Dan Jones

An epic history of the Plantagenet royal dynasty traces its first king's inheritance of a violence-stricken realm through the family's growth of a powerful empire that stretched from Scotland to Jerusalem, citing the enduring influences of such figures as Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard II and King John.

The Warrior Kings and Queens who Made England

The Plantagenets

Traces the fifteenth-century civil wars that irrevocably shaped the British crown, particularly evaluating the roles of strong women including Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth Woodville, and Margaret Beaufort in shifting power between two ruling families.

The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors

The Wars of the Roses

A major new history of the knights Templar--holy warriors, bankers, priests, heretics--by the bestselling author of The Plantagenets Jerusalem 1119. A small group of knights seeking a purpose in the violent aftermath of the First Crusade decides to set up a new order. These are the first Knights of Templar, a band of elite warriors prepared to give their lives to protect Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land. Over the next two hundred years, the Templars would become the most powerful religious order of the medieval world. Their legend has inspired fervent speculation ever since. But who were they really and what actually happened? In this groundbreaking narrative history, the bestselling author of The Plantagenets tells the true story of the Templars for the first time in a generation, drawing on extensive original sources to build a gripping account of these Christian holy warriors whose heroism and depravity have so often been shrouded in myth. The Templars were protected by the pope and sworn to strict vows of celibacy. They fought the forces of Islam in hand-to-hand combat on the sun-baked hills where Jesus lived and died, finding their nemesis in Saladin, who united Syria and Egypt to drive all Christians out of the Middle East. They were experts at channeling money across borders, immune from taxation, and beyond the control of kings. They established the medieval world's first global bank and waged private wars against anyone who threatened their interests. Then, in 1307, bogged down in a faltering war in the Middle East, the order fell foul of the king of France. On Friday, October 13, hundreds of brothers were arrested en masse, imprisoned, tortured, and disbanded amid accusations of lurid sexual misconduct and heresy. They were tried by the Vatican in secret proceedings, but were they really heretics? Dan Jones goes back to the sources to tell their story, often in their own words. At once authoritative and compulsively readable, The Templars brings their dramatic tale, so relevant to our own times, to life.

The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors

The Templars

"An audacious, entertaining page-turner. Dan Jones covers a thousand years of history with elegance and panache."--Dan Carlin, host of Hardcore History The New York Times bestselling author returns with an epic history of the medieval world--a rich and complicated reappraisal of an era whose legacy and lessons we are still living with today. When the once-mighty city of Rome was sacked by barbarians in 410 and lay in ruins, it signaled the end of an era--and the beginning of a thousand years of profound transformation. In a gripping narrative bursting with big names--from St Augustine and Attila the Hun to the Prophet Muhammad and Eleanor of Aquitaine--Dan Jones charges through the history of the Middle Ages. Powers and Thrones takes readers on a journey through an emerging Europe, the great capitals of late Antiquity, as well as the influential cities of the Islamic West, and culminates in the first European voyages to the Americas. The medieval world was forged by the big forces that still occupy us today: climate change, pandemic disease, mass migration, and technological revolutions. This was the time when the great European nationalities were formed; when the basic Western systems of law and governance were codified; when the Christian Churches matured as both powerful institutions and the regulators of Western public morality; and when art, architecture, philosophical inquiry and scientific invention went through periods of massive, revolutionary change. At each stage in this story, successive western powers thrived by attracting--or stealing--the most valuable resources, ideas, and people from the rest of the world. The West was rebuilt on the ruins of an empire and emerged from a state of crisis and collapse to dominate the region and the world. Every sphere of human life and activity was transformed in the thousand years of Powers and Thrones. As we face a critical turning point in our own millennium, the legacy and lessons of how we got here matter more than ever.

