European history: medieval period, middle ages

Many people know about Wessex, the 'Last Kingdom' of the Anglo-Saxons to fall to the Northmen, but another kingdom, Mercia, once enjoyed supremacy over not only Wessex, but all of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

This fascinating book explores the status of women in medieval England, both before and after the Norman Conquest.

On his deathbed William the Conqueror divided his property between his three sons, Robert, William and Henry.

Edward II is one of the most controversial kings of English history.

50 Medieval Finds from the Portable Antiquities Scheme highlights some of the most important and interesting archaeological objects of medieval date that have been found by the public over the last twenty years and recorded by the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), or reported as Treasure.

Henry II became King of England in 1154 after twenty years of civil war.

King Richard III remains one of the most controversial figures in British history.

'Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster'John of Gaunt (1340-1399) was the son of one king and the father of another.

What unacknowledged theme can be found across 250 years of English history?

Joan of Arc's life and death mark a turning point in the destiny both of France and England and the history of their monarchies.

Philippa of Hainault: Mother of the English Nation is the first full-length biography of the queen at the centre of the some of the most dramatic events in English history.

Richard II is a figure famous in England's national myths - the king who went insane, the narcissist, the tyrant of Shakespeare's play.

Written in 1136 by Geoffrey of Monmouth, the Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain) purported to chronicle the British monarchy from the arrival of the Trojan Brutus, grandson of Aeneas, through to the seventh century AD when the Anglo-Saxons had taken control of the land.

Whilst Richard I is one of medieval England's most famous kings he is also the most controversial.

This ground-breaking book traces the story of castles at war in England and Wales from their introduction by the Normans in the eleventh century until the end of the reign of Henry VIII in the sixteenth century.

These are the stories of women, famous, infamous and unknown, who shaped the course of medieval history.

thelflaed, eldest daughter of Alfred the Great, has gone down in history as an enigmatic and almost legendary figure.

Harold Godwinson, King of England, was unable to defend his realm from William the Conqueror's invading Norman army in 1066.

Evidence of the foulness and cruelty of the greatest catastrophe ever to hit London is still being unearthed under the streets of the capital today.

'This is the history of that most sacred vessel that is named by men the Holy Grail, wherein the precious blood of Our Saviour was received on the day that He was crucified that He might redeem His followers from the pains of Hell.

The Anglo-Saxon age was one of great change and unrest.

The identity of Robin Hood has been questioned many times since the Outlaw of Sherwood first sprang to fame in the twelfth century.

For a medieval English king, delegation was a necessary evil; and nowhere more necessary - nor more potentially disastrous - than on the Anglo-Welsh borders.

Henry III became King of England within days of his ninth birthday.

To our modern minds, the Middle Ages seem to mix the well-known and familiar with wildly alien concepts and circumstances.

Like his crusading father before him, Simon de Montfort's combination of charisma, determination and fearlessness, reinforced by a wife with similar qualities, made him one of the greatest men of his age.

The Wars of the Roses call to mind bloody battles, treachery and deceit, and a cast of characters known to us through fact and fiction: Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Richard III, Warwick the Kingmaker, the Princes in the Tower, Henry Tudor.

In contrast to most of Scotland, the north-western coast and the islands beyond were a region of mixed political control as well as culture into the sixteenth century.

Richard III.

Immortalised by the chronicler Froissart as the most beautiful woman in England and the most loved, Joan was the wife of the Black Prince and the mother of Richard II, the first Princess of Wales and the only woman ever to be Princess of Aquitaine.

Calling to mind a time when butchers and executioners knew more about anatomy than university-trained physicians, the phrase 'Medieval Medicine' conjures up horrors for us with our modern ideas on hygiene, instant pain relief and effective treatments.

Have you ever wondered what life was like for the ordinary housewife in the Middle Ages?

The Anglo-Saxon era was a pivotal one in England's history, and formed much of the England that we recognise today.

1066 saw three kings of England, the last of whom was William, Duke of Normandy.

The Wars of the Roses saw family fight family over the greatest prize - the throne of England.

The Wars of the Roses were a series of brutal conflicts between rival branches of the Plantagenet family - the Lancastrians and the Yorkists.

Isabella of France married Edward II in January 1308, and afterwards became one of the most notorious women in English history.

The medieval period is often thought of as the Dark Ages, a period of cultural stagnation and little economic and political advancement.

Richard III is probably the House of York's best-known figure, but the other members of the family are just as intriguing as the king who fell on Bosworth Field.

In the second half of the fifteenth century, for over thirty years, civil war tore England apart.

Few English monarchs had to fight harder for the right to rule than King Edward IV - Shakespeare's glorious son of York.

In the competition for remarkable queens, Eleanor of Aquitaine tends to win.

Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII, has been called the most unlikely King of England.

The Viking Conquest of England in 1016 - a far tougher and more brutal campaign than the Norman Conquest exactly half a century later - saw two great warriors, the Danish prince Cnut and his equally ruthless English opponent King Edmund Ironside, fight an epic campaign.

The medieval era is often associated with dynastic struggles, gruesome wars and the formidable influence of the Church.

From the moment it became public news, the validity of Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Widville, the beautiful widow of a Lancastrian knight, was repeatedly called into question.

'Deus Vult' - or 'God wills it' - were the words allegedly uttered by the crowd of people present when Pope Urban II's rousing speech caused the start of the First Crusade.

Henry V, King of England and claimant to the throne of France, looked out across the field of Agincourt, the site of a remarkable victory, but there were few scenes of glory that met his eyes.

Alfred, son of thelwulf, king of the West Saxons, ran.

In the latter years of the fourteenth century a child was born, so unimportant that even his exact date of birth is unknown.