Showing titles in Medieval

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Race of Scorpions by Dorothy Dunnett, read by John Banks. This is the third book in the "House of Niccolo" series. Set in 15th-century Cyprus, this novel continues the saga of Nicholas van der Poel, international mercenary who started out as a dyer's...

April, 1145. Thorgar the Ploughman is found by the bloodied body of Father Edmund, a village priest in Ripple, and is summarily hanged for being caught in the act, despite his pleas of innocence. When his sister goes to Worcester to seek justice for Thorgar, the lord Sheriff sends Hugh Bradecote, with Serjeant Catchpoll and Underserjeant Walkelin, to discover the truth. They soon expose strong motives for placing the blame on the ploughman’s shoulders, some unpleasant secrets festering among the villagers, as well as the whisper of a treasure long lost and now rediscovered.

Sir William Strongstaff is dead, and the defender of England and its kings is no longer there to battle the French. His chosen knight, Sir Michael of Weedon, is removed as the new king’s bodyguard, and he is sent to France, where the king’s uncles are trying to finish the job begun by King Henry V. From the outset, Sir Michael and his men are beset by treachery and intrigue. The line between ally and enemy appears to be almost invisible. The struggle is not only for England’s crown, but also the French one!

Sir John Hawkwood may be getting old but he is still as wily as a fox. Feared and revered in equal measure, one of the greatest military leaders the world has ever known is drawn once again into a territorial dispute, beginning at the Florentine borderlands. Leading a coalition of city-states, he strikes deep into the nest of Milanese vipers and their allies. Using the skills honed over a long and illustrious career, the English mercenary takes the war to the very gates of Milan, cementing his legacy as ‘Giovanni Acuto’—supreme condottiero.

Bordeaux, 1367. Having angered the bloodthirsty Don Pedro, King of Castile, Sir Thomas Blackstone is thoroughly sick of his mission for the Prince of Wales, but must remain true to his oath. But this is the Hundred Years' War, and tensions are rising once more. With the Prince of Wales deeply unpopular in his Aquitainian lands, Blackstone, King Edward's Master of War, must return to French soil to help stem the tide of support for the King of France. Meanwhile, Henry, Blackstone's son, faces an incognito ride across France with his own motley band of outlaws and mercenaries.

England, 1444. Three women who came from nowhere to challenge the course of history. King Henry VI’s grip on the crown hangs by a thread as the Wars of the Roses begin to tear England apart. Everyone must choose between York or Lancaster. And from the ashes of war, the House of Paston begins its rise to power. Led by three visionary women, the Pastons are a family from humble peasant beginnings who rely upon cunning, raw ambition and good fortune in order to survive.

The year is 1140 and England is torn by the strife of civil war. Oliver Pascal chances upon a village raided by mercenaries and rescues the survivors: an orphaned boy, who is the illegitimate son of the old king, and his mother's maid, a young widow named Catrin. After escorting them to Bristol Castle, they are accepted into the household of Robert of Gloucester, and while Catrin finds herself falling in love with Oliver, she suffers a deep boredom at the frivolity of court life. Thus when the old midwife Etheldreda offers to teach her the secrets of her ancient art, Catrin agrees.

The King’s Witches by Kate Foster is a compelling and beautiful historical novel that gives voices to the women at the heart of the real-life witch trials in sixteenth-century Scotland. Women whisper secrets to each other; it is how we survive. 1589. Princess Anna of Denmark is betrothed to...

873 AD. The Viking Age grips Northern Europe. Seven years have passed since the ferocious sea battle with Ivar the Boneless, and Hundr is now a Viking war leader of reputation and wealth. A voice from the past calls to Hundr for aid, and he must take his loyal crew and their feared warships across the Whale Road to Viking Dublin, in a vicious and brutal fight against Eystein Longaxe. Hundr must fight against an implacable and powerful enemy amidst brutal attacks, shield wall battles, and treachery. Will his skill and savagery be enough, and can Hundr and his crew survive?