A New History of the Middle Ages

Powers and Thrones

A major new history of the Crusades with an unprecedented wide scope, told in a tableau of portraits of people on all sides of the wars, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Templars. For more than one thousand years, Christians and Muslims lived side by side, sometimes at peace and sometimes at war. When Christian armies seized Jerusalem in 1099, they began the most notorious period of conflict between the two religions. Depending on who you ask, the fall of the holy city was either an inspiring legend or the greatest of horrors. In Crusaders, Dan Jones interrogates the many sides of the larger story, charting a deeply human and avowedly pluralist path through the crusading era. Expanding the usual timeframe, Jones looks to the roots of Christian-Muslim relations in the eighth century and tracks the influence of crusading to present day. He widens the geographical focus to far-flung regions home to so-called enemies of the Church, including Spain, North Africa, southern France, and the Baltic states. By telling intimate stories of individual journeys, Jones illuminates these centuries of war not only from the perspective of popes and kings, but from Arab-Sicilian poets, Byzantine princesses, Sunni scholars, Shi'ite viziers, Mamluk slave soldiers, Mongol chieftains, and barefoot friars. Crusading remains a rallying call to this day, but its role in the popular imagination ignores the cooperation and complicated coexistence that were just as much a feature of the period as warfare. The age-old relationships between faith, conquest, wealth, power, and trade meant that crusading was not only about fighting for the glory of God, but also, among other earthly reasons, about gold. In this richly dramatic narrative that gives voice to sources usually pushed to the margins, Dan Jones has written an authoritative survey of the holy wars with global scope and human focus.

The Epic History of the Wars for the Holy Lands

Crusaders

A Novel

Essex Dogs

"[Puts] the Magna Carta in its proper historical context... Dan Jones triumphantly answers the questions he poses in his Introduction, about how it came to be granted, what it meant at the time, and what it should mean to us today." --Andrew Roberts, New York Times bestselling author of Storm of War and Napoleon From the New York Times bestselling author of The Plantagenets, a short, lively, action-packed history of how the Magna Carta came to be. The Magna Carta is revered around the world as the founding document of Western liberty. Its principles can be found in our Bill of Rights and in the Constitution. But what was this strange document that dwells on tax relief and greater fishing rights, and how did it gain legendary status? In this 800th anniversary year, Dan Jones takes us back to 1215, the turbulent time when the Magna Carta was just a peace treaty between England's King John and a group of self-interested, violent barons who were tired of his high taxes and endless foreign wars. The treaty would fail within two months of its confirmation. But this important document marked the first time a king was forced to obey his own laws. Jones's Magna Carta follows the story of the Magna Carta's creation, its failure, and the war that subsequently engulfed England and is a book that will appeal to fans of microhistories of pivotal years like 1066, 1491, and especially 1776--when American patriots, inspired by that long-ago defiance, dared to pick up arms against another English king.

The Birth of Liberty

Magna Carta

A chilling medieval ghost story, first written by a 15th-century monk and now retold by historian Dan Jones.

A medieval ghost story

The Tale of the Tailor and the Three Dead Kings

The Colour of Time spans more than a hundred years of world history from the reign of Queen Victoria and the US Civil War to the Cuban Missile Crisis and beginning of the Space Age. It charts the rise and fall of empires, the achievements of science, industry and the arts, the tragedies of war and the politics of peace, and the lives of men and women who made history. The book is a collaboration between a gifted Brazilian artist and a leading British historian. Marina Amaral has created 200 stunning images, using contemporary photographs as the basis for her full-colour digital renditions and bringing each of them to life in a style uniquely her own. Dan Jones has written a narrative that anchors each image in its context, and weaves them into a vivid account of the world that made the world we live in today. A fusion of amazing pictures and well-chosen words, The Colour of Time offers a unique - and often beautiful - perspective on the past.

