Britain - that is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been part of a United Kingdom since the start of the 19th century but their monarchs and leaders have vied for power ever since the Romans left the colony of Britannia at the start of the fifth century A.D. They left a Celtic land that was already under threat from European Adventures: Angles, Jutes, and Saxons whose kingdoms would shortly form the basis of English culture. Britain would face further invasions: by the Vikings from Scandinavia and, more successfully, in 1066 by the Normans under William the Conqueror. Since then, however, many thanks attempted to subjugate this island nation but none have prevailed. British Kings & Queens surveys the main monarchs of British history from Egbert, the first recognised Anglo-Saxon king of Wessex, through the country's expansion first into Wales and Scotland, and then all over the globe, to the long reign of today's monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, under whose rules the British Empire became the Commonwealth. Through these biographies the reader can read stories of campaigns and battles, religious strife and great learning, and the flowering of a civilization that did much to build today's world. Illustrated with contemporary illustrations from manuscripts to modern photographs, statues and paintings British Kings & Queens tells the story of over a thousand years of history.

Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 20.3 x 2 cm