Here Be Dragons

Here Be Dragons PDF Author: Sharon Kay Penman
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1429922990
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 718

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Book Description
Thirteenth-century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England's ruthless, power-hungry King John. Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce by marrying the English king's beloved illegitimate daughter, Joanna, who slowly grows to love her charismatic and courageous husband. But as John's attentions turn again and again to subduing Wales---and Llewelyn---Joanna must decide where her love and loyalties truly lie. The turbulent clashes of two disparate worlds and the destinies of the individuals caught between them spring to life in this magnificent novel of power and passion, loyalty and lies. The book that began the trilogy that includes Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning, Here Be Dragons brings thirteenth-century England, France, and Wales to tangled, tempestuous life.

Here Be Dragons

Here Be Dragons PDF Author: Sharon Kay Penman
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1429922990
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 718

Get Book Here

Book Description
Thirteenth-century Wales is a divided country, ever at the mercy of England's ruthless, power-hungry King John. Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales, secures an uneasy truce by marrying the English king's beloved illegitimate daughter, Joanna, who slowly grows to love her charismatic and courageous husband. But as John's attentions turn again and again to subduing Wales---and Llewelyn---Joanna must decide where her love and loyalties truly lie. The turbulent clashes of two disparate worlds and the destinies of the individuals caught between them spring to life in this magnificent novel of power and passion, loyalty and lies. The book that began the trilogy that includes Falls the Shadow and The Reckoning, Here Be Dragons brings thirteenth-century England, France, and Wales to tangled, tempestuous life.

Falls the Shadow

Falls the Shadow PDF Author: Sharon Kay Penman
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1429922958
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 596

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Book Description
Simon de Montfort was a man ahead of his time in the thirteenth century, a disinherited Frenchman who talked his way into an English earldom and marriage with a sister of the English king, Henry III. A charismatic, obstinate leader, Simon soon lost patience with the king's incompetence and inability to keep his word, and found himself the champion of the common people. This is his story, and the story of Henry III, as weak and changeable as Simon was brash and unbending. It is a tale of opposing wills that would eventually clash in a storm of violence and betrayal—an irresistible saga that brings the pages of history completely, provocatively, and magnificently alive.

The Welsh Kings

The Welsh Kings PDF Author: K. L. Maund
Publisher: Tempus Publishing, Limited
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 184

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Book Description
The author produces revealing pictures of the leading Welsh kings & princes of the day & explores their contribution to Welsh history & their impaction the wider world:

The First Prince of Wales?

The First Prince of Wales? PDF Author: Sean Davies
Publisher: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 1783169370
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
This is the first book on one of Wales’s greatest leaders, arguably ‘first prince of Wales’, Bleddyn ap Cynfyn. Bleddyn was at the heart of the tumultuous events that forged Britain in the cauldron of Norman aggression, and his reign offers an important new perspective on the events of 1066 and beyond. He was a leader who used alliances on the wider British scale as he strove to recreate the fledgling kingdom of Wales that had been built and ruled by his brother, though outside pressures and internal intrigues meant his successors would compete ultimately for a principality.

The Welsh Kings

The Welsh Kings PDF Author: Kari Maund
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752473921
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
When Edward I's troops forced the destruction of Dafydd ap Gruffudd in 1283 they brought to an end the line of truly independent native rulers in Wales that had endured throughout recorded history. In the early middle ages Wales was composed of a variety of independent kingdoms with varying degrees of power, influence and stability, each ruled by proud and obdurate lineages. In this period a 'Kingdom of Wales' never existed, but the more powerful leaders, like Rhodri Mawr (the Great), Gruffudd ap Llywelyn and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, sought to extend their rule over the entire country. The author produces revealing pictures of the leading Welsh kings and princes of the day and explores both their contribution to Welsh history and their impact on the wider world. They were, of necessity, warriors, living in a violent political world and requiring ruthless skills to even begin to rule in Wales. Yet they showed wider vision, political acumen and statesmanship, and were patrons of the arts and the church. The history of their contact with their neighbours, allies and rivals is examined - Anglo-Saxons, Irish, Vikings, and Anglo-Normans - thereby setting Welsh institutions within their wider historical context. This work revives the memory of the native leaders of the country from a time before the title 'Prince of Wales' became an honorary trinket in the gift of a foreign ruler. These men are restored to their rightful place amongst the past rulers of the island of Britain.