A New History of the Modern World 1850-1960

The Colour of Time

LGBT people are some of the coolest in history – Freddie Mercury, Divine, Virginia Woolf, Marlene Dietrich, Andy Warhol... the list goes on. Queer subculture has had an enormous impact on style, music, science, art and literature. From Oscar Wilde, who defended his homosexual relationships in court, to Rupaul acting as an ambassador for drag on network television, queer people have fought to express their identities and make a difference. This book will celebrate the lives, work, and unique perspectives of the icons who changed the world. Featuring beautifully illustrated portraits and profiles, 50 Queers Who Changed the World is a tribute to some of the most inspirational people of all time

A Celebration of LGBTQ+ Icons

50 Queers Who Changed the World

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Plantagenets and a top authority on the historical events that inspired Game of Thrones, a vivid, blood-soaked account of one of the most famous rebellions in history--the first mass uprising by the people of England against their feudal masters In the summer of 1381, ravaged by poverty and oppressed by taxes, England's villagers rose up and demanded that their voices be heard. A ragtag army, led by the mysterious Wat Tyler and the visionary preacher John Ball, was pitted against the fourteen-year-old Richard II and the most powerful lords and knights in his realm, who risked their property and their lives in a desperate battle to save the English crown. Dan Jones brings this incendiary moment vividly to life and captures the idealism and brutality of that fateful summer, when a brave group of men and women dared to challenge their overlords, demand that they be treated equally, and fight for freedom. Praise for Summer of Blood: "Hot, brave and reeking with gore." --The Times (London) "Sound scholarship and sexy writing make this . . . essential reading." --The Independent (London), Book of the Year Praise for The Plantagenets: "A real life Game of Thrones, as dramatic and blood-soaked as any work of fantasy . . . Fast-paced and accessible, The Plantagenets is old-fashioned storytelling and will be particularly appreciated by those who like their history red in tooth and claw." --The Wall Street Journal

England's First Popular Revolution

Summer of Blood

Eight generations of the greatest and worst kings and queens that this country has ever seen – from the White Ship to the Lionheart, bad King John to the Black Prince and John of Gaunt – this is the dynasty that invented England as we still know it today – great history to appeal to readers of Ken Follet, Bernard Cornwell, Tom Holland

The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England

1215 – the penultimate year of the reign of a king with the worst reputation of any in our history – saw England engulfed by crisis. Weakened by the loss of Normandy, King John faced insurrection by his disgruntled barons. With the assistance of the Archbishop of Canterbury, they drew up a list of their demands. In June, in a quiet Thames-side water-meadow, John attached his regal seal – under oath – to a charter that set limits on regal power. In return, the barons renewed their vows of fealty. Groundbreaking though 'Magna Carta' was, it had scant immediate impact as England descended into civil war that would still be raging when John died the following year. Dan Jones's vivid account of the vicissitudes of feudal power politics and the workings of 13th-century government is interwoven with a exploration of the lives of ordinary people: how and where they worked, what they wore, what they ate, and what role the Church played in their lives.

A Year in the Life of Plantagenet England

Realm Divided

'The Hollow Crown is exhilarating, epic, blood-and-roses history . . . Jones's material is thrilling . . . There is fine scholarly intuition on display here and a mastery of the grand narrative; it is a supremely skilful piece of storytelling.' Sunday Telegraph The fifteenth century saw the crown of England change hands seven times as the great families of England fought to the death for power, majesty and the right to rule. The Hollow Crown completes Dan Jones' epic history of medieval England, and describes how the Plantagenets tore themselves apart to be finally replaced by the Tudors. Some of the greatest heroes and villains in British history were thrown together in these turbulent times: Henry V, whose victory at Agincourt and prudent rule at home marked the high point of the medieval monarchy; Edward IV, who was handed his crown by the scheming soldier Warwick the Kingmaker, before their alliance collapsed into a fight to the death; and the last Plantagenet, Richard III, who stole the throne and murdered his own nephews, the Princes in the Tower. Finally, the Tudors arrived - but even their rule was only made certain in the 1520s, when Henry VIII ruthlessly hunted down his family's last remaining enemies. In the midst this tumult, chivalry was reborn, the printing press arrived and the Renaissance began to flourish. With vivid descriptions of the battle of Towton, where 28,000 men died in a single morning, and the Battle of Bosworth Field, at which Richard III was hacked down, this is the real story behind Shakespeare's famous history plays.

