Desmond Seward

A vivid and colorful history of the most dominant royal dynasty in English history, from Richard the Lionheart and Edward the Black Prince to Henry IV and Richard III.

A ruthless Viking warrior who named his most prized battle weapon after the Norse goddess of death, Olav Haraldsson and his mercenaries wrought terror and destruction from the Baltic to Galicia in the early eleventh century. Thousands were put to the sword, enslaved or ransomed. In England, Canterbury was sacked, its archbishop murdered and London Bridge pulled down. The loot amassed from years of plunder helped Olav win the throne of Norway, and...

In the course of the Hundred Years War, Henry V was the English figure most responsible for the mutual antipathy that existed between France and England. His art of attacking an opponent by making total war on civilians, as well as soldiers, created tremendous distrust and enmity between the two countries, which survives even to this day. He was a man of many contradictions, a perverse mix of rigorous orthodoxy-exemplified by his fanatical and intolerant...

"A monstrous injurer of heaven and earth," as Shakespeare referred to this powerful medieval matriarch, Eleanor of Aquitaine's reign as England's stormiest and most ambitious queen has never been matched. As the greatest heiress in Europe, she was in turn Queen of France and Queen of England; among her sons were Richard the Lionheart and King John. A magnificent independent ruler in her own right, she lost her power when she married Louis VII of...

A ruthless Viking warrior who named his most prized battle weapon after the Norse goddess of death, Olav Haraldsson and his mercenaries wrought terror and destruction from the Baltic to Galicia in the early eleventh century. Thousands were put to the sword, enslaved, or ransomed. In England, Canterbury was sacked, its archbishop murdered, and London Bridge pulled down. The loot amassed from years of plunder helped Olav win the throne of Norway, and...

One of the most dramatic periods of British history, the Wars of the Roses didn't end at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Despite the death of Richard III and Henry VIIs victory, it continued underground into the following century with plots, pretenders and subterfuge by the ousted White Rose faction. In a brand new interpretation of this turning point in history, well known historian Desmond Seward reviews the story of the Tudors' seizure of the throne...