{"title":"1066 and All That","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"unruly-a-history-of-englands-kings-and-queens-david-mitchell","title":"Unruly: A History of England's Kings and Queens","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e David Mitchell\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThink you know your kings and queens? Think again. In Unruly, David Mitchell explores how England's monarchs, while acting as feared rulers firmly guiding their subjects' destinies, were in reality a bunch of lucky sods who were mostly as silly and weird in real life as they appear today in their portraits. From King Arthur (spoiler: he didn't exist) to Elizabeth I (spoiler: she dies), David tells the founding story of post-Roman England: a tale of narcissists, inadequate self-control, excessive beheadings, uncivil wars and at least one total Cnut.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA funny book about a serious subject, Unruly is for anyone who has ever wondered how we got here - and who is to blame. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Book House Thame","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":40801605222461,"sku":"","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0280\/7873\/5421\/files\/unruly.jpg?v=1697466934"},{"product_id":"the-mercian-chronicles","title":"The Mercian Chronicles","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMax Adams\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA brilliant recreation of the golden age of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia – its landscapes, peoples, conflicts, power structures and political geography. The eighth century has long been a neglected backwater in English history: a shadowland between the death of Bede and the triumphs of Ælfred. But before the hegemony of Wessex, the kingdom of Mercia - spread across a broad swathe of central England – was the dynamic heart of a kingship that discovered the means to exercise central political authority for the first time since the Roman empire.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat authority was used to construct trading networks and markets; develop economic and cultural links with the Continent, and lay the foundations for a system of co-ordinated defence that Ælfred would reinvent at the end of the ninth century. Two kings, Æthelbald (716–757) and Offa (757–796) dominate the political landscape of the rising power of Mercia. 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Willie, Willie, Harry, Stee, Harry, Dick, John, Harry three. One, two, three Neds, Richard Two, Henries, four, five, six, then who? Charlie Higson has always been fascinated by the story of the monarchy: from the b*stardly to the benevolent, the brilliant to the brutal.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn this wonderful new book, using the famous rhyme he learned at school as his trusty guide, Charlie takes us through the history of this bizarre and long-lasting institution, introducing readers to every single ruler since poor Harold got it in the eye at the Battle of Hastings (or did he?). Who were all these people, and what did they do? It’s all here. Bloody treachery? Check.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUnruly incest? Check. A couple of Cromwells? Check. The War of Jenkins Ear? 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