British kings & queens: The complete biographical encyclopedia of the kings & queens of Great Britain

This is perhaps the most comprehensive one volume digest of British monarchs and spans 2000 years of rulers of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and smaller kingdoms withing Britain. There are over a thousand entries. It has a section on LEGENDARY OR SEMI-HISTORICAL KINGS OF BRITAIN which includes the possibilities of who the legendary King Arthur was based on, as well as the King Lear we know from the Shakespeare play. In this section he refers to the History by Geoffrey of Monmouth, whom Ashley does not see as a very incredible historian. According to Geoffrey's History the legendary first king of Britain was Brut or Brutus who was supposed to have reigned about 1100 BCE. But Ashley says that although Geoffrey's is almost certainly a creation of his own imagination, there is no reason to disbelieve the concept of tribes of Celts arriving in Britain at this period and one strong leader emerging. The first likely British king to have been documented is Beli Mwar (circa 100 BCE). It is possible to trace most British and Welsh rulers back to Mweli. Alfred the Great (871-899 CE), the best known of the West Saxon kings earned the epithet of the 'Great' not only because he held the Saxon nation together against the Dane invaders but because he improved the strength, culture and quality of his realm. The section on kings of England tells us tat King William I The Conqueror or The Bastard, after his conquest of England, marched in 1069 against the rebels under Swein and Edgar. The author tells us that "harrying of the north was the most extreme example of despoiling and genocide that England has ever seen and for which William was never forgiven. He may have conquered them but he never ruled them". We learn that the facts about Scottish king MacBeth are not reflected at all in Shakespeare's play. As for Richard III, while Shakespeare may have greatly exaggerated his villainy, the facts bare out that he almost certainly did order the murders of the young princes of the tower, as examined in The Princes in the Tower. This book is a reference work, and can be referred to whenever reading up on British history, or historical fiction. It is also an interesting read in itself. It is crammed with interesting facts such as the existence of the heredidatary disease porphyria which has infected the English royal family for centuries. The Royal Book of Records in this digest is particularly fascinating. Since this book was written Elizabeth (Queen since 1952) has overtaken Henry III of England (56 years) and James VI of Scotland ( 57 years) . If Elizabeth is still reigning in 2012 she will have overtaken George III (59 years)and if she is still reigning in 10 September 2015, she will have overtaken Queen Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch. If she is still reigning in 2016 she will have overtaken Meurig of Gwent to be the oldest reigning monarch ever on the island of Britain. The digest takes us up to the tragic death of Princ

When I discovered my geneology search led me to the British Royal Line, I began seeking a good historical resource for further details. I was delighted to find detailed facts about members of the Royal line, along with clearly diagramed and written geneology which aided and enriched my search. This book turned out to be a terrific resource.

From the semi-legendary Beli the Great to Elizabeth the second, this book deals with many, many legends, battles, usurpations, and schisms. This book even gives astounding amounts of information about obscure and obsolete historical elements, such as the kings of Magonsaete. I found this as being my favourite history book of all time!

This is an essential Book of the British Monarchy that has helped me tremendously in doing research about all the Kings and Queens throught the history of Great Britain. It is thorough, well documented, it has essential maps and background information, not only about the Kings and Queens, but also about significant events throughout the history of this great nation. This is a book that reaffirms the importance of Great Britain in Western Civilization. The Kings and Queens from Alfred the Great to Elizabeth II are told with interesting form, as well as the Kings and Queens of Ireland, Wales, Scotland and major chieftans who had their own kingdoms in Britain during the early Middle Ages. An outstanding book that is an absolute must to anyone who wants to research the history of Great Britain.

I found this book of particular interest because I could go through it and compare the historical records of kings with the records left by Shakespeare. Macbeth, for example, was well-loved, and Richard III probably wasn't all that bad.This book includes references to mythology and legend: there's an entry for Arthur, for example. It doesn't, however, accept that things are true because someone says so; it attempts to distinguish between fact and fancy. It's handy in that sense to have this book close at hand when reading historical fiction set in early England.It's written from a definate British perspective, obvious because it cut's George III more slack than an American book would. Still, considering it's their monarchy, I guess they get to write the book.Interesting both to history buffs and laymen. Not to be missed by Anglophiles.