Translated by David Preest with introduction and notes by James G. Clark Thomas Walsingham's Chronica maiora is one of the most comprehensive and colourful chronicles to survive from medieval England. Walsingham was a monk at St Albans Abbey, a royal monastery and the premier repository of public records, and therefore well placed to observe the political machinations of this period at close hand. Moreover, he knew the monarchs and many of the nobles personally and is able to offer insights into their actions unmatched by any other authority. It is this narrative, transmitted through the popular Tudor histories of Hall, Stow and Holinshed, which provides the principle source for Shakespeare's sequence of history plays. Covering almost fifty years, the narrative provides the most authoritative account of one of the most turbulent periods in English history, from the last years of Edward III (1376-77) to the premature death of Henry V (1422). Walsingham describes the many dramas of this period in vivid detail, including the Peasants' Revolt (1381), the deposition and murder of Richard II (1399-1400), The Welsh revolt of Owain Glyn Dwr (1403) and Henry V's victory at Agincourt (1415); they are brought to life here in this new translation.

Thomas Walsingham has been described as the last of the great medieval chroniclers, and his St Albans Chronicle is arguably the most important account of English history to be written at this time. This is the first modern edition, and it provides a facing-page English translation, substantial historical commentary, and textual notes.

Chronicles of the Revolution covers one of the most controversial and shocking episodes in medieval English history, the 'tyranny' and deposition of Richard II and the usurpation of the throne by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, who became King Henry IV. Contemporaries were sharply divided about the rights and wrongs of both Richard and Henry, and this division is reflected in the texts which form the major part of the book. All the principal contemporary chronicles are represented in this volume, from the violently partisan Thomas Walsingham, chronicler of St Alban's Abbey who saw Richard as a tyrant and murderer, to the indignant Dieulacres chronicler, who claimed that the 'innocent king' was tricked into surrender by his perjured barons. This range of material is also prefaced by a substantial and stimulating introduction offering new insights into Richard's later years and the events which precipitated his downfall. Additionally, the documents are accompanied by expert commentary and analysis which guides readers while leaving them free to make the ultimate conclusions about these dramatic years. This book will be invaluable for medieval historians as well as undergraduate and postgraduate students of later medieval English history.

While Harry Lytle and his sidekick Dowling the Butcher investigate the grisly murder of the Earl of St. Albans, they thwart plots on their lives as subsequent murders follow and the Black Plague wreaks havoc on 1665 London.