The first Baron John Maltravers led an extraordinary life. Knighted at the age of sixteen, he was taken prisoner at Bannockburn a few years later. As an associate of Roger Mortimer, he was a jailer of the deposed Edward II. On the fall of Mortimer, Maltravers was tried for treason and sentenced to death, but he had already fled abroad. His involuntary exile continued for twenty years. No attempt was made to capture him or to bring him to justice. By the time he returned to England, his only son had died in the Black Death, and Baron John’s heirs were his two granddaughters. His surviving granddaughter, Eleanor, married into the noble Arundel family, and by a quirk of fate her descendants became Earls of Arundel, as well as Barons Maltravers, titles which are borne by their descendant, the Duke of Norfolk, to this day. This fascinating history contains references to both published and unpublished sources, setting the lives of the Maltraverses in the context of national events. Illustrated with maps, photographs and family trees, the book provides readers with a detailed account of life in these turbulent times.

The Edwardian castles of north Wales were built by a Savoyard master mason, but also by many other artisans from Savoy. What is more extraordinary, is that the constables of Flint, Rhuddlan, Conwy and Harlech were also Savoyards, the Justiciar and Deputy Justiciar at Caernarfon were Savoyards and the head of the English army leading the relief of the sieges of Flint and Rhuddlan was a future Count of Savoy. The explanatory story is fundamentally of two men, the builder of castles, Master James of St George and Justiciar Sir Othon de Grandson, and the relationship of these two men with King Edward I. But it is also the story of many others, a story that begins with the marriage of Alianor de Provence to Edward’s father, Henry III, and the influx of her kinsmen to England, such as Pierre de Savoie. It is impossible to understand the development of the castles in north Wales without an understanding of the Savoyards, where they came from and their impact on English and Welsh history. The defining work of Arnold Taylor in exploring the Savoyard history of Welsh castles is now many years past, and mostly out of print, it is time for the story to be revisited and expanded upon, in the light of new evidence.

Traditionally, the Wars of the Roses – one of the bloodiest conflicts on English soil – began in 1455, when the Duke of York attacked King Henry VI's army in the narrow streets of St Albans. But this conflict did not spring up overnight. Blood Roses traces it back to the beginning. Starting in 1245 with the founding of the House of Lancaster, Kathryn Warner follows a twisted path of political intrigue, bloody war and fascinating characters for 200 years. From the Barons Wars to the overthrowing of Edward II, Eleanor of Castile to Isabella of France, and true love to Loveday, this is a new look at an infamous era. The first book to look at the origins of both houses, Blood Roses reframes some of the biggest events of the medieval era; not as stand-alone conflicts, but as part of a long-running family feud that would have drastic consequences.