The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings And Queens Who Made England

Ian Mortimer uses his book The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century to describe how one might live in the fourteenth century. This book covers a wide range of topics from what one might see and smell when approaching a city, to what one might wear, to how to stay alive. Mortimer’s clever use of a travel guide inspired book lends itself to a much wider audience. The evidence presented in this book is both engaging and intriguing, and provides easy reading for academics and non-academics both.

The Anglo-Saxon culture came from the ethos which arose from years of progress and understanding. This culture a unification of independent principalities brought together by one king known as Alfred the Great. The true sense of the culture came with the values of loyalty, kinship, and bravery, which present themselves in the epic tale of Beowulf whose violent victory propelled him from mercenary to rightful warrior and respected hero. where the birth of a hero came from the actions of a rightful warrior.

The Anglo-Saxons’ cultures and traditions are rooted in their beliefs of the perfect hero. Their ideal hero has many key characteristics influenced by their culture including courage, strength, bravery, thick skin, loyalty, humbleness, and the ability to create strong trustworthy friendships. Beowulf is an epic poem that exhibits the ideal Anglo-Saxon hero. The Anglo-Saxon traditions illustrated in Beowulf accurately represent the Anglo-Saxon traditions of the time period. This is accomplished through the distinct correlation of heroic characteristics between Beowulf and the culture’s traditional depiction of an Anglo-Saxon hero.

Henry V, written by William Shakespeare, is by far one of his more historically accurate plays. This play is the life of young King Henry V, who ascended to the throne after his father, Henry IV's death. These times were much different for England, as Henry V was a noble lord whom everyone loved, whereas angry factions haunted his father's reign. Shakespeare portrays a fairly accurate account of the historical Henry V, but certain parts are either

Being a hero can mean many different things. A modern day hero might be someone who has a strong moral code or someone that has extraordinary powers and abilities but, looking back in time the meaning of a hero has changed slightly. During Anglo-Saxon times, being a hero meant being loyal to their lord and god, having a sense of duty, being selfless, having honor, being intelligent, and boasting. It also meant being brave and having courage, having a sense of justice, and having larger than life strength. A great example of an Anglo-Saxon hero is Beowulf from “Beowulf,” written by an unknown author. In this poem, Beowulf exemplifies the characteristics of an Anglo-Saxon hero because he was brave and courageous, he had superhuman strength, and he had a unique sense of justice.

Harold Godwinson was born in the 1022s to a powerful Anglo-Saxon family in Wessex, United Kingdom. Throughout his life, he achieved many great things, including being the last Anglo-Saxon to be crowned King of England and being the Earl of Wessex. He was at the top of the social structure from the 6th of January 1066 until his death fighting the Norman Invaders on the 14th of October at the Battle of Hastings. The Battle of the Hastings was a major event during this time period and marked the beginning of the Norman Conquest of England.

The story of Beowulf is one of a great hero. Beowulf is a very generous person who is always willing to help out when people are in need. Over the course of the story, Beowulf ends up in three major battles: the battle with Grendel, with Grendel’s mother, and with the dragon. All of these battles were different in their style and the way Beowulf approached them was different. Beowulf also had different reasons to participate in each of the battles.

Henry 's father, King Henry VII, unified the divided country when he killed the last Plantagenet King, Richard III. The country had been divided in a civil war known as 'The War of the Roses ' with two sides of the Plantagenet dynasty, the House of Lancaster and the House of York, fighting over the throne. Both houses were descendants of two of the sons of Edward III. The House of Lancaster,descended from John of Gaunt, was represented by a Red Rose. The House of York, descended from Edmund of Langley, was represented by the white rose. By 1461, the Yorkists had succeeded in becoming the royal house in England. With the Yorkist King Richard III becoming increasingly unpopular, Henry Tudor ,a descendant of John of Gaunt, gained the support of the country and decided to put Richard

Imagine if one thousand years from now, the American civilization was researched based only on evidence that survived time, such as a singular book or ruin of a skyscraper. These artifacts would serve as the basis of knowledge for all characteristics of the society of the United States. The information now regarded as common knowledge for many ancient civilizations derives from their surviving artifacts that give examples of culture. One such civilization was the Anglo-Saxons, who wrote poems and left behind parts of their material culture that provide insight into their lives. Based on the epic Beowulf and the archaeological evidence, the principles that the Anglo-Saxons valued were loyalty, warrior culture, and wealth.

King Henry VIII was one of the most powerful rulers in the fifteenth century, who had a very captivating life many people are not aware of. Most people know Henry VIII as a berserk king with too many wives, but there is more to Henry VIII than that. Many few people know about his life and what he truly contributed to our world. Henry VIII was an almighty leader in England who won’t soon be forgotten.

William Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, composed during the last years of the 16th century, is as much as character study as it is a retelling of a moment in history. Though the play is titled for one king, it truly seems to revolve around the actions of the titular character's successor. Indeed, Henry IV is a story of the coming-of-age of Prince Hal and of the opposition that he must face in this evolution. This process gives narrative velocity to what is essentially a conflagration between two personality types. In Prince Hal, the audience is given a flawed but thoughtful individual. Equally flawed but more given over to action than thought is his former ally and now-nemesis, Hotspur. In the latter, Shakespeare offers a warrior and a man of action and in the former, the playwright shows a politician in his nascent stages of development. The contrast between them will drive the play's action.

Henry the Fifth has been noted as England’s best King throughout history. He was loved among the common people and nobles alike for his fairness, his effectiveness on the throne, his justness, and his ability to relate to people of all classes. The kings that reigned before him, especially his father King Henry IV and King John, provide a striking contrast to Hal’s attitude on the throne. Kings of the past had not experienced the life of the common people, and chose to lead their lives in the realm of the castle. As we witnessed in I Henry IV, Hal’s father even went as far to discuss this approach to ruling at length with Hal. Henry IV believed that a king was best admired and supplicated if he was kept

Hello Zachary while reading The Feudal Lord: Vassal and Warrior I did not really make the connection about weeding’s but it is really interesting that you thought of that, and after reading through it again I can see how you thought of that. What I believe is also very interesting is that during this time they had contracts. Do you think it was like a contract like the ones that we have today or was a contract just by word of mouth? Because if it was like a signing contract I wonder for how long and who started this? From our past readings we know that there was some form of contracts from the Roman Empire but we never really got to know more details about their contracts and if there was some form of signing. Maybe what happened with the Vassals

The Anglo Saxon period is the oldest known period of time that had a complex culture with stable government, art, and a fairly large amount of literature. Many people believe that the culture then was extremely unsophisticated, but it was actually extremely advanced for the time. Despite the many advancements, the period was almost always in a state of war. Despite this fact, the Anglo-Saxon period is a time filled with great advancements and discoveries in culture, society, government, religion, literature, and art.

The Germanics have a king as their ruler that is chosen by birth. The king does what he feels is the best for the people and the people respect the ideas of the king, there is a mutual respect. We can see in Germania, Beowulf, and in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight evidence of the mutual respect that is shared between the king and his people. Tacitus shares with us that obedience is not forced by the king, but rather given from respect of the people to show their honor; King Hrothgar shows compassion to other men in need that is then given back to him; and King Arthur converts to Christianity that allowed for a spiritual example to set for his people that they follow.