{"title":"Books by W. B. Bartlett","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781398110410","title":"Alfred's Dynasty","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 878, Alfred, king of Wessex was on the verge of oblivion. Trapped on a small island in the Somerset Levels, it seemed as if he and his kingdom were about to be destroyed. Yet within months he had defeated the Viking invaders and started to reverse the tide of conquest.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile Alfred was driven by the prospect of a land called England that did not yet exist, he was not the one who finally created it. Two of his children, Edward – king of Wessex after him – and his remarkable daughter Æthelflæd, the Lady of the Mercians, expanded his kingdom into Mercia in the Midlands. His grandson Æthelstan confirmed the conquest of the north at one of the great battles of the so-called Dark Ages at Brunanburh. The triumph of Alfred’s dynasty was cemented by the short but magnificent reign of Edgar ‘the Peaceable’, a man who could claim to be not just king of England but emperor of the whole of Britain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe ultimate collapse of Anglo-Saxon England, first of all in the face of Cnut of Denmark’s campaigns in 1015\/16 and later in the Norman Conquest of 1066, has unjustly obscured their achievements. This book tells the story of the Anglo-Saxons and reasserts their right to be regarded as one of the greatest royal dynasties that Britain has ever seen.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57685830631797,"sku":"9781398125476","price":11.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":43204251451570,"sku":"9781398110410","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398125476.jpg?v=1792599035"},{"product_id":"9781398109087","title":"Vikings","description":"The year 1066: a battlefield in England, a mighty king lies prone on the ground, his lifeblood ebbing out of him. As he draws his last breath, the world of which he is the greatest figurehead also moves towards its end, its existence about to pass from history into legend and later into myth. This is not Hastings; it is Stamford Bridge, and the dying king is Harald Hardrada, one of the greatest figures of the Viking age. It was a bolt from the blue when Viking raiders descended on the defenceless monastery at Lindisfarne in 793 and left it a heap of burning rubble. In succeeding years, other monasteries fell too: Jarrow, Monkwearmouth, Iona. Britain and Ireland suffered extensively as did France, Spain, Italy and even the mighty Byzantine Empire. But this was not just a period of conquest and violence – it was also an age of exploration. Viking ships crossed the Atlantic, through Shetland and Orkney to the Faroes and from there to Iceland, Greenland and North America. They sailed east and their traders moved across the steppes and rivers of Russia down to Constantinople, then the greatest city in Christendom.This is the story of the Vikings, those men and women who raided and traded their way into history whilst at the same time helping to build new nations in Scandinavia and beyond. Their history begins a long time before the Lindisfarne raid. It is also the tale of evocatively named great men: Sweyn Forkbeard, Harald Bluetooth, Ragnar Lodbrok, Erik the Red, Ivarr the Boneless, Cnut the Great.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43599732342962,"sku":"9781398109087","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398109087_e33cd6e2-dca8-4b4a-bccb-27d37ec98b33.jpg?v=1786018563"},{"product_id":"9781398110458","title":"Thunderbolt of the North","description":"\u003cp\u003eHarald Hardrada had a career that spanned much of the known world of the eleventh century. Here was a man who was born in Norway, was exiled to Russia, spent time as a mercenary leader in Constantinople, journeyed to Jerusalem and won military campaigns in Sicily. In later life he became king of Norway, but this was not enough for him. For years he fought a series of campaigns to try and add Denmark to his dominions before launching an attempt to conquer England.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHarald ultimately died a Viking death at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066, though in the process he might have sealed the fate of his opponent, King Harold Godwinson of England just a few weeks later at Hastings. This is a remarkable story, told in part through archaeology and in part through chronicles and Viking sagas. Harald might be considered the last Viking, but whether or not this is the case, what cannot be denied is that this is the story of a life that opens a window into a world that is long past, one characterised by epic deeds, chicanery and incredible adventure.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":55206128877941,"sku":"9781398110458","price":22.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398110458.jpg?v=1786018608"},{"product_id":"9781398109995","title":"Hlobane and Khambula","description":"While the Anglo-Zulu War is now best remembered for two battles, the stunning British defeat at Isandlwana and the victory against the odds at Rorke’s Drift, two others at Hlobane and Khambula eerily mirrored them. At Hlobane the British stared disaster in the face again and just about escaped, while at Khambula they inflicted a crushing defeat on the Zulu army and turned the war on its head.In addition to these two battles, a British force was massacred on the Ntombe River and the region was the last to surrender. It was a war of ambushes and night attacks, of raids and counter-raids, of visceral intensity and bitterness and two massive battles. It also saw the British hanging on after Isandlwana through the determination and grit of two men, Colonels Evelyn Wood and Redvers Buller, both Victoria Cross winners and arguably amongst the greatest heroes of the war. Humbler heroes too play their part in the story of the war in this part of Zululand, such as Sister Janet Wells, inspired by Florence Nightingale to journey out to South Africa as a pioneer nurse when still in her teens.This is the dramatic story of a true epic, one which played a critical part in shaping the ultimate British victory against a determined and wronged enemy.