With insight, humor and fascinating detail, Lacey brings brilliantly
to life the stories that made England -- from Ethelred the Unready to
Richard the Lionheart, the Venerable Bede to Piers the Ploughman.
The greatest historians are vivid storytellers, Robert Lacey reminds us,
and in Great Tales from English History, he proves his place among them,
illuminating in unforgettable detail the characters and events that
shaped a nation.
In this volume, Lacey limns the most important period in England's past,
highlighting the spread of the English language, the rejection of both a
religion and a traditional view of kingly authority, and an unstoppable
movement toward intellectual and political freedom from 1387 to 1689.
Opening with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and culminating in William and
Mary's "Glorious Revolution," Lacey revisits some of the truly classic
stories of English history: the Battle of Agincourt, where Henry V's
skilled archers defeated a French army three times as large; the tragic
tale of the two young princes locked in the Tower of London (and almost
certainly murdered) by their usurping uncle, Richard III; Henry VIII's
schismatic divorce, not just from his wife but from the authority of the
Catholic Church; "Bloody Mary" and the burning of religious dissidents;
Sir Francis Drake's dramatic, if questionable, part in the defeat of the
Spanish Armada; and the terrible and transformative Great Fire of
London, to name but a few.
Here Anglophiles will find their favorite English kings and queens,
villains and victims, authors and architects - from Richard II to Anne
Boleyn, the Virgin Queen to Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Pepys to Christopher
Wren, and many more.
Continuing the "eminently readable, highly enjoyable" (St. Louis
Post-Dispatch) history he began in volume I of Great Tales from English
History, Robert Lacey has drawn on the most up-to-date research to
present a taut and riveting narrative, breathing life into the most
pivotal characters and exciting landmarks in England's history.
