Kings in the North: The House of Percy in British History - Hardcover

Rose, Alexander

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297818600 ISBN 13: 9780297818601

Publisher: W&N, 2002

The House of Percy resounds throughout Shakespeare's history plays, the Wars of the Roses and the centuries-long Anglo-Scottish Wars. In the Middle Ages, the earls of Northumberland were famed, or notorious, as the Kings in the North, a region they ran almost as an hereditary domain. Alexander Rose traces the history of this ancient and sometimes haughty dynasty from the moment William de Percy stepped into England alongside William the Conqueror to the waning of the medieval era after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The book, however, is not purely a biography covering the Percys over 400 years. It considers the family within its broader context of British history - too often regarded as purely 'Southern English' history - and offers readers the grand sweep of Anglo-Scottish history from the perspective of individuals. The clash between king and nobles over Magna Carta, for example, is seen from the view of Sir Richard Percy, one of its signatories, whose delicate personal situation helps explain his lifelong antagonism towards King John. Likewise, the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses is traced to the bitter and murderous rivalry between the Percys and another rising Northern dynasty, the implacable Nevilles, which included Warwick the Kingmaker. The Percys' commanding role in the English wars against Scotland, as well as their part in the Hundred Years War, the Crusades and the politics of the time, feature prominently. Today, as the United Kingdom threatens to crack into its constituent parts, Kings in the North shows us how and why it came together in the first place.

Product Description:

Kings in the North: The House of Percy in British History

Review:

First reviews are in from the national press: 'Rose's book skilfully entwines the story of this family with the wider history of medieval England and Scotland ... a gripping panorama of medieval history.' Nick Rennison, THE SUNDAYTIMES 'Anyone who has recently read and thrilled to Richard Fletcher's 'Bloodfeud', a true historical tale of murder and revenge in 11th century Yorkshire, will eat up Alexander Rose's dynastic story of the Percy family ... It's stirring stuff, often swashbuckling in Rose's narrative effects, and none the worse for that in a popular history of a neglected and underrated area of British hisory. If nothing else, this book may send readers rushing back to re-read Sir Walter Scott's Border Ballads.' THE TIMES 'For the most comprehensiveaccount of the rise of the Percys, this is the book. KINGS IN THE NORTH almost doubles as a single-volume History of Medieval England.' John Adamson, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'Rose's focus on the North, that turbulent region betweent he Humber and the Scottish Border, is to be welcomed ... The book's originality lies in the valuable regional perspective and the auhor's skill in setting thebiography of a family against five centuries of British history.' THE HERALD

• Publisher: W&N
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0297818600
• ISBN 13: 9780297818601
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 592