John Cannon

Ralph Alan Griffiths

The rich pageant of Britain's history emerges nowhere more colorfully than in the story of its kings and queens. This spectacular book offers the most authoritative account of the British monarchy ever published for the general reader. With over 400 illustrations--a third of them in color--it traces the crown's full history from Anglo-Saxon times to the present. The authors present a vivid picture of the lives of individual monarchs as well as of the monarchy as a political and social force. They begin the story in the fifth century with the rise of recognizable kingdoms in Scotland, Wales, and England and conclude with a discussion of the crown's constitutional role, which emerged in Queen Victoria's reign, and how this has affected the symbolic and popular monarchy of today. Along the way, we gain a clear view of how key traditions evolved: the right of succession, coronations and marriages, oaths of loyalty and military service, the granting of lands and titles, and the propagation of a powerful image of royalty. The book not only explains the monarch's political struggles and styles of governing; it is filled with fascinating details that give the story life. We learn, for instance, that Elizabeth I's famous journeys to various corners of her realm were not simply to show her off to her subjects: "The standard of Tudor sanitation," the authors note, "meant that the royal palaces became unbearable after several weeks of occupation and the court's absence for several months in the summer gave an opportunity to clean up." We discover that Victoria's coronation was "a splendid mixture of majesty and muddle": when it came time for the Archbishop to bestow the ceremonial ring, the already befuddled cleric placed it on the Queen's wrong finger, "causing considerable delay [and] some pain." And we read George VI's touching wedding message to his daughter (the present queen): "Your leaving us has left a great blank in our lives but do remember that your old home is still yours." Supporting the text and carefully selected pictures are sidebars on each of the monarchs and on key general themes; color maps; an illustrated section on royal residences and tombs; a consolidated list of monarchs; genealogies; annotated lists of further reading; and a full index with personal dates.

The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy

Elidir Ddu (fl. 1302-1326) was the son of Elidir ap Rhys of Crug, Wales. He was the father of Philip and grandfather of Nicholas ap Philip ap Syr Elidir Ddu. Nicholas married Sioned, daughter of Gruffydd ap Llwelyn Foethus of Llangathen and became the father of Gruffydd ap Nicholas who became a powerful Welsh nobleman. He was married three times and became the father of eleven children, several of whom also rose to prominence. One of his grandchildren was Sir Rhys ap Thomas (d. 1525) who was important during the Wars of the Roses and then alligned himself with Henry VII, a fellow Welshman.

A Study in the Wars of the Roses and Early Tudor Politics

Sir Rhys Ap Thomas and His Family

Ralph Griffiths

Professor of History John Cannon

Offers profiles of Britain's royalty of the past and present, and traces changes in the role of the British monarchy

Chris Williams

Miranda Jane Aldhouse-Green

Raymond Howell

Sian Rhiannon Williams

This volume deals with the explosion of industrial development from 1780 to the eve of the First World War. Its comprehensive treatment encompasses social and economic developments, cultural and language changes, political and religious movements, all in a period that saw the transformation of a rural county into a hub of the south Wales coalfield.

Ralph Alan Griffiths

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