Chronicles of the Crusades (Paperback)

The infamous Wars of the Roses began in 1377 with the accession to the throne of Richard II and ended in 1485 with the death of the enigmatic Richard III on Bosworth Field. Between these two dates lie 108 years of dramatic and often bloody events which furnished Shakespeare with some of his most celebrated plots. This is the era of Henry IV, the usurper who brought the red rose of Lancaster to the throne; his son Henry V, the famed victor of Agincourt; Henry VI, who was driven mad by the cares of the state, then deposed and murdered in prison; and Edward IV, the first Yorkist ruler, who acquired the throne through some of the bloodiest battles of the Wars of the Roses.

The accounts of chroniclers such as Thomas Walsingham, Tito Livio and Jean Froissart -- many being made available for the first time in modern English -- are marked by treachery and violence, splendor and pageantry. Over 100 essays and over 200 lavish color and black-and-white illustrations accompany the chronicles, providing essential background information on the people and politics, manners, customs and mores of this formidable epoch.