Medieval English

Brienna is a mistress of knowledge and is beginning to settle into her role as the daughter of the once-disgraced Lord Davin MacQuinn. Though she’d just survived a revolution that will return a queen to the throne, she faces yet another challenge: acceptance by the MacQuinns. But as Queen Isolde Kavanagh’s closest confidant, she’ll have to balance serving her father’s house as well as her country.

On Gotland Sidroc wakes from a disturbing dream; one of his sons, Hrald or Yrling–perhaps both–are in trouble. Both are in far-off Angle-land, and beyond his reach. Eskil the Svear sails to the island, offering Sidroc a rare opportunity to gain untold riches, with equal risk to life for those joining the venture. Edwin, Lord of Kilton, returns empty-handed from his search for a bride, while his brother Ceric knows true delight with his young wife Dwynwen, the Princess of Ceredigion.

Harald Sigurdsson burst into history as a teenaged youth in a Viking battle from which he escaped with little more than his life and a thirst for vengeance. But from these humble origins, he became one of Norway’s most legendary kings. The Last Viking is a fast-moving narrative account of the life of King Harald Hardrada, as he journeyed across the medieval world, from the frozen wastelands of the North to the glittering towers of Byzantium and the passions of the Holy Land, until his warrior death on the battlefield in England.

Blaine McNeil is the master-at-arms at Lochlann, set deep in the wild and mysterious Scottish Highlands, and he must defend his clan at all costs. When the woman he loves is taken captive by the evil McDonnell clan, he rides to rescue her. Chrissie Connolly, now a young woman, visits the home of her beloved cousins Amabel and Alina often, especially now that there are Amabel's bonny babes to visit. Chrissie is facing what seems to be her toughest decision - which suitor should she accept has her future husband? Heath Fraser, or the unsuitable but persistent Blaine MacNeil?

When Columbus triumphantly returned from America to Spain in 1493, his discoveries inflamed an already smoldering conflict between Spain's renowned monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, and Portugal's João II. Which nation was to control the world's oceans? To quell the argument, Pope Alexander VI issued a proclamation laying the foundation for the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494, an edict that created an imaginary line in the Atlantic Ocean dividing the entire known (and unknown) world between Spain and Portugal.

"Abandon all hope you who enter here." Dante's Hell is one of the most remarkable visions in Western literature. An allegory for his and future ages, it is, at the same time, an account of terrifying realism.

In 871, three of England’s four kingdoms were overrun by Vikings, the ruthless, all-conquering Scandinavian raiders who terrorized early medieval Europe. With the Norsemen murdering one king with arrows and torturing another to death by ripping out his lungs, the prospects that faced the kingdom of Wessex were bleak. Worse still, the Saxons were now led by a young man barely out of his teens who was more interested in God than fighting.

Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406) is generally regarded as the greatest intellectual ever to have appeared in the Arab world - a genius who ranks as one of the world's great minds. Yet the author of the Muqaddima, the most important study of history ever produced in the Islamic world, is not as well known as he should be, and his ideas are widely misunderstood. In this groundbreaking intellectual biography, Robert Irwin provides an engaging and authoritative account of Ibn Khaldun's extraordinary life, times, writings, and ideas.

The first of Homer's great epic poems, the Iliad portrays the final days of the Trojan war. The Iliad has stood the test of time and is still one of (it not the) best depictions of ancient warfare. It is an essential precursor to the infamous journey of Odysseus. Translated by Stanley Lombardo.

De Brevitate Vitae (frequently referred to as On the Shortness of Life in English) is a moral essay written by Seneca the Younger, a Roman Stoic philosopher, to his father-in-law Paulinus. The philosopher brings up many Stoic principles on the nature of time, namely that men waste much of it in meaningless pursuits. According to the essay, nature gives man enough time to do what is really important and the individual must allot it properly.

King Stephen is captured and the Civil War seems over until disaster strikes while the Earl of Cleveland is in Normandy. The Empress' forces are routed and the Earl of Gloucester is captured. Forced to return to rescue the Empress the Earl of Cleveland has to fight King Stephen's army and the English winter to rescue his Empress. With the future King Henry II as his squire the Earl has to wage a war against an increasing number of enemies and a diminishing number of allies.

A hero’s journey begins in an exhilarating new series by Griff Hosker. In 1335 the Black Death was just 13 years away from England, but there were other threats and dangers. Young John Hawkwood is forced to leave his home and seek a life in London. There he learns how to survive and, more importantly, how to fight. Leaving his life as an apprentice tailor he follows the army and King Edward to fight the Scots. He has a skill: he can not only use a bow, but he can use a sword and his mind.

From the Norman Conquest to the Battle of Bosworth Field - how Britain was invaded and became a nation. The first volume in the stunning four-volume Brief History of Britain series. From the Battle of Hastings to the Battle of Bosworth Field, Nicholas Vincent tells the story of how Britain was born. When William, Duke of Normandy, killed King Harold and seized the throne of England, England’s language, culture, politics, and law were transformed.

Legendary warrior Lachlan MacLeod has never encountered anything or anyone he could not conquer. But when his younger brother confesses his love for Bridgette MacLean - the only woman Lachlan has ever wanted - Lachlan turns away from the beautiful Scottish lass, vowing to be no more than her friend. Yet his need for Bridgette enslaves him and may well prove to be the one thing he cannot defeat.

During the first millennium AD the most northerly part of Britain evolved into the country known today as Scotland. The transition was a long process of social and political change driven by the ambitions of powerful warlords. At first these men were tribal chiefs, Roman generals, or rulers of small kingdoms.

Brus Stone can't recall his life before being rescued at the age of five and brought to live with the Northern Watch. Told his mother abandoned him, he's about as willing to give his trust to a woman as he is to hand his sword to his enemy during battle. When he's tasked with accompanying some highlanders through the treacherous lands he helps patrol, he encounters a bonny lass who proves to be as brave as any warrior he's ever met. He's surprised and wary by his pull to her and steels himself against lowering his guard.

Captain Robbie Grant has always had a way with the lasses, but his warrior's heart is too married to the battlefield to seek out a wife. Then Robbie saves a mysterious beauty from a Norse attacker. He knows little about Caralyn Crauford beyond that she has a damaged past and two wee daughters, but he volunteers to bring her and the lasses to a priory where they will be safe from the oncoming battle. The last thing he expects is for Caralyn to give him a night of unrestrained passion and then disappear.

Conan McTiernay will leave the joys of wedlock to his happily married brothers. He's too busy mapping out Scotland to protect her borders from English invasion...until he's dispatched to escort a cloistered Highland lass safely back to his family's castle. Mhàiri Mayboill has embarked on her journey facing an impossible choice: Marry or take the vows of a nun. But she cherishes her freedom too much to be tied to any man. Yet this arrogant Highlander with his spirited ways and piercing eyes awakens more than desire.

For a man who has no intention of wedding anytime soon, if ever, Thor MacLeod finds himself submitting to an unwanted marriage in one moment and obliged to hunt down his new wife in the next—all in the name of protecting his family. The task seems simple enough: Find the lass accused of treason who stabbed him and then fled after their vows, return her to his commander, and then have their union dissolved. But nothing is ever simple when it comes to beguiling lasses like the fiery-haired woman he wed.

Alexander the Fatherless: nephew of the villainous King March of Cornwall, who murdered his father. Burning with vengeance, Alexander sets out on a journey to Camelot to seek justice from King Arthur. His path will lead him to the Dark Tower, where the sorceress Morgan le Fay lies in wait. Morgan seduces Alexander and sends him on a quest to Jerusalem to recover the Holy Grail - which she believes will help her take the throne.