16th Century

The definitive biography of John Knox, a leader of the Protestant Reformation in sixteenth-century Scotland"Never before has there been such a thoroughly and sympathetically critical treatment of the 16th-century Scottish reformer's thought and times. . ...

'Entertainingly written history . . . ravishingly beautiful photographs.'The Times Bamber Gascoigne's classic book tells of the most fascinating period of Indian history, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the country was ruled by the...

A fully updated fourth edition written by a team of specialists. Enabling students to place early modern Europe within a global context and to see how Europe interacted with the broader early modern world through the exchange of ideas and goods. New...

The acclaimed and enthralling story of the dark side of Elizabethan rule, from Stephen AlfordElizabeth I's reign is known as a golden age, yet to much of Europe she was a 'Jezebel' and heretic who had to be destroyed. The Watchers is a thrilling...

'This is probably the best book ever written on the Habsburgs in any language, certainly the best I have ever read ... Students, scholars and the general reader will never find a better guide to Habsburg history' Alan Sked, Times Literary SupplementIn...

Now an esoteric of legal and criminal history, A Hangman's Diary gives a year-by-year breakdown on all of Master Franz Schmidt's executions, which included hangings, beheadings, and other methods, as well as details of each capital crime and the reason...

'Fascinating... One of the most astute political commentators on Putin and modern Russia' Financial Times'An amazing achievement' Peter FrankopanCan anyone truly understand Russia?Russia is a country with no natural borders, no single ethos, no true...

'A Napoleonic triumph of a book, irresistibly galloping with the momentum of a cavalry charge' Simon Sebag Montefiore'Simply dynamite' Bernard CornwellFrom Andrew Roberts, author of the bestsellers The Storm of War and Churchill: Walking with Destiny,...

WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE Paul Kennedy's international bestseller is a sweeping account of five hundred years of fluctuating economic muscle and military might. Kennedy's...

Following on from Foundation, Tudors is the second volume in Peter Ackroyd's astonishing series, The History of England.Rich in detail and atmosphere and told in vivid prose, Tudors recounts the transformation of England from a settled Catholic country...

Niccolo Machiavelli provides a remarkably uncompromising picture of the true nature of power, no matter what era or by whom it is exercised. Part of the Macmillan Collector's Library, a series of stunning, clothbound, pocket-sized classics with...

'A story told with verve and passion' The Times, Book of the Week'An alternative and engaging biography...accessible and unpretentious' The Telegraph'A stunning portrayal of two of the most powerful women in European history' Tracy Borman'Exciting and...

In 1568, the Seventeen Provinces in the Netherlands rebelled against the absolutist rule of the king of Spain. A confederation of duchies, counties, and lordships, the Provinces demanded the right of self-determination, the freedom of conscience and...

This Seminar Study introduces students to England's foreign policy during the reigns of the Tudor monarchs. In this succinct introduction the author addresses the key questions facing students - for example, to what extent did monarch or minister make...

It was not so long ago that the belief in witchcraft was shared by members of all levels of society. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, diseases were feared by all, the infant mortality rate was high, and around one in six harvests was likely to...

A passionate history of Judaism; a world unfolding across many continents and five centuries by one of our greatest and internationally bestselling historians.Belonging is a magnificent cultural history abundantly alive with energy, character and colour...

Elizabeth I came to the throne at a time of insecurity and unrest. Rivals threatened her reign; England was a Protestant island, isolated in a sea of Catholic countries. Spain plotted an invasion, but Elizabeth's Secretary, Francis Walsingham, was...

In medieval England, man was the ruler of woman, and the King was the ruler of all. How, then, could royal power lie in female hands?In She-Wolves, celebrated historian, Helen Castor, tells the dramatic and fascinating stories of four exceptional women...

Told for the very first time, this is the shocking and extraordinary story of the most-conniving and manipulative Tudor family you've never heard of . . . The perfect gift for every history lover this Christmas'A tour-de-force of Tudor history...

The acclaimed author of Conquistador and Labyrinth of Ice charts one of history's greatest expeditions, a legendary 16th-century adventurer's death-defying navigation of the Amazon River. In 1541, Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Pizarro and his lieutenant...