The Reckoning

The Reckoning PDF Author: Sharon Kay Penman
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
ISBN: 1429921544
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 612

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Book Description
"Penman's characters are so shrewdly imagined, so full of resonant human feeling that they seem to breathe on the page." —San Francisco Chronicle "Never forget, Llewelyn, that the world's greatest fool is a Welshman who trusts an English king." His father's words haunt Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales, who has been ruling uneasily over his fractious countrymen. Above all else, Llewelyn fears that his life and his own dream—of an independent, united Wales—might be lost to Edward I's desire to expand his English empire. Alive from the pages of history, this is the hauntingly beautiful and compelling tale of a game poised to play itself out to its bloody finale as English and Welsh cross swords in a reckoning that must mean disaster for one side or the other. For anyone who has ever wanted to experience the rich tapestry of British history and lore, this bold and romantic adventure must be read.

Owain Glyndwr

Owain Glyndwr PDF Author: Terry Breverton
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445608766
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
The first ever full-scale biography of the last native Prince of Wales who fought to maintain an independent Wales.

The Last King of Wales

The Last King of Wales PDF Author: Michael Davies
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752479237
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
Gruffudd ap Llywelyn was Wales' greatest king. Ambitious and battle-sure, he succeeded in doing what no Welsh king before him was capable of: he ruled all Wales as a united and independent state. He went further by turning the Viking threat to his realm into a powerful weapon and conquering border land that had been in English hands for centuries. Having emerged as a war leader, Gruffudd also proved to be much more: a patron of the arts and church, with the trappings of a king who was respected and feared on the European stage. His eventual murder at the hands of his own men narrowed the country's political ambitions and left Wales in chaos on the eve of the arrival of the Normans. Those who betrayed Gruffudd were the forebears of the famous princes who would dominate Wales until the Edwardian Conquest, meaning that the former king left no one to tell of his glory. As a result, 1,000 years after his birth, the would-be nation builder is all but forgotten. Here, Sean and Michael Davies reveal the king in all his glory, telling for the first time the story of one of Wales' greatest figures and exploring the full implications of Gruffudd's rule. For, without Gruffudd, the fate of King Harold and the outcome of the Battle of Hastings would have been very different...

The Welsh Princes

The Welsh Princes PDF Author: Roger K Turvey
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317883969
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
The Welsh princes were one of the most important ruling elites in medieval western Europe. This volume examines their behaviour, influence and power in a period when the Welsh were struggling to maintain their independence and identity in the face of Anglo-Norman settlement. From the mid-eleventh century to the end of the thirteenth, Wales was profoundly transformed by conquest and foreign 'colonial' settlement. Massive changes took place in the political, economic, social and religious spheres and Welsh culture was significantly affected. Roger Turvey looks at this transformation, its impact on the Welsh princes and the part they themselves played in it. Turvey's survey of the various aspects of princely life, power and influence draws out the human qualities of these flesh and blood characters, and is written very much with the general reader in mind.

The Acts of Welsh Rulers, 1120-1283

The Acts of Welsh Rulers, 1120-1283 PDF Author: Huw Pryce
Publisher: University of Wales Press
ISBN: 0708323871
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 959

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Book Description
Now republished with minor corrections, this volume provides the first comprehensive collection of charters, letters and other documents issued by native rulers of Wales from the early twelfth century to the Edwardian conquest of 1282 - 3 that extinguished independent rule.