guidebook to walking the North Downs Way National Trail a 130 mile (208km) trail between Farnham & Dover with an optional visit to Canterbury Following the ancient Pilgrim's Way for much of the way through pleasant countryside this is one of the easier National Trails & the walk is described over 11 stages With 125K OS map booklet ...

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2016 A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN NOTABLE BOOK 2016 SHORTLISTED FOR THE LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE 2017 -- Winner of the RSL Encore Award 2017 --A ship sets sail with a killer on board 1859 A man joins a whaling ship bound for the Arctic Circle Having left the British Army with his reputation in tatters Patrick Sumner has little option but to accept the position of ship's surgeon on this ill-fated voyage But when deep into the journey a cabin boy is discovered brutally killed Sumner finds himself forced to act Soon he will face an evil even greater than he had encountered at the siege of Delhi in the shape of Henry Drax harpooner murderer monster 'A tour de force' Hilary Mantel' Riveting & darkly brilliant' Colm Toibin ...

Following the success of John Hunt's previous volumes on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway & the healthy on going demand for these volumes the desire for more is seemingly unabated! 160 pages c 150 colb&w Hunt John ...

This guidebook is a comprehensive pocket-sized guide to walking the pilgrimage routes through northern Spain to the sacred city of Santiago de Compostela The Camino del Norte is an 817km five-week coastal route from the town of Irun close to the French border Its alternatives are the Camino Primitivo (which splits from the Norte near Oviedo for the next 355km) & the Camino Ingles (a five-day 116km route from the city of Ferrol on the north-west coast) The guide gives stage-by-stage descriptions to all three routes & to the Camino de Finisterre (a three-day extension route from Santiago to the west coast) It features lots of advice including recommended gear useful information on all available pilgrim hostels & an extensive glossary in English Spanish & Euskera The Camino Frances is often referred to as the Camino de Santiago but it is actually along with these Northern Caminos part of a network of routes As the Frances is so popular however the Northern Caminos offer ideal conditions They are popular enough to offer sufficient facilities clear waymarking & a pilgrim community while plentiful cheap accommodation means no need to race for a bed ...

The ' Northern Crusades' inspired by the Pope's call for a Holy War are less celebrated than those in the Middle East but they were also more successful vast new territories became & remain Christian such as Finland Estonia & Prussia Newly revised in the light of the recent developments in Baltic & Northern medieval research this authoritative overview provides a balanced & compelling account of a tumultuous era ...

The Northmen's Fury tells the Viking story from the first pinprick raids of the eighth century to the great armies that left their Scandinavian homelands to conquer larger parts of France Britain & Ireland It recounts the epic voyages that took them across the Atlantic to the icy fjords of Greenland & to North America over four centuries before Columbus & east to the great rivers of Russia & the riches of the Byzantine empire One summer's day in 793 death arrived from the sea The raiders who sacked the island monastery of Lindisfarne were the first Vikings sea-borne attackers who brought two centuries of terror to northern Europe Before long the sight of their dragon-prowed longships & the very name of Viking gave rise to fear & dread so much so that monks were reputed to pray each night for delivery from the Northmen's Fury' Yet for all their reputation as bloodthirsty warriors the Vikings possessed a sophisticated culture that produced art of great beauty literature of abiding power & kingdoms of surprising endurance The Northmen's Fury describes how & why a region at the edge of Europe came to dominate & to terrorise much of the rest of the continent for nearly three centuries & how in the end the coming of Christianity & the growing power of kings tempered the Viking ferocity & stemmed the tide of raids It relates the astonishing achievement of the Vikings in forging far-flung empires whose sinews were the sea & whose arteries were not roads but maritime trading routes The blood of the Vikings runs in millions of veins in Europe & the Americas & the tale of their conquests explorations & achievements continues to inspire people around the world ...