Books with author Jane Abbott

Quite possibly the most depraved, sickeningly sick, malicious emperor to have ever reigned over the Roman Empire, Nero is presented here in all his horror. Abbott's biography delves into the life and history of the monstrosity known as Nero, whose only real lament came at the end of his life, worried about humanity that such a genius as his should have to pass away. Illustrated throughout to enhance the reading experience.Contents include:Nero's MotherThe Assassination of CaligulaThe Accession of Claudius.The Fate of MessalinaThe Childhood of NeroNero an EmperorBritannicusThe Fate of AgrippinaExtreme DepravityPiso's ConspiracyThe Fate of the ConspiratorsThe Expedition into GreeceNero's End

William the Conqueror was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. The descendant of Viking raiders, he had been Duke of Normandy since 1035 under the style William II. After a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands and by difficulties with his eldest son.The impact on England of William's conquest was profound; changes in the Church, aristocracy, culture, and language of the country have persisted into modern times. The Conquest brought the kingdom into closer contact with France and forged ties between France and England that lasted throughout the Middle Ages. Another consequence of William's invasion was the sundering of the formerly close ties between England and Scandinavia. William's government blended elements of the English and Norman systems into a new one that laid the foundations of the later medieval English kingdom. How abrupt and far-reaching the changes were is still a matter of debate among historians, with some such as Richard Southern claiming that the Conquest was the single most radical change in European history between the Fall of Rome and the 20th century.

Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685)[c] was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War. Although the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II King on 5 February 1649, England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth, and the country was a de facto republic, led by Oliver Cromwell. Cromwell defeated Charles II at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, and Charles fled to mainland Europe. Cromwell became virtual dictator of England, Scotland and Ireland, and Charles spent the next nine years in exile in France, the Dutch Republic, and the Spanish Netherlands.A political crisis that followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On 29 May 1660, his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649.Charles's English parliament enacted laws known as the Clarendon Code, designed to shore up the position of the re-established Church of England. Charles acquiesced to the Clarendon Code even though he favoured a policy of religious tolerance. The major foreign policy issue of his early reign was the Second Anglo-Dutch War. In 1670, he entered into the secret treaty of Dover, an alliance with his first cousin King Louis XIV of France. Louis agreed to aid him in the Third Anglo-Dutch War and pay him a pension, and Charles secretly promised to convert to Catholicism at an unspecified future date. Charles attempted to introduce religious freedom for Catholics and Protestant dissenters with his 1672 Royal Declaration of Indulgence, but the English Parliament forced him to withdraw it. In 1679, Titus Oates's revelations of a supposed "Popish Plot" sparked the Exclusion Crisis when it was revealed that Charles's brother and heir (James, Duke of York) was a Catholic. The crisis saw the birth of the pro-exclusion Whig and anti-exclusion Tory parties. Charles sided with the Tories, and, following the discovery of the Rye House Plot to murder Charles and James in 1683, some Whig leaders were executed or forced into exile. Charles dissolved the English Parliament in 1681, and ruled alone until his death on 6 February 1685. He was received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed.Charles was popularly known as the Merry Monarch, in reference to both the liveliness and hedonism of his court and the general relief at the return to normality after over a decade of rule by Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans. Charles's wife, Catherine of Braganza, bore no live children, but Charles acknowledged at least twelve illegitimate children by various mistresses. He was succeeded by his brother James.

William I (Old Norman: Williame I; Old English: Willelm I; c. 1028[1] – 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard,[2][a] was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087. The descendant of Viking raiders, he had been Duke of Normandy since 1035. After a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands and by difficulties with his eldest son.William was the son of the unmarried Robert I, Duke of Normandy, by Robert's mistress Herleva. His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, as did the anarchy that plagued the first years of his rule. During his childhood and adolescence, members of the Norman aristocracy battled each other, both for control of the child duke and for their own ends. In 1047 William was able to quash a rebellion and begin to establish his authority over the duchy, a process that was not complete until about 1060. His marriage in the 1050s to Matilda of Flanders provided him with a powerful ally in the neighbouring county of Flanders. By the time of his marriage, William was able to arrange the appointments of his supporters as bishops and abbots in the Norman church. His consolidation of power allowed him to expand his horizons, and by 1062 William was able to secure control of the neighbouring county of Maine.In the 1050s and early 1060s William became a contender for the throne of England, then held by the childless Edward the Confessor, his first cousin once removed. There were other potential claimants, including the powerful English earl Harold Godwinson, who was named the next king by Edward on the latter's deathbed in January 1066. William argued that Edward had previously promised the throne to him, and that Harold had sworn to support William's claim. William built a large fleet and invaded England in September 1066, decisively defeating and killing Harold at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066. After further military efforts William was crowned king on Christmas Day 1066, in London. He made arrangements for the governance of England in early 1067 before returning to Normandy. Several unsuccessful rebellions followed, but by 1075 William's hold on England was mostly secure, allowing him to spend the majority of the rest of his reign on the continent.William's final years were marked by difficulties in his continental domains, troubles with his eldest son, and threatened invasions of England by the Danes. In 1086 William ordered the compilation of the Domesday Book, a survey listing all the landholders in England along with their holdings. William died in September 1087 while leading a campaign in northern France, and was buried in Caen. His reign in England was marked by the construction of castles, the settling of a new Norman nobility on the land, and change in the composition of the English clergy. He did not try to integrate his various domains into one empire, but instead continued to administer each part separately. William's lands were divided after his death: Normandy went to his eldest son, Robert, and his second surviving son, William, received England.

