Medieval English

His surcoat still bloody from battle, William FitzAlan comes to claim the strategic borderlands granted to him by the king. One last prize awaits him at the castle gates: the lovely Lady Catherine Rayburn. Catherine risked everything to spy for the crown. Her reward? Her lands are declared forfeit and she is given this choice: marry FitzAlan or be taken to the Tower. Catherine agrees to give her handsome new husband her body, but she's keeping secrets, and dare not give him her heart.

Preferring to spend time outdoors sketching in her drab clothing, Isobel Macdonald is shocked when a handsome laird chooses her to marry. However, as one who treasures loyalty above all, she is mortified to learn his lover lives at the family keep. After being publicly humiliated by her husband, Isobel must ensure two things, to keep her heart protected and remain a wife in name only.

At Eleanor of Aquitaine's palace in Poitiers, fourteen-year-old Lady Joanna of Agen is coming of age. Her aunt and guardian, Alice, rescued Joanna from her brutal father by bringing her to court. But now Alice fears Joanna could once again be at risk from the men around her. When Queen Eleanor's son, Henry, arrives at court, Joanna quickly catches his eye. But Alice overhears the lewd conversations of the male courtiers and worries that Joanna's honor is at stake.

A big Irish knight, much beloved by his English men, faces his biggest challenge when an injury nearly claims his life...and his confidence as a warrior.

September 1284. Catrin and Rhys travel with the royal court to Overton-on-Dee where King Edward has called a thousand Welsh bards to a royal eisteddfod, a music festival, in honor of his conquest of Wales. Every bardd in Wales has been commanded to attend.

Cainnech (Cain) MacPherson's hatred for the English was born when he was a lad of seven, the day they raided his village and killed his family. They took everything from him without mercy and tossed him onto the battlefield, where the memory of love faded to dust and left nothing in its wake but violence. Now, as Robert the Bruce's most formidable, most lethal warrior, he wreaks havoc on his enemy, taking land by force, without mercy. But when he raids a small castle in Northumberland, he faces his greatest opponent yet - a bold, beautiful Norman lass who will see him dead at any cost.

Fearsome Scots laird Gabriel MacLachlan must take a bride, but not just any bride. Magdalene, his liege lord's younger sister, is known to be as bonny as any Highland lass but as mad as a loon. Mad Maggie, they call her - and Gabriel has no choice. Not if he wants to put food in his clansmen's bellies, clothes on their backs, and repair the crumbling castle he calls home. A fat dowry in exchange for a madwoman, whose life will be in danger from the MacLachlan family curse the instant she becomes his wife.

July 1284. King Edward has invited the nobility of England, Ireland, and Scotland to Nefyn, one of the most remote spots in Wales, for a Round Table—a tournament as in the tales of King Arthur to celebrate Edward's victory over the Welsh and his ascension to Arthur's throne. Not everyone sees the tournament as a friendly competition, however, and in short order, Rhys and Catrin are called to investigate the death of a knight in the retinue of the Earl of Gloucester.

The last thing Roberta Harcourt needs is to be trapped on a ship with pirates. After she is separated from her father, Roberta finds herself the unwilling guest of sinfully handsome Captain Dominic Grey. He gives her two choices: to share his bed and maintain her life as a lady, or she can sleep on the floor of his cabin and live the life of a cabin boy. Refusing to be seduced by a pirate, she dresses in breeches and assumes duties on board his ship among the men, but each night, she begins to wonder if letting him kiss her again might be a rule worth breaking...

The Executioner Knights are back, now with one of their own falling in love with a Welsh princess who holds the key to a renewed rebellion. Will love win out over his sense of duty? Will his sense of duty and his loyalty to England win out? Or will the love of a Welsh princess be his downfall?

From celebrated New York Times bestselling author Steve Berry comes the latest Cotton Malone adventure, a tale of mystery and intrigue stretching back over four centuries. Former Justice Department operative, Cotton Malone, is called to Sweden when the younger sister of King Wilhelm I is...

An unclaimed land in the Scottish isles is ruled by the male and female victors in a series of war games every five years. Named Chief and Lady of the land, they rule the vast holding and protect the people by divine right until the next game begins. After her brother's death, Ceana is named laird. The only way for her clan to survive the ravages of the Highlands is to join in the war games. Bastard son of a powerful earl, Macrath is placed in the games by his vengeful stepmother.

Torrian Ramsay, future laird of the Ramsay clan, learned long ago not to take his family for granted. Without the love and devotion of his sire, he would never have survived the childhood illness that kept him abed for years. Now Torrian is a strapping lad, unrecognizable as the sickly laddie of his past, but one thing has not changed - he will still do aught in his power to make his sire proud.

From tales of chivalrous knights to the barbarity of trial by ordeal, no era has been a greater source of awe, horror, and wonder than the Middle Ages. In handsomely crafted prose and with the grace and authority of his extraordinary gift for narrative history, William Manchester leads us from a civilization tottering on the brink of collapse to the grandeur of its rebirth, the Renaissance.

Robert the Bruce is one of Scotland's most iconic figures, known for his role in securing Scottish independence from England. But who was the real Robert the Bruce? In this concise history book, you will discover the true story of this legendary hero. From his childhood and his early political struggles, to his military victories and his eventual coronation as king of Scots, this book tells the tale of one of Scotland's greatest rulers. Filled with vivid details and fascinating insights, this book is a must-hear for anyone interested in Scottish history and culture.

Findlater Castle in the Scottish Highlands becomes a place of mystery and doom for Jamison Munro and his wife, Havilland. Traveling across the highlands one dark and stormy night, they stumble upon a lonely Host in Findlater Castle, a pathetic soul waiting for his wife to return to him. It is a terrible tale of a tragic love story that the Host tells the travelers but when Havilland becomes curious about mysterious tapping sounds that go on in the middle of the night, she soon realizes the danger that she and her husband are in.

1356 A.D. - It is warring times for England as the Black Prince sweeps his way through France, waging nasty warfare on the population. Masterminding this brutal strategy is the knight they call the Black Angel. Brandt de Russe, Duke of Exeter, is the brains behind the prince’s war machine, a mountain of a man who is as cunning as he is frightening. In battle, no man is his equal.

One of the most significant books ever written by a head of state, the Meditations are a collection of philosophical thoughts by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121-180 ce). Covering issues such as duty, forgiveness, brotherhood, strength in adversity and the best way to approach life and death, the Meditations have inspired thinkers, poets and politicians since their first publication more than 500 years ago. Today, the book stands as one of the great guides and companions—a cornerstone of Western thought.

Adam Wellesbourne and his four sons - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John - comprise the most feared House in the service of Richard III. Adam's eldest son, Matthew, has earned such an influential reputation that throughout England he is known as The White Lord of Wellesbourne. Upon the eve of the Battle of Bosworth field, Matthew finds himself forced into a contract marriage that he has been avoiding for 10 years.

These four plays, translated into blank verse by C. A. Wheelwright, present to us the wide range of this ancient playwright's fertile imagination. From war and peace to politics and society to the relationships between mena nd women, no topic is off-limits.