The relics of Christendom have been plundered during the long Moorish conquest of the Iberian peninsula. Newly minted Templar Sergeant Arnau de Vallbona must recover one of the most elusive to save his priory at Rourell in Spain. Travelling to Majorca on a stealth mission to retrieve the bones of St Stephen, Arnau soon discovers the raid is more complex than it first appears: the mighty Almohad dynasty has laid claim to the island, and will fight them every step of the way.

England’s Forgotten Queens ‘The gripping tale of Elizabeth of Lancaster, sibling of Henry IV. Packed with love, loss and intrigue’ – Sunday Express S Magazine One betrayal is all it takes to change history 1382. Daughter of John of Gaunt, sister to the future King Henry IV, Elizabeth of...

There are plots to invade England and Normandy. There are assassination attempts and the only man who can stop all of these is the Earl of Cleveland. Moving from Scotland to Normandy and back again this is a fast moving novel set in the months before the civil war in England and Normandy begins.

1265. England has a new master. Simon de Montfort's victory at the Battle of Lewes has made him king in all but name. He has vowed to restore the rights and liberties of the kingdom, but now even his friends grow wary of his power. As old alliances break down, new rebellions gather strength. The captive king's supporters muster, vowing to overthrow the new regime. Meanwhile Adam de Norton, who won the honour of knighthood on the field at Lewes, has reclaimed his ancestral lands. A peaceful and prosperous future lies before him - until he receives a summons he cannot refuse.

As lady-in-waiting and confidante to Queen Elizabeth, wife of Henry VII, Joan understands royal patronage is vital if she and her husband, Sir Richard, are to thrive in the volatile atmosphere of court life. But Tudor England is in mourning following the death of the prince of Wales, and within a year, the queen herself. With Prince Henry now heir to the throne, the court murmurs with the sound of conspiracy. Is the entire Tudor project now at stake or can young Henry secure the dynasty?

A grand tournament is about to begin, and the excitement grows as King Edward III joins the festivities at Mablethorpe Castle. Meanwhile, Lady Vivienne Harlowe's past comes back to haunt her, and she will do anything to find answers to the questions that have plagued her for the past seven years regarding her parents' unsolved murders. Meeting the king is nerve-wracking, but he is the only one who might be able to shed light on her nightmarish quandary.

A violent quarrel with the future King John destroys the young Fulke FitzWarin’s greatest ambition: to become Lord of the White Castle. Instead of accepting his fate, Fulke rebels. But the danger pursuing Fulke reaches new heights as he begins a passionate love affair with Maude Walter—the wealthy widow chosen by John himself.

The Emperor Henry of the Holy Roman Empire is dying, and his wife, the Empress Matilda, is in danger from those who would use her to gain the title and the power. King Henry of England sends Alfraed of Norton to rescue her and avoid a war. With enemies from France, Flanders and the empire, as well as Norman traitors, the handful of Northern Knights have to fight across Europe and back. A fast-moving novel that moves from Germany to the Scottish borders in the turbulent times of the early 12th century, when friends could become foes overnight.

Bound together by a single ancient text, the unforgettable characters of Cloud Cuckoo Land are dreamers and outsiders figuring out the world around them: 13-year-old Anna and Omeir, an orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy, on opposite sides of the formidable city walls during the 1453 siege of Constantinople; teenage idealist Seymour and octogenarian Zeno in an attack on a public library in present-day Idaho; and Konstance, decades from now, who turns to the oldest stories to guide her community in peril.

Brought to you by Penguin. The nuns who enter a medieval Norfolk convent are told to renounce the world, but the world still finds ways to trouble them, whether it is through fire, floods, pestilence, a collapsing spire, jealous rivalries, a priest with a secret or a plague of caterpillars. As...

Students of biblical Greek will learn all New Testament Greek vocabulary words that occur ten times or more in the New Testament by interacting with this audio product. Jonathan Pennington speaks all New Testament Greek words in descending order of frequency. Different tracks enable students to...