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56298406805877,"sku":"9781398109995","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398109995_c69a8bb1-9a3d-47cd-b6d6-385dceb50658.jpg?v=1786018596"},{"product_id":"9781445682891","title":"King Cnut and the Viking Conquest of England 1016","description":"The Viking Conquest of England in 1016 – a far tougher and more brutal campaign than the Norman Conquest exactly half a century later – saw two great warriors, the Danish prince Cnut and his equally ruthless English opponent King Edmund Ironside, fight an epic campaign. Cnut sailed in two hundred longboats, landing first in September 1015 on the Wessex coast with 10,000 soldiers. The two forces fought each other to the point of exhaustion for the next fourteen months. It was a war of terrifying violence that scarred much of England, from the Humber to Cornwall. It saw an epic siege of the great walls of London and bruising set-piece battles at Penselwood, Otford, and the conclusive Danish victory at Assandun on 18 October 1016.Edmund’s death soon afterwards finally resolved a brutal, bloody conf lict and ended with Cnut becoming the undisputed king of England. This book tells the extraordinary story of Cnut the Great’s life. Cnut was far removed from the archetypal pagan Viking, being a staunch protector of the Christian Church and a man who would also become Emperor of the North as king of Denmark and Norway. His wife, Emma of Normandy, was a remarkable woman who would outlive the two kings of England that she married. Their son Harthacnut would be the second and last Danish king of England, but the greatness of his dynasty did not long survive his death. This saga also features the incompetent Æthelred the Unready, the ferocious Sweyn Forkbeard and the treacherous Eadric Streona, recreating one of the great stories of Dark Age England.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56299793875317,"sku":"9781445682891","price":10.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781445682891_41fdbde6-3d4b-4eb1-96e3-ffa7307d9b31.jpg?v=1786020458"},{"product_id":"9781445689470","title":"Richard the Lionheart","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhilst Richard I is one of medieval England’s most famous kings he is also the most controversial. He has variously been considered a great warrior but a poor king, a man driven by the quest for fame and glory but also lacking in self-discipline and prone to throwing away the short-term advantages that his military successes brought him.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this reassessment W. B. Bartlett looks at his deeds and achievements in a new light. The result is a compelling new portrait of ‘the Lionheart’ which shows that the king is every bit as remarkable as his medieval contemporaries found him to be. This includes his Muslim enemies, who spoke of him as their most dangerous and gallant opponent. It shows him to be a man badly let down by some of those around him, especially his brother John and the duplicitous French king Philip. The foibles of his character are also exposed to the full, including his complicated relationships with the key women in his life, especially the imposing contemporary figure of his mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and his wife, Berengaria, with whom he failed to produce an heir, leading to later suggestions of homosexuality.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a new Richard, one for the twenty-first century, and a re-evaluation of the life story of one of the greatest personalities of medieval Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56299803836789,"sku":"9781445689470","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781445689470_8068babc-dd91-478b-9cf4-6293da2dcb1c.jpg?v=1786020563"},{"product_id":"9781398126190","title":"After Agincourt","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe Battle of Agincourt, fought on 25 October 1415, has gone down in history as one of the most iconic events in the story of England. Yet, dramatic though it was, it was only the beginning of a long and gruelling campaign that brought Henry V to the verge of greatness. The second invasion of France post-Agincourt often receives little more than a sideways glance, yet it is a fascinating example of a medieval military campaign. Characterised by sieges and diplomatic and political manoeuvring, not to mention bloodshed and murder, the campaign of 1417–22 also introduces a host of fascinating characters including the scheming John the Fearless, duke of Burgundy, a mentally unstable French king and his politically astute wife, and their disinherited son and heir.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eYet it is Henry V who dominates the scene. The campaign showed Henry to be not just an outstanding warrior – which he undoubtedly was – but a man driven by burning ambition who would not tolerate opposition. The ruthless king would have been difficult to love but easy to respect, and the events of his post-Agincourt campaign demonstrate this magnificently. Henry came within an ace of becoming king of both England and France. He was only deprived of the distinction by his premature death just two months before Charles VI of France died. What might have happened had Henry lived longer is one of the great what-ifs of history. Yet even this cannot diminish his greatness.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56368753672565,"sku":"9781398126190","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781398126190_165f1a09-b852-49fe-8d01-1115dc60c100.jpg?v=1786018385"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-w-b-bartlett.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}