Timothy Venning

A Chronology of Early Medieval Western Europe uses a wide range of both primary and secondary sources to chart the history of Britain and Western Europe, with reference to the Celtic world, Scandinavia, the Mediterranean and North America. Extending from the middle of the fifth century to the Norman Conquest in 1066, the book is divided into five chronologies that present the day-to-day developments of events such as the fall of Rome, the Viking invasion and the military campaigns of King Alfred, as well as charting the cult of the mysterious ‘King Arthur’. Timothy Venning’s accompanying introduction also provides a discussion of the different types of sources used and the development of sources and records throughout these centuries. Tying together the political, cultural and social elements of early medieval Western Europe, this chronology is both detailed and highly accessible, allowing students to trace this complex period and providing them with the perfect reference work for their studies.

A Chronology of Early Medieval Western Europe uses a wide range of both primary and secondary sources to chart the history of Britain and Western Europe, with reference to the Celtic world, Scandinavia, the Mediterranean and North America. Extending from the middle of the fifth century to the Norman Conquest in 1066, the book is divided into five chronologies that present the day-to-day developments of events such as the fall of Rome, the Viking invasion and the military campaigns of King Alfred, as well as charting the cult of the mysterious ‘King Arthur’. Timothy Venning’s accompanying introduction also provides a discussion of the different types of sources used and the development of sources and records throughout these centuries. Tying together the political, cultural and social elements of early medieval Western Europe, this chronology is both detailed and highly accessible, allowing students to trace this complex period and providing them with the perfect reference work for their studies.

Explores the history of the Marcher Lords through their turbulent history on the Welsh frontier from trusted nobles to individual powerhouses and eventually to kings themselves.

The kingdom of Scots was the last of the non-Anglo-Saxon states of Britain to survive as a political entity. Alone of the ‘Celtic’ nations, it was not absorbed into England by conquest. James VI of Scotland came to the throne of England in 1603, and when union with England finally came in 1707 during the reign of Queen Anne, it was technically on equal terms. This success owed much to the abilities and tenacity of a succession of rulers. The story of the rulers of Scotland’s constituent states and then of the united kingdom of Scots from Kenneth MacAlpin onwards is complex and often violent. It is full of rapid reversals of fortune, brilliant and incompetent leadership, family strife, and triumph and tragedy closely intertwined. The obscure earlier history is often as fascinating as the better-known stories of the Bruce and Queen Mary, though less familiar. This saga of a thousand years is a tribute to the qualities of Scotland’s rulers.

In contrast to most of Scotland, the north-western coast and the islands beyond were a region of mixed political control as well as culture into the sixteenth century. The divergent influences of Celtic and Scandinavian culture were more marked here than in the evolving mainland kingdom of Scots. It was a physically remote region of substantial autonomy under its own dynasties. Timothy Venning explores the whole of the lordship of the Isles at its widest extent, under Somerled MacGillebride (ruled c. 1130–64), encompassing the kingdom of Man during its independent history, plus the mainland domains of Somerled’s family in the western Highlands. He also covers the jarldom of Orkney, a Scandinavian lordship divided between involvement in and allegiance to Scotland and Norway until the later fifteenth century. This book traces the complex story of the kings and lesser lords who ruled the region and the continuing autonomy of the area’s clans until the catastrophe of 1745–46 when those clans loyal to their traditional sovereigns were decimated for backing the Stuart invasion. The London government then suppressed an entire culture. The story shows the dynamics of a richly varied world alien to centralised modern Britain.

The Welsh kings and queens who ruled prior to the Norman Conquest of Wales are shrouded in mystery. Most of what we know is from legend, names in annals, and from their opponents. This book sets out to identify what we know or can reasonably surmise about these rulers, to disentangle their history, and to assess their achievements. The Welsh ruled over large areas of Britain in the pre- and post- Roman eras, before they were pushed back into Wales itself by the Anglo-Saxons. Caratacus and Boudicca are names that stand out from early tribal states, and medieval Welsh legends refer to shadowy ‘High Kings’ who ruled after the Romans left – Vortigern, Ambrosius, and, of course, the enigmatic ‘Arthur’. Venning explores these mysterious figures before discussing the kings and queens of each area of what we now know as Wales – the north, the centre and south-west, and the south-east – as well as the short-lived Welsh states in the rest of Britain. The thirteenth-century unifiers of Wales, Llywelyn ‘Fawr’ and his grandson Llywelyn ‘the Last’, were contemporaries of great nation-builders in England, Scotland, and France, but their political achievements did not last. The precarious Welsh state was permanently overrun by the English war machine.

