Why did the medieval Church bless William of Normandy's invasion of Christian England in 1066 & authorize cultural genocide in Provence? How could a Christian army sack Christian Constantinople in 1204? This title unravels the story of the Christian military expeditions that have perturbed European history. ...

Religion, politics & fear: how England was transformed by the Tudors. The English Reformation was a unique turning point in English history. Derek Wilson retells the story of how the Tudor monarchs transformed English religion & why it still matters today. Recent scholarly research has undermined the traditional view of the Reformation as an event that occurred solely amongst the elite. Wilson now shows that, although the transformation was political & had a huge impact on English identity, on England's relationships with its European neighbours & on the foundations of its empire, it was essentially a revolution from the ground up. By 1600, in just eighty years, England had become a radically different nation in which family, work & politics, as well as religion, were dramatically altered. Praise for Derek Wilson: ' Stimulating & authoritative.' John Guy. ' Masterly. [ Wilson] has a deep understanding of... characters, reaching out across the centuries.' Sunday Times. ...

A Brief History of the Holy Grail charts the origins of the grail story from early Christian gospels through to eastern mysticism & the rise of medieval romances & Arthurian legends. The grail reappears once more in the story of the Crusades & in particular the rise & dramatic fall of the Knight Templars, who it is said were the guardians of the cup, newly discovered in Jerusalem. The myths have been more powerful that the facts & the allure of the Grail has attracted the attention of modern writers & artist in search of an ancient symbol of purity: psychologist Carl Jung, composer Richard Wagner, poets William Blake, & T S Eliot, the Pre-Raphelite painters have all been seduced by the legend. Today the grail quest can be found in films such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, & Excalibur, as well as Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. This book has 176 pages & is 19.6cm x 13cm x 1.4cm ...

Much has been written about the Knights Templar in recent years. A leading specialist in the history of this legendary medieval order now writes a full account of the Knights of the Order of the Temple of Solomon, to give them their full title, bringing the latest findings to a general audience. Putting many of the myths finally to rest, Nicholson recounts a new history of these storm troopers of the papacy, founded during the crusades but who got so rich & influential that they challenged the power of kings. ...

Elizabeth II is within a few years of becoming the longest-reigning British monarch. A personally quiet, modest & dutiful person, she is far better-informed about the lives of her subjects than they often realize. She has known every Prime Minister since Winston Churchill & every American President since Eisenhower. Yet what of the woman behind the crown? The book seeks to take a new look at this exhaustively-documented life & show how Queen Elizabeth became the person she is. Who, & what, have been the greatest influences upon her? What are her likes & dislikes? What are her hobbies? Who are her friends? What does she feel about the demands of duty & protocol? Is she really enjoying herself when she smiles during official events? How differently does she behave when out of the public eye? Examining the places in which she grew up or has lived, the training she received & her attitudes to significant events in national life, it presents a fresh view of one of recent history's most important figures. This book has 220 pages & is 19.6 x 12.8 x 2 cm ...

From the end of the Second World War to the present day, the world has changed immeasurably. The art of spying has changed too, as spies have reacted to changing threats. Here you will find the fascinating stories of real-life spies, both famous & obscure, from either side of the Iron Curtain, along with previously secret details of War on Terror operations. Detailed stories of individual spies are set in the context of the development of the major espionage agencies, interspersed with anecdotes of gadgets, trickery, honeytraps & assassinations worthy of any fictional spy. A closing section examines the developing New Cold War, as Russia & the West confront each other once again. ...

' From the Fury of the Northmen deliver us, O Lord'. Between the eighth & eleventh centuries, the Vikings surged from their Scandinavian homeland to trade, raid & invade along the coasts of Europe. Their influence & expeditions extended from Newfoundland to Baghdad, their battles were as far-flung as Africa & the Arctic. But were they great seafarers or desperate outcasts, noble heathens or oafish pirates, the last pagans or the first of the modern Europeans? This concise study puts medieval chronicles, Norse sagas & Muslim accounts alongside more recent research into ritual magic, genetic profiling & climatology. It

Includes:: biographical sketches of some of the most famous Vikings, from Erik Bloodaxe to Saint Olaf, & King Canute to Leif the Lucky. It explains why the Danish king Harald Bluetooth lent his name to a twenty-first century wireless technology; which future saint laughed as she buried foreign ambassadors alive; why so many Icelandic settlers had Irish names; &, how the last Viking colony was destroyed by English raiders. Extending beyond the traditional ' Viking age' of most books, A Brief History of the Vikings places sudden Scandinavian population movement in a wider historical context. It presents a balanced appraisal of these infamous sea kings, explaining both their swift expansion & its supposed halt. Supposed because, ultimately, the Vikings didn't disappear: they turned into us.

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A classic account of the bloody rivalry between the dynasties of York & Lancaster for the throne of Engl&.

During the

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Was there a beginning of time? Could time run backwards? Is the universe infinite or does it have boundaries?

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A gritty tale of family & a love that holds no bounds, from the best-selling author of Nobody's Girl & A Father's Revenge. Celia Frost has always thought herself a cut above the other residents of Lark Rise in Battersea. When her beloved son, Thomas, starts seeing Amy Miller, a girl from the bottom of the Rise, Celia disapproves, thinking her common. When Celia's husband leaves her & Thomas announces he is to marry Amy, she is more determined than ever to split them up. Celia needs an ally, so she writes to her elder son, Jeremy, asking him to come home. Jeremy's arrival unleashes a tide of jealously & hate. He wants everything that belongs to Thomas
- especially Amy. As Jeremy's dangerous obsession for his brother's wife grows, Amy must fight for her marriage, & her baby. The heartbreaking new novel from the bestselling author of A Father's Revenge & Nobody's Girl.
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