A beautiful story of the earliest days of Rome, starting with the frenzied escape of Aeneas from falling Troy and his subsequent arrival in Latium, to the bitter rivalry between twin brothers Romulus and Remus, finally culminating in the mythical founding of Rome. Illustrated throughout to enhance the reading experience, "Romulus" is formatted for Kindle devices and the Kindle for iOS apps.Contents include:CADMUS.Cadmus's Letters.The Story of Æneas.The Destruction of Troy.The Flight of Æneas.The Landing in Latium.Rhea Silvia.The Twins.The Founding of Rome.Organization.Wives.The Conclusion.

Nero (/ˈnɪəroʊ/; Latin: Nerō Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus;[1] 15 December 37 AD – 9 June 68 AD)[2] was Roman Emperor from 54 to 68, and the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his grand-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne in 54 following Claudius' death.Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade and enhancing the cultural life of the Empire, but according to the historian Tacitus he was viewed by the Roman people as compulsive and corrupt. He ordered theatres built and promoted athletic games. During his reign, the redoubtable general Corbulo conducted a successful war and negotiated peace with the Parthian Empire. His general Suetonius Paulinus crushed a revolt in Britain. Nero annexed the Bosporan Kingdom to the Empire and began the First Jewish–Roman War.In 64 AD, most of Rome was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome, which many Romans believed Nero himself had started in order to clear land for his planned palatial complex, the Domus Aurea. In 68, the rebellion of Vindex in Gaul and later the acclamation of Galba in Hispania drove Nero from the throne. Facing a false report of being denounced as a public enemy who was to be executed, he committed suicide on 9 June 68 (the first Roman emperor to do so).[3] His death ended the Julio-Claudian Dynasty, sparking a brief period of civil wars known as the Year of the Four Emperors. Nero's rule is often associated with tyranny and extravagance.[4] He is known for many executions, including that of his mother,[5] and the probable murder by poison of his stepbrother Britannicus.Nero was rumored to have had captured Christians dipped in oil and set on fire in his garden at night as a source of light.[6] This view is based on the writings of Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, the main surviving sources for Nero's reign, but a few surviving sources paint Nero in a more favourable light.[7] Some sources, including some mentioned above, portray him as an emperor who was popular with the common Roman people, especially in the East.[8] Some modern historians question the reliability of ancient sources when reporting on Nero's tyrannical acts.

An excellent introductory history of King Richard the Third of England. Fully illustrated throughout to enhance the reading experience. Contents include:Richard's Mother.Richard's Father.The Childhood of Richard III.Accession of Edward IV., Richard's elder Brother.Warwick, the King-Maker.The Downfall of York.The Downfall of Lancaster.Richard's Marriage.End of the Reign of Edward.Richard and Edward V.Taking Sanctuary.Richard Lord Protector.Proclaimed King.The Coronation.The Fate of the Princes.Domestic Troubles.The Field of Bosworth.

It is the object of this series of histories to present a clear, distinct,and connected narrative of the lives of those great personages whohave in various ages of the world made themselves celebrated asleaders among mankind, and, by the part they have taken in thepublic affairs of great nations, have exerted the widest influence onthe history of the human race. The end which the author has had inview is twofold: first, to communicate such information in respect tothe subjects of his narratives as is important for the general reader topossess; and, secondly, to draw such moral lessons from the eventsdescribed and the characters delineated as they may legitimatelyteach to the people of the present age. Though written in a direct andsimple style, they are intended for, and addressed to, mindspossessed of some considerable degree of maturity, for such mindsonly can fully appreciate the character and action which exhibitsitself, as nearly all that is described in these volumes does, in closecombination with the conduct and policy of governments, and thegreat events of international history.

It is the object of this series of histories to present a clear, distinct,and connected narrative of the lives of those great personages whohave in various ages of the world made themselves celebrated asleaders among mankind, and, by the part they have taken in thepublic affairs of great nations, have exerted the widest influence onthe history of the human race. The end which the author has had inview is twofold: first, to communicate such information in respect tothe subjects of his narratives as is important for the general reader topossess; and, secondly, to draw such moral lessons from the eventsdescribed and the characters delineated as they may legitimatelyteach to the people of the present age. Though written in a direct andsimple style, they are intended for, and addressed to, mindspossessed of some considerable degree of maturity, for such mindsonly can fully appreciate the character and action which exhibitsitself, as nearly all that is described in these volumes does, in closecombination with the conduct and policy of governments, and thegreat events of international history.

Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East,[9] expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia and the Caucasus. From the Mediterranean Sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had yet seen. His regal titles in full were The Great King, King of Persia, King of Anshan, King of Media, King of Babylon, King of Sumer and Akkad, and King of the Four Corners of the World. He also proclaimed what has been identified by scholars and archaeologists to be the oldest known declaration of human rights, which was transcribed onto the Cyrus Cylinder sometime between 539 and 530 BC.

Three thousand years is a period of time long enough to produce great changes, and in the course of that time a great many different nations and congeries of nations were formed in the regions of Central Asia. The term Tartars has been employed generically to denote almost the whole race. The Monguls are a portion of this people, who are said to derive their name from Mongol Khan, one of their earliest and most powerful chieftains. The descendants of this khan called themselves by his name, just as the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob called themselves Israelites, or children of Israel, from the name Israel, which was one of the designations of the great patriarch from whose twelve sons the twelve tribes of the Jews descended. The country inhabited by the Monguls was called Mongolia…