The Monarchy of Britain

by Josephine Ross

Book Overview

biographical dictionary of the British monarchs from the Norman Conquest to Elizabeth II. It includes family trees, tables of dates and events and a gazetteer describing places of royal interest... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0688009492
• ISBN13: 9780688009496
• Release Date: January 1982
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 2.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Time capsule into the lives of English and Scottish Kings and Queens

This beautifully written and beautifully illustrated coffee table book is both an entertaining read and serves as a biographical dictionary and is packed with timelines, family trees and a historical tour guide of Britain. It sheds a light on the characters and lives of the Kings and Queens of England and Scotland for beginners. Those with a more detailed knowledge of the British monarchs will ant to look elsewhere. Read about the strong and capable William I (The Conqueror), who, after defeating conquering England and defeating Saxon King Harold, built many cathedrals and castles including the Tower of London and commissioned the Doomsday book, England's first census; King Richard I (The Lionheart) who knew no English and spent all his time on foreign campaigns and crusades; the irresponsible and selfish King John; it teaches us of both the wise and magnanimous Henry VII, and those capable of deliberate cruelty such as Henry I (who allowed his own little grandaughters to be blinded and mutilated), Edward I (who ruthlessly hammered Cornwall and Wales into the English crown and cruelly ravaged Scotland), Richard III and Henry VII (who had two of his young wives beheaded along with hundreds of others who crossed his path). The book mentions the speculation and probability that Richard III did order the murder of his two little nephews imprisoned in the Tower of London. You can learn of the religious conflicts and different religious loyalties of different monarchs such as the fanatically Catholic Queen Mary I. It is interesting to note that at least five English kings were reputed to have been homosexuals, William II (Rufus), Richard I (The Lionheart), Edward II, James I and William III. Readers of this compendium can read of those who rallied the nation together in times of war such as Elizabeth I and George VI, the unpopular Hanoverian German kings George I, II and III, and the popular and flamboyant Charles II, known as the Merry Monarch. Some of the facts are well known and others are more obscure.