Penguin History of Britain

Series · 8 books · 1996-2017

By David Mattingly, Miri Rubin, P.F. Clarke, and more

Books in series

An Imperial Possession

Britain in the Roman Empire, 54 BC - AD 409

2006

Part of the Penguin History of Britain series, An Imperial Possession is the first major narrative history of Roman Britain for a generation. David Mattingly draws on a wealth of new findings and knowledge to cut through the myths and misunderstandings that so commonly surround our beliefs about this period. From the rebellious chiefs and druids who led native British resistance, to the experiences of the Roman military leaders in this remote, dangerous outpost of Europe, this book explores the reality of life in occupied Britain within the context of the shifting fortunes of the Roman Empire.

Britain after Rome

2010

The enormous hoard of beautiful gold military objects found in a field in Staffordshire has focused huge attention on the mysterious world of 7th and 8th century Britain. Clearly the product of a sophisticated, wealthy, highly militarized society, the objects beg innumerable questions about how we are to understand the people who once walked across the same landscape we inhabit, who are our ancestors and yet left such a slight record of their presence. Britain after Rome brings together a wealth of research and imaginative engagement to bring us as close as we can hope to get to the tumultuous centuries between the departure of the Roman legions and the arrival of Norman invaders nearly seven centuries later. As towns fell into total decay, Christianity disappeared and wave upon wave of invaders swept across the island, it can be too easily assumed that life in Britain became intolerable - and yet this is the world in which modern languages and political arrangements were forged, a number of fascinating cultures rose and fell and tantalizing glimpses, principally through the study of buildings and burials, can be had of a surprising and resilient place. The result of a lifetime of work, Robin Fleming's major new addition to the Penguin History of Britain could not be more opportune. A richly enjoyable, varied and surprising book, Britain after Rome allows its readers to see Britain's history in a quite new light.

The Struggle for Mastery

The Penguin History of Britain, 1066-1284

2003

The years from 1066-the Norman conquest of England-to 1284-the English conquest of Wales—were momentous ones in the history of Britain. In this comprehensive synthesis canvassing the peoples, economies, religion, languages, and political leadership of medieval Britain, David Carpenter weaves together the histories of England, Scotland, and Wales. Arguing that English domination of the kingdom was by no means a foregone conclusion, Carpenter analyzes the multiple struggles for mastery of Great Britain. He explains why English monarchs focused on continental landholdings more than the island of Great Britain and narrates the loss of Normandy, Anjou, and Acquitaine. He recounts how the Welsh kings strove to recover areas lost to the Normans and to assert dominion over one another, and how the kings of Scotland expanded their realm to create a united Scotland. Based on readings of primary and secondary sources, Carpenter sheds light on major highlights of the period including the Battle of Hastings, the murder of Becket, and the signing of the Magna Carta, as well as intermarriage, the feudal system, and the characters of key figures. This new interpretation is a definitive introduction to the period for general readers. The Struggle for Matery was a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title for 2005.

The Hollow Crown

A History of Britain in the Late Middle Ages

2005

There is no more haunting, compelling period in Britain's history than the later middle ages. The extraordinary kings - Edward III and Henry V, the great warriors, Richard II and Henry VI, tragic inadequates killed by their failure to use their power, and Richard III, the demon king. The extraordinary events - the Black Death that destroyed a third of the population, the Peasants' Revolt, the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Agincourt. The extraordinary artistic achievements - the great churches, castles and tombs that still dominate the landscape, the birth of the English language in The Canterbury Tales. For the first time in a generation, a historian has had the vision and confidence to write a spell-binding account of the era immortalised by Shakespeare's history plays. The Hollow Crown brilliantly brings to life for the reader a world we have long lost - a strange, Catholic, rural country of monks, peasants, knights and merchants, almost perpetually at war - but continues to define so much of England's national myth.

New Worlds, Lost Worlds

The Rule of the Tudors, 1485-1603

2000

No period in British history has more resonance and mystery today than the sixteenth century. New Worlds, Lost Worlds brings the atmosphere and events of this great epoch to life. Exploring the underlying religious motivations for the savage violence and turbulence of the period-from Henry VIII's break with Rome to the overwhelming threat of the Spanish Armada-Susan Brigden investigates the actions and influences of such near-mythical figures as Elizabeth I, Thomas More, Bloody Mary, and Sir Walter Raleigh. Authoritative and accessible, New Worlds, Lost Worlds, the latest in the Penguin History of Britain series, provides a superb introduction to one of the most important, compelling, and intriguing periods in the history of the Western world.

A Monarchy Transformed

Britain, 1603-1714

1996

The seventeenth century, writes Mark Kishlansky, was "a wheel of transformation in perpetual motion," a period of political and religious upheaval that defined the nation for decades to come and remains critical for understanding the nation today. Beginning with the accession of James I and concluding with the death of Queen Anne, this compelling account describes the tempestuous events that took place during the Stuart dynasty and provides lively pen portraits of the many fascinating personalities involved. Conspiracies, rebellions, and revolutions jostle side by side with court intrigues, political infighting and the rise of parties. In 1603 Britain was an isolated archipelago; by 1714 it had emerged among the intellectual, commercial, and military centers of the world. "Kishlansky's century saw one king executed, another exiled, the House of Lords abolished, and the Church of England reconstructed along Presbyterian lines . . . A masterly narrative, shot through with the shrewdness that comes from profound scholarship."—Jonathan Clark, Spectator "A historian with a real love for the period, a real understanding of many different aspects of it, and an exhilarating style."—Ronald Hutton, The Times Literary Supplement "This sweeping, dramatic chronicle of a century of Stuart rule will rivet even the general reader with no particular interest in British history."—Publishers Weekly