NOW THE TV SERIES 'THE SERPENT QUEEN', STARRING SAMANTHA MORTONThe bestselling revisionist biography of one of the great women of the 16th centuryOrphaned in infancy, Catherine de Medici was the sole legitimate heiress to the Medici family fortune...

Vivid, powerful and absorbing, this is a first-person account of one of the most startling military episodes in history: the overthrow of Montezuma's doomed Aztec Empire by the ruthless Hernan Cortes and his band of adventurers. Bernal Diaz del Castillo,...

The reign of Elizabeth I was one of the most important periods of expansion and growth in British history, the so-called 'Golden Age'. This celebrated and influential study of Elizabeth reconsiders how she achieved this and the ways in which she...

Jonathan Bate's Soul of the Age brings us closer than ever to understanding what being Shakespeare was actually like.How did plague turn Shakespeare from a jobbing hack into a courtly poet? How did Bottom's dream rewrite the Bible? How did Shakespeare's...

'Nicola Tallis, one of our great popular historians.' Alison WeirThe first biography of Lettice Knollys, one of the most prominent women of the Elizabethan era.Cousin to Elizabeth I - and very likely also Henry VIII's illegitimate granddaughter - Lettice...

'A masterpiece ... In its field it is the best book ever' GuardianWinner of the Wolfson Prize for history, Reformation: Europe's House Divided 1490-1700 charts a seismic shift in European culture that marked the beginning of the modern world. At a time...

WINNER OF THE 2018 WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE Centuries on, what the Reformation was and what it accomplished remain deeply contentious. Peter Marshall's sweeping new history-the first major overview for general readers in a generation-argues that...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE 2017 SHORTLISTED FOR THE ELIZABETH LONGFORD PRIZE 2017'A magnificent study of one of history's most compelling and divisive figures' Richard J. EvansWhen Martin Luther nailed a sheet of paper to the church door...

In 1581 Edmund Campion, a Jesuit priest working underground in Protestant England, was found guilty of treason and hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. Years later he would be beatified. Evelyn Waugh's compelling and elegant narrative is a homage to...

This book uses the notion of the public sphere to produce a new view of the history of England in the post reformation period, tracing its themes from the 1530s to the early eighteenth century. The contributors, who are all leaders in their own fields,...

This new edition of Lucy Wooding's Henry VIII is fully revised and updated to provide an insightful and original portrait of one of England's most unforgettable monarchs and the many paradoxes of his character and reign. Henry was a Renaissance prince...

As remarkable as Columbus and the conquistador expeditions, the history of Portuguese exploration is now almost forgotten. But Portugal's navigators cracked the code of the Atlantic winds, launched the expedition of Vasco da Gama to India and beat...

How does society deal with a serial killer in its midst? What if the murderer is a Catholic priest living among native villagers in colonial Peru?In The Chankas and the Priest, Sabine Hyland chronicles the horrifying story of Father Juan Bautista de...

Ensure your students have access to the authoritative and in-depth content of this popular and trusted A Level History series. For over twenty years Access to History has been providing students with reliable, engaging and accessible content on a wide...

Demonology - the intellectual study of demons and their powers - contributed to the prosecution of thousands of witches. But how exactly did intellectual ideas relate to prosecutions? Recent scholarship has shown that some of the demonologists' concerns...

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST FIRST BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2017 Born into nobility and married into the royal family, Catherine Howard was attended every waking hour - secrets were impossible to keep. In this thrilling reappraisal of Henry...

'The experience of insecurity, it turned out, would shape one of the most remarkable monarchs in England's history' In the popular imagination, as in her portraits, Elizabeth I is the image of monarchical power. But this image is as much armour as a...

The story of the sixteenth-century's epic contest for the spice trade, which propelled European maritime exploration and conquest across Asia and the Pacific Spices drove the early modern world economy, and for Europeans they represented riches on an...

From Margaret of Anjou to Katherine Parr, All the Queen's Jewels examines the jewellery collections of the ten queen consorts of England between 1445-1548 and investigates the collections of jewels a queen had access to, as well as the varying contexts...

The first modern biography of the most powerful politician in late Tudor England William Cecil, Lord Burghley (1520-1598), was the closest adviser to England's Queen Elizabeth I and-as this revealing and provocative biography shows-he was the driving...