John's mother died in 1394 when he was but five years old, in 1399 his father Henry of Bolingbroke, a grandson of Edward III, usurped the throne of his cousin Richard II and was crowned Henry IV. The ...

Isabella of Valois the second wife of Richard II was born in Paris on 9 November 1389 and was the daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife Isabeau of Bavaria. Isabella was born at a time of ...

The Act of Supremacy, passed in 1534, established King Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the English Church. The Reformation Parliament of 1529-1536 approved the king's break with the see of Rome, as ...

Hardicanute, or Harthacnut, the son of King Canute and Emma of Normandy, who was born soon after the couple's marriage. Hardicanute spent his childhood in Denmark, where he was sent by his father.

One of the most outstanding female figures of the Middle Ages and a fascinating character in her own right, Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine and Countess of Poitou was born around 1122, the daughter of ...

No other ruler in England's long and varied history has been honoured with the title the Great. Alfred once declared his intention "To live worthily as long as I live and after my life to leave to ...

The child was christened at Winchester Cathedral, his godfathers were John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby and Lord Maltravers, Elizabeth Woodville, widow of Edward IV ...

The Neville family, powerful in the north of England for centuries, surprisingly originated from Anglo-Saxon, not Norman stock, and had most probably been part of the pre-conquest aristocracy of ...

Morcar was the younger son of Ælfgifu, daughter of Morcar and Ælfgar, earl of Mercia, one of the most powerful earldoms of Anglo- Saxon England, and grandson of Leofric and Godiva, who, according to ...

Cynegils became ruler of the Saxon kingdom of Wessex circa 611 following the death of King Ceolwulf. His relationship with Ceolwulf is unclear. West Saxon sources are contradictory on the matter of ...

George Plantagenet, Shakespeare's, 'false, fleeting, perjured Clarence', was the third surviving son of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (1411-60), and Cecily Neville (1415-95) and was born on on 21 ...

The charismatic Edward III, one of the most dominant personalities of his age, was the son of Edward II and Isabella of France. He was born at Windsor Castle on 13th of November, 1312 and created Earl ...