Victorious Century

The United Kingdom, 1800-1906

2017

To live in nineteenth-century Britain was to experience an astonishing series of changes, of a kind for which there was simply no precedent in the human experience. There were revolutions in transport, communication, work; cities grew vast; scientific ideas made the intellectual landscape unrecognizable. This was an exhilarating time, but also a horrifying one. In his dazzling new book David Cannadine has created a bold, fascinating new interpretation of the British nineteenth century in all its energy and dynamism, darkness and vice. This was a country which saw itself at the summit of the world. And yet it was a society also convulsed by doubt, fear and introspection. Repeatedly, politicians and writers felt themselves to be staring into the abyss and what is seen sometimes seen as an era of irritating self-belief was in practice obsessed by a sense of its own fragility, whether as a great power or as a moral force. Victorious Century is an extraordinarily enjoyable book - its author catches the relish, humour and theatricality of the age, but also the dilemmas of a kind with which we remain familiar today. It reframes a time at once strangely familiar and yet wholly unlike our own.

Hope and Glory

Britain 1900-2000

1996

"Hope and Glory is an examination of the political, social and economic changes that transformed Britain throughout the twentieth century - considering how issues such as jobs and prices, food and shelter, and education and welfare have shaped the society we live in." For this second edition, Peter Clarke has brought his study right up to date, covering Britain from the fall of Thatcher to the rise of Blair's New Labour, the nation's role in the EU, and the books, films and music that have captured the spirit of the times. Embracing a century of national experience, Hope and Glory conveys the diverse aspects of all the generations who lived through this era of unparalleled change.

Authors

David Mattingly

Author · 1 books

Specialist in the archaeology of the Roman empire. Fellow of the British Academy since 2003.

Miri Rubin

Author · 10 books

Miri Rubin (born 1956) is a medieval historian who is Professor of Early Modern History at Queen Mary University of London. She was educated at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Cambridge, where she gained her doctorate and was later awarded a research fellowship and a post-doctoral research fellowship at Girton College. Rubin studies the social and religious history of Europe between 1100 and 1500, concentrating on the interactions between public rituals, power, and community life.

P.F. Clarke

Author · 3 books

Dr. Peter Frederick Clarke was Professor of Modern British History from 1991 to 2004 at Cambridge University and Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, from 2000 to 2004. He completed his BA in 1963, his MA and PhD in 1967, and his LittD in 1989 all at Cambridge University. A Fellow of the British Academy, he reviews books regularly for The Times Literary Supplement, the London Review of Books and the Sunday Times.

Mark A. Kishlansky

Author · 9 books

Mark Alan Kishlansky (1948-2015) was a historian of seventeenth-century British politics. He was the Frank Baird, Jr. Professor of History at Harvard University. He completed his undergraduate degree at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1970 and proceeded to graduate study under David Underdown at Brown University, receiving his M.A. in 1972 and his Ph. D. in 1977. From 1975 to 1991 he taught at the University of Chicago, successively as instructor and professor. From 1990 to 1991 he was a member of the Committee on Social Thought. He was a visiting professor at Northwestern University in 1983 and was the Mellon Visiting Professor in the Humanities and Social Sciences at the California Institute of Technology in 1990-1991. In 1991 he became a professor at Harvard University and from 1998 to 2001 served as Associate Dean of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. He was editor of the Journal of British Studies from 1984 to 1991 and editor-in-chief of History Compass from 2003 to 2009

Susan Brigden

Author · 2 books

Fellow and Tutor of Lincoln College and Reader in the University of Oxford.

David Cannadine

Author · 19 books

Sir David Cannadine FBA FRSL FSA FRHistS is a British author and historian, who specialises in modern history and the history of business and philanthropy.

David Arscott Carpenter

Author · 4 books

David Arscott Carpenter is an English historian, currently Professor of Medieval History at King's College London. He has written widely on the reign of Henry III. David Carpenter is Professor of Medieval History at King’s College London and an expert in thirteenth-century England. He has published extensively on politics and society in the reigns of King John and Henry III as well as on the context, issue and reception of Magna Carta. His book The Struggle for Mastery: Britain 1066-1284 is widely read by scholars, students and the general public. Professor Carpenter has been tracing versions of Magna Carta 1215 for the Magna Carta Project and is currently preparing a book on the Charter for Penguin.

Robin Fleming

Author · 1 books

Robin Fleming is a medieval historian, professor of history at Boston College, and a 2013 MacArthur Fellow. She is an accomplished writer of numerous books that focus on the daily lives and lifestyles of the people of England around the time of the Roman Empire and early medieval times. By working hand-in-hand with archaeologists she has been able to piece together details of their lives that may otherwise be overlooked. When asked if she becomes emotionally invested in her research, she replied: "Absolutely. I feel it’s my job to let people speak who have been forgotten and ignored... It’s really hard in my period to get beyond kings and bishops and really . . . important people. But there were all these other people who had lives that were just as important. I want to speak for them." Fleming received her B.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1977 and 1984.[2] She has been the recipient of several awards honoring her groundbreaking research, from the following institutions: The Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute of advanced studies at Harvard University, the Bunting Institute for advanced study (1993–94), the Harvard Society of Fellows, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.