John (Penguin Monarchs) - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook John (Penguin Monarchs) write by Nicholas Vincent. This book was released on 2020-07-30. John (Penguin Monarchs) available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. King John ruled England for seventeen and a half years, yet his entire reign is usually reduced to one image: of the villainous monarch outmanoeuvred by rebellious barons into agreeing to Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215. Ever since, John has come to be seen as an archetypal tyrant. But how evil was he? In this perceptive short account, Nicholas Vincent unpicks John's life through his deeds and his personality. The youngest of four brothers, overlooked and given a distinctly unroyal name, John seemed doomed to failure. As king, he was reputedly cruel and treacherous, pursuing his own interests at the expense of his country, losing the continental empire bequeathed to him by his father Henry and his brother Richard and eventually plunging England into civil war. Only his lordship of Ireland showed some success. Yet, as this fascinating biography asks, were his crimes necessarily greater than those of his ancestors - or was he judged more harshly because, ultimately, he failed as a warlord?
Henry VIII (Penguin Monarchs)
Henry VIII (Penguin Monarchs) - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Henry VIII (Penguin Monarchs) write by John Guy. This book was released on 2014-12-04. Henry VIII (Penguin Monarchs) available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Charismatic, insatiable and cruel, Henry VIII was, as John Guy shows, a king who became mesmerized by his own legend - and in the process destroyed and remade England. Said to be a 'pillager of the commonwealth', this most instantly recognizable of kings remains a figure of extreme contradictions: magnificent and vengeful; a devout traditionalist who oversaw a cataclysmic rupture with the church in Rome; a talented, towering figure who nevertheless could not bear to meet people's eyes when he talked to them. In this revealing new account, John Guy looks behind the mask into Henry's mind to explore how he understood the world and his place in it - from his isolated upbringing and the blazing glory of his accession, to his desperate quest for fame and an heir and the terrifying paranoia of his last, agonising, 54-inch-waisted years.
John (Penguin Monarchs)
John (Penguin Monarchs) - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook John (Penguin Monarchs) write by Nick Vincent. This book was released on 2020-09-29. John (Penguin Monarchs) available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. King John ruled England for seventeen and a half years, yet his entire reign is usually reduced to one image: of the villainous monarch outmanoeuvred by rebellious barons into agreeing to Magna Carta at Runnymede in 1215. Ever since, John has come to be seen as an archetypal tyrant. But how evil was he? In this perceptive short account, Nicholas Vincent unpicks John's life through his deeds and his personality. The youngest of four brothers, overlooked and given a distinctly unroyal name, John seemed doomed to failure. As king, he was reputedly cruel and treacherous, pursuing his own interests at the expense of his country, losing the continental empire bequeathed to him by his father Henry and his brother Richard and eventually plunging England into civil war. Only his lordship of Ireland showed some success. Yet, as this fascinating biography asks, were his crimes necessarily greater than those of his ancestors - or was he judged more harshly because, ultimately, he failed as a warlord?
William II (Penguin Monarchs)
William II (Penguin Monarchs) - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook William II (Penguin Monarchs) write by John Gillingham. This book was released on 2015-08-27. William II (Penguin Monarchs) available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. William II (1087-1100), or William Rufus, will always be most famous for his death: killed by an arrow while out hunting, perhaps through accident or perhaps murder. But, as John Gillingham makes clear in this elegant book, as the son and successor to William the Conqueror it was William Rufus who had to establish permanent Norman rule. A ruthless, irascible man, he frequently argued acrimoniously with his older brother Robert over their father's inheritance - but he also handed out effective justice, leaving as his legacy one of the most extraordinary of all medieval buildings, Westminster Hall.
Edward VIII (Penguin Monarchs)
Edward VIII (Penguin Monarchs) - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Edward VIII (Penguin Monarchs) write by Piers Brendon. This book was released on 2016-04-28. Edward VIII (Penguin Monarchs) available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. 'After my death,' George V said of his eldest son and heir, 'the boy will ruin himself within twelve months.' The forecast proved uncannily accurate. Edward VIII came to the throne in January 1936, provoked a constitutional crisis by his determination to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson, and abdicated in December. He was never crowned king. In choosing the woman he loved over his royal birthright, Edward shook the monarchy to its foundations. Given the new title 'Duke of Windsor' and essentially sent into exile, he remained a visible skeleton in the royal cupboard until his death in 1972 and he haunts the house of Windsor to this day. Drawing on unpublished material, notably correspondence with his most loyal (though much tried) supporter Winston Churchill, Piers Brendon's superb biography traces Edward's tumultuous public and private life from bright young prince to troubled sovereign, from wartime colonial governor to sad but glittering expatriate. With pace and panache, it cuts through the myths that still surround this most controversial of modern British monarchs.