A Chronology of the Crusades provides a day-by-day development of the Crusading movement, the Crusades and the states created by them through the medieval period. Beginning in the run-up to the First Crusade in 1095, to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and ending with the Turkish attack on Belgrade in 1456, this reference is a comprehensive guide to the events of each Crusade, concentrating on the Near East, but also those Christian expeditions sanctioned by the Papacy as ‘Crusades’ in the medieval era. As well as clashes between Christians and Muslims in the Latin States, Timothy Venning also chronicles the Albigensian Crusade, clashes in Anatolia and the Balkans and the Reconquista in the Iberian Peninsula. Both detailed and accessible, this chronology draws together material from contemporary Latin/Frankish, Byzantine and Arab/Muslim sources with assessment and explanation to produce a readable narrative which gives students an in-depth overview of one of the most enduringly fascinating periods in medieval history. Including an introduction by Peter Frankopan which summarises and contextualises the period, this book is an essential resource for students and academics alike.

The Anglo-Saxon era is one of the most important in English history, covering the period from the end of Roman authority in the British Isles to the Norman Conquest of 1066 in which the very idea of England was born. In The Kings& Queens of Anglo-Saxon England, Venning examines the rulers of Anglo-Saxon England, beginning with the legendary leaders of the Anglo-Saxon invasion as Hengest and Horsa or Cerdic and Cynric and moving on through such figures as Aethelbert of Kent, the first king to be converted to Christianity and his daughter Aethelburh, whose marriage began the conversion of Northumbria, to Alfred of Wessex and his dynasty, the Viking invasions, and the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, Harold Godwineson.

A considered attempt to set out what we can know about the rulers of what is now Wales in the early medieval period, Timothy Venning's new book does not shy away from problems of dating and interpretation in the use of the meagre source material. Venning takes a regional approach, and rather than try to provide a water-tight narrative is happy to present different possibilities and traditions, weighing up their likelihood and pointing the reader in the direction of further discussion as necessary. The book starts with coverage of the Iron Age background, as well as the shadowy post-Roman era, finishing with the period of Anglo-Norman expansion and Welsh resistance and co-existence for which we are on much firmer ground.

The Anglo-Saxon era is one of the most important in English history, covering the period from the end of Roman authority in the British Isles to the Norman Conquest of 1066 in which the very idea of England was born. Starting off with an examination of the problematic textual sources and the historiography, Timothy Venning argues that is time to return to a more linear view of this period and to re-examine ideas about the Anglo-Saxon settlement of England. In The Anglo-Saxon Kings, the author examines the rulers of Anglo-Saxon England, those whom the sources tell us most about, beginning with the legendary leaders of the Anglo-Saxon invasion as Hengest and Horsa or Cerdic and Cynric and moving on through such figures as A thelberht of Kent, who received the mission led by Augustine of Canterbury to re-Christianise England, Saint Oswald of Northumbria to Alfred of Wessex and his dynasty, the Viking invasions, and the last of the Anglo-Saxon kings, Harold Godwineson.

What might have happened in Roman and Byzantine times

The Compendium of British Office Holders provides a comprehensive guide to holders of British Political, Administrative, Military and Ecclesiastical offices since the Roman conquest, giving names, dates and the length offices were held for governmental positions. It is the first such collection of this type of research data since Haydn's Dictionary of Dates was published back in 1894 and will provide the reader with quick and easy access to specific factual information for research.

The Compendium of British Office Holders provides a comprehensive guide to holders of British Political, Administrative, Military and Ecclesiastical offices since the Roman conquest, giving names, dates and the length offices were held for governmental positions. It is the first such collection of this type of research data since Haydn's Dictionary of Dates was published back in 1894 and will provide the reader with quick and easy access to specific factual information for research.