Böcker av Kathryn Warner

The Brienne/Beaumonts, a noble family originally from Champagne, spread across Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean in the Middle Ages. Their story begins with John de Brienne (c. 1175/78-1237), who was the emperor of Constantinople, became king of Jerusalem by marriage, and claimed the throne of a kingdom in modern-day Turkey called Armenian Cilicia. His life, his children and his grandchildrenâEUR(TM)s lives were remarkably international. His daughters were born in Italy and what is now Lebanon; one of his sons, who grew up in Constantinople, France and Spain, was the stepfather of the king of Scotland; one of his grandchildren was the king of Germany, Italy and Sicily; and several other grandchildren settled in England, where one married a Scottish heiress and was the great-grandfather of a king of England and an English-born queen of Portugal. The Beaumonts tells the story of the places where the Brienne/Beaumont family settled and held influence between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. It begins in the Crusader states and moves to the Latin Empire of Constantinople, the Holy Roman Empire, Spain, France, Scotland, and England.

The story of three of the richest women and the greatest heiresses in fourteenth-century England.

It was Edward III who arguably put England on the map as a military might. This is a joint biography of nine of his granddaughters who lived between 1355 and 1440, and their dramatic, turbulent lives.

Sex and Sexuality in Medieval England allows the reader a peek beneath the bedsheets of our medieval ancestors, in an informative and fascinating look at sex and sexuality in England from 1250 to 1450. It examines the prevailing attitudes towards male and female sexual behaviour, and the ways in which these attitudes were often determined by those in positions of power and authority. It also explores our ancestors' ingenious, surprising, bizarre and often entertaining solutions to the challenges associated with maintaining a healthy sex life. This book will look at marriage, pre-marital sex, adultery and fornication, pregnancy and fertility, illegitimacy, prostitution, consent, same-sex relationships, gender roles and much more, to shed new light on the private lives of our medieval predecessors.

Philippa of Hainault: Mother of the English Nation. The first biography of a remarkable and influential English queen.

The great rise and great fall of the family offers plenty of drama and intrigue. The Despenser family were a very real threat to the monarchs of England. This is the first book on the Despenser family ever written. Companion title to _Hugh Despenser the Younger_.

Traditionally, the Wars of the Roses - one of the bloodiest conflicts on English soil - began in 1455, when the Duke of York attacked King Henry VI's army in the narrow streets of St Albans. But this conflict did not spring up overnight.Blood Roses traces it back to the beginning.Starting in 1245 with the founding of the House of Lancaster, Kathryn Warner follows a twisted path of political intrigue, bloody war and fascinating characters for 200 years. From the Barons Wars to the overthrowing of Edward II, Eleanor of Castile to Isabella of France, and true love to Loveday, this is a new look at an infamous era. The first book to look at the origins of both houses, Blood Roses reframes some of the biggest events of the medieval era; not as stand-alone conflicts, but as part of a long-running family feud that would have drastic consequences.

In Long Live the King, medieval historian Kathryn Warner explores in detail Edward's downfall and forced abdication in 1326/27, the role played in it by his wife Isabella of France, the wide variation in chronicle accounts of his murder at Berkeley Castle, and the fascinating possibility that Edward lived on in Italy.

A new biography re-examining the complex and fascinating king, whose very humanity saw him deposed from his divine role.

First biography of 'the greatest villain of the fourteenth century' - Hugh Despenser.

He is one of the most reviled English kings in history. He drove his kingdom to the brink of civil war a dozen times in less than twenty years. He allowed his male lovers to rule the kingdom. He led a great army to the most ignominious military defeat in English history. His wife took a lover and invaded his kingdom, and he ended his reign wandering around Wales with a handful of followers, pursued by an army. He was the first king of England forced to abdicate his throne. Popular legend has it that he died screaming impaled on a red-hot poker, but in fact the time and place of his death are shrouded in mystery. His life reads like an Elizabethan tragedy, full of passionate doomed love, bloody revenge, jealousy, hatred, vindictiveness and obsession. He was Edward II, and this book tells his story. Using almost exclusively fourteenth-century sources and Edward's own letters and speeches wherever possible, Kathryn Warner strips away the myths which have been created about him over the centuries, and provides a far more accurate and vivid picture of him than has previously been seen.

Isabella of France married Edward II in January 1308, and afterwards became one of the most notorious women in English history. In 1325, she was sent to her homeland to negotiate a peace settlement between her husband and her brother Charles IV, king of France. She refused to return. Instead, she began a relationship with her husband's deadliest enemy, the English baron Roger Mortimer. With the king's son and heir, the future Edward III, under their control, the pair led an invasion of England which ultimately resulted in Edward II's forced abdication in January 1327. Isabella and Mortimer ruled England during Edward III's minority until he overthrew them in October 1330. A rebel against her own husband and king, and regent for her son, Isabella was a powerful, capable and intelligent woman. She forced the first ever abdication of a king in England, and thus changed the course of English history. Examining Isabella's life with particular focus on her revolutionary actions in the 1320s, this book corrects the many myths surrounding her and provides a vivid account of this most fascinating and influential of women.