The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors

The Hollow Crown

Every good hero needs a villain! Explore the hidden world of magnetic and mysterious villains, often cast aside and misunderstood in tales of mythology and folklore. Through the pages of Queer Villains of Myth and Legend, discover a diverse community of fascinating characters, ranging from seductive and cunning to powerful and awe-inspiring. Experience the dark allure of Circe and Medusa through to David Bowie's Jareth in Labyrinth and delve into their complex and multifaceted personalities and motivations. Take a deep dive into the intersection of queerness and villainy, re-examine some of our favourite characters, and discover why so many 'bad' characters are queer-coded. From ancient mythology to contemporary pop culture, Queer Villains of Myth and Legend celebrates the fascinating stories of these often-overlooked characters. Join Dan Jones on a journey of discovery, as he explores the hidden depths of queer villainy and sheds light on the queer identities of these compelling figures. It's a powerful celebration of queerness through the ages in all its legendary complexity.

Queer Villains of Myth and Legend

Templars

A vivid and richly illustrated portrait of English society in the penultimate year of the reign of a king with the worst reputation of any in our history. 1215 is chiefly remembered for King John attaching his seal to Magna Carta in a quiet Thames-side water-meadow – a milestone in the history of liberty. But it was also a year of crusading and church reform, of foreign wars and dramatic sieges – a year in which London was stormed by angry barons and England invaded by a French army. As well as describing these upheavals, Dan Jones introduces us to the ordinary people of thirteenth-century England – how and where they worked, what they wore, what they ate, and what role the church played in their lives – to create a vivid gripping portrait of an extraordinary year in English history.

In the Reign of King John

"Superb historical fiction, as fresh, vivid and vital as this morning's headlines ... proves once again that nothing really changes, be it a soldier's life - or great storytelling."—Lee Child AN ENDLESS WAR. A BLOOD-SOAKED BATTLEFIELD. A BAND OF BROTHERS. The epic sequel to Essex Dogs, continuing the New York Times bestselling historian's trilogy of novels following the fortunes of ten ordinary soldiers during the Hundred Years' War. 1347. Bruised and bloodied by an epic battle at Crécy, six soldiers known as the Essex Dogs pick through the wreckage of the fighting—and their own lives. Now a new siege is beginning, and the Dogs are sent to attack the soaring walls of Calais. King Edward has vowed no Englishman will leave France ‘til this city falls. To get home, they must survive a merciless winter in a lawless camp deadlier than any battlefield. Obsessed with tracking down the vanished Captain, Loveday struggles to control his own men. Romford is haunted by the reappearance of a horrific figure from his past. And Scotsman is spiraling into a pit of drink, violence, and self-pity. The Dogs are being torn apart—but this war is far from over. It won't be long before they lose more of their own. From a vast siege camp built outside Calais' walls, to the pirate ships patrolling the harbor, and into the dark corners of oligarchs' houses, where the deals that shape—and end—lives are made, this captivating and darkly comic story brings the fourteenth century vividly to life.

Wolves of Winter

A gin manual for the home mixologist – a perfect gift or self purchase for anyone riding the gin trend Gin is the spirit of the moment. With such a huge array of new premium and imported brands hitting the US market, a little guidance is surely required. In GIN, Dan Jones introduces readers to the best gin makers on the planet, as well as some of the most exciting mixes that can be made from the spirit. If you're a fan of a classic G&T and want to take things to unchartered territories, look no further. Featuring all the staples like the Gin Fizz, Martini, and Gimlet, Dan will have you dabbling with a Pink Lady, a Negroni, and a Rhubarb Sparkler in no time. The cocktails include easy three-ingredient-recipes, from punches and apertifs to teas, martinis, and more. Dan also shares his favorite syrup recipes that will elevate your cocktail-making skills to new levels. With one bottle, you will soon be mixing over 60 drinks that will make you the life and soul of any party.

Dan Jones

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