Regional British History, Historical Biography - Royalty & Nobility, Britain - Historical Biography - General & Miscellaneous, 1066-1485 (Medieval Period) - British History, General & Miscellaneous Medieval History, Britain - Historical Biography - 1066-1

Kings in the North

Name: Kings in the North
Author: Alexander Rose
ISBN: 9780297818601

by Alexander Rose

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Overview

The House of Percy resounds throughout Shakespeare's history plays, the War of the Roses and 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 a 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 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 War of the Roses is traced to the bitter and merciless rivalry between the Percys and another rising Northern dynasty, the implacable Nevilles, which included Warwick the Kingmaker. antagonism towards King John. 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.