On the morning of August 22, 1485, in fields near Bosworth, two armies faced each other. Richard III's army was pitted against the inferior forces of the upstart pretender to the crown, Henry Tudor, a 28-year-old Welshman who had just arrived back on British soil after fourteen years in exile. Yet this was to be a fight to the death -- only one man could survive; only one could claim the throne. This legendary battle marked the only successful invasion...

From one of the great modern writers, the acclaimed lectures, in which he draws on a lifetime of experience to take the measure of Shakespeare's plays and sonnets "W. H. Auden, poet and critic, will conduct a course on Shakespeare at the New School for Social Research beginning Wednesday. Mr. Auden... proposes to read all Shakespeare's plays in chronological order." So, the New York Times reported on September 27, 1946, giving notice of a rare opportunity...

G.A. Henty novels are highly researched as well as drawn from his first-hand experiences of people, places, and events. From 1413-1415 the butcher's guild, otherwise known as the "White Hoods" of Paris, kept that city in a state of near anarchy. With a mad king, a virtual civil war between the houses of Orleans and Burgundy, and King Henry V of England claiming the French throne, there is plenty of opportunity for Guy Aylmer, a squire to Sir Eustace...

This historical thriller set in 1914 brings the acclaimed British author's splendidly entertaining Honour series to an explosive conclusion. As Europe hurdles toward World War I, the French American anarchist Grover Langhorn is arrested in London. But before he can be extradited to face trial, he reveals a secret more threatening to the crown than any bomb: Langhorn is King Henry V's illegitimate son-and heir to the throne. Now Cpt. Matthew Ranklin...

King Henry V has defeated the French but he has yet to grasp the crown of France. He returns to finish the job which was begun at Agincourt. At his side is his mentor, Sir William Strongstaff, Knight of the Garter. The oldest man in the army he has yet to become a mere observer and he is sent on a diplomatic mission to Burgundy and an alliance with Duke John the Fearless. When the Scots ally with the French and kill the King's brother in battle it...

From 1337 to 1453 England repeatedly invaded France on the pretext that her kings had a right to the French throne. Though it was a small, poor country, England for most of those "hundred years" won the battles, sacked the towns and castles, and dominated the war. The protagonists of the Hundred Years War are among the most colorful in European history: Edward III, the Black Prince; Henry V, who was later immortalized by Shakespeare; the splendid...

When King Richard II banishes two feuding noblemen from England, he sets into motion a series of events that will eventually cost him his crown and his life. Mishandling several issues that enrage the nobility, King Richard II brings the wrath of Henry Bolingbroke, the future King Henry IV, down upon his throne. Richard II is the first of four connected plays about successive British monarchs, and is followed by Henry IV, Part I, Henry IV, Part II,...

Our capital city has always been a thriving and colorful place, full of diverse and determined individuals developing trade and finance, exchanging gossip and doing business. Abandoned by the Romans, rebuilt by the Saxons, occupied by the Vikings and reconstructed by the Normans, London would become the largest trade and financial center, dominating the world in later centuries. London has always been a brilliant, vibrant, and eclectic place—Henry...

On 25th October 1415, on a French hillside near the village of Agincourt, four men sheltered from the rain and prepared for battle. All four were English knights-ancestors of Sir Ranulph Fiennes-and part of the army of England's King Henry V. Across the valley, four sons of the French arm of the Fiennes family were confident that the Dauphin's army would win the day.. Sir Ranulph Fiennes explains how his own ancestors were key players through the...