As I’m the narrator of this online history course from historian and author Toni Mount, I just wanted to let you know that Warrior Kings of England: The Story of the Plantagenet Dynasty has launched today on MedievalCourses.com at a special price of $49 (usually $99).
This new 24 unit course (plus introduction) is completely online and can be done in your own time, so you don’t have to begin it straight away. Once you have paid for the course, you have lifetime access and there is no set start or end date. It is open to everyone internationally.
Here are the details:
What’s included: 12 hours 32 minutes of audio – both streaming and downloadable mp3 files, downloadable PDF transcripts of each lecture, end of unit quizzes, further reading list, and end of course certificate.
This twenty-four unit course explores the intriguing story of England’s longest-reigning dynasty: the Plantagenets. War seemed to dominate the lives of most Plantagenet kings, especially war with their old nemesis, the Kings of France, or else among themselves. When not buckling on their swords for battle, the Plantagenets were passionate, tempestuous and obsessive. In their case, the stuff of fiction is more often fact.
In this user-friendly course with fun quizzes, we explore the 300 years of English history from 1150-1450, from the turbulent civil war of King Stephen’s reign to the beginnings of civil war in the disastrous reign of King Henry VI – yes, history truly does repeat itself. We hear the adventures of Eleanor of Aquitaine; her sons, Richard the Lionheart and bad King John; the Black Prince; John of Gaunt; and Henry V, the hero of Agincourt. As their tales unfold, England emerges from the dark ages to become a vibrant kingdom on an international stage, with the rise of parliamentary democracy and the power of the common man.
Warrior Kings of England looks at the Crusades, Magna Carta, the city of London; revolting barons and peasants; the tragedy of the Black Death, and moments of high drama at the battles of Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt. Glory or desolation – there’s never a dull moment. Narrated by best-selling author, Claire Ridgway, and written by popular historian and medieval specialist, Toni Mount, this audio course brings to life the battle-scarred Plantagenets, the Warrior Kings of England.
Click here for more information and to enrol.
I find the Plantagenets an exciting dynasty that endured for over several hundred years, and especially the reign of Henry 11 with his turbulent warring family, he had sons which his descendant Henry V111 longed to have yet they bought him nothing but grief and it was said the betrayal of his youngest and favourite son John hastened him to his death, he was married to Eleanor Duchess of Acqutaine who was a legend in her own lifetime, it was said of her in beauty and intelligence alone she surpassed all the queens in the world, then we have Richard the Lionheart whose statue stands in Westminster yet was a most indifferent king preffering to go on his crusades and left England at the mercy of warring barons, finally his weak foolish brother John who lost his country her French territories and signed the Magna Carta which was the basis for our common law of which we know today, it is true their story is more of fiction yet as they say, truth is stranger than fiction and never more so than of the dysfunctional family of Henry 11, another controversial king Edward 1 whose sole ambition to conquer Wales and Scotland and who has been called a great and terrible king, a warrior king whose son of the same name was allegedly murdered by his wife Queen Isabella and her lover, a weak king who was said to be homosexual and gave his favourites power over the rest of his nobles and ended up a prisoner after Isabella rose the country up against him, that other most controversial of kings Richard 111 who seized the throne and by doing so led to the Wars Of The Roses and the death of his line, the last English king and whose name has gone down in history as the king who may or may not have had his nephews murdered. What a truly fascinating bunch they were and their exploits were legendary, they were descended from a fairy so legend relates of a half woman, half serpent called Melusine who was a child of the Devil, as Richard 1st once jokingly remarked ‘from the devil we came and to the devil we shall return’, their story began in legend and they became embroiled in the annals of our history, child kings and strong kings, weak kings, clever kings and unwise kings , they are all part of England’s history and shaped her path in the world, their names and deeds survive to this day and still make for exciting engrossing reading.