Books with author William Stobbs

Like millions of my race, my mother and father were born slaves, but were not contented to live and die so. My father purchased himself in early manhood by hard toil. Mother saw no way for herself and children to escape the horrors of bondage but by flight. Bravely, with her four little ones, with firm faith in God and an ardent desire to be free, she forsook the prison-house, and succeeded, through the aid of my father, to reach a free State. Here life had to be begun anew. The old familiar slave names had to be changed, and others, for prudential reasons, had to be found. This was not hard work. However, hardly months had passed ere the keen scent of the slave-hunters had trailed them to where they had fancied themselves secure. In those days all power was in the hands of the oppressor, and the capture of a slave mother and her children was attended with no great difficulty other than the crushing of freedom in the breast of the victims. Without judge or jury, all were hurried back to wear the yoke again. But back this mother was resolved never to stay. She only wanted another opportunity to again strike for freedom. In a few months after being carried back, with only two of her little ones, she took her heart in her hand and her babes in her arms, and this trial was a success. Freedom was gained, although not without the sad loss of her two older children, whom she had to leave behind. Mother and father were again reunited in freedom, while two of their little boys were in slavery. What to do for them other than weep and pray, were questions unanswerable. For over forty years the mother's heart never knew what it was to be free from anxiety about her lost boys. But no tidings came in answer to her many prayers, until one of them, to the great astonishment of his relatives, turned up in Philadelphia, nearly fifty years of age, seeking his long-lost parents.

"My intention in this work is not to treat the history of Germany so much in its imperial as in its national aspect, and that intention will be carried out as rigorously as possible by the exclusion of all imperial questions which do not touch German life and nationality, such as all minute investigations into the imperial policy in Italy, and the antagonism outside of Germany between the imperial and papal ideas. This plan I have attempted hitherto to pursue, even at periods at which the personal history of the popes and emperors was most closely interwoven; and it ought not to be less easy to do so in periods like that to which we are coming, in which the Italian campaigns of the emperors became few and far between, and their influence upon the papacy was being quickly reduced to a shadow of what it had been..." - William Stubbs Contents: I. Germany in the twelfth century - The chief points in its history between 1200 and 1600 - The Empire and the Papacy - The death of Frederick Barbarossa, an epoch in German history. II. Frederick II. - His supremacy in Italy - its fatal effects - The nine years of peace - The great Diet at Mainz - Election of Innocent IV., 1243 - Its importance - Deposition of Frederick, 1245 - His death, 1250 - Conradin's fate. III. Events in Germany and Italy after Frederick's death - William, Count of Holland - Conrad's death, 1254 - Death of William of Holland, 1256 - Election of Richard of Cornwall and of Alfonso X. of Castile as rival emperors, 1257 - Richard's fortunes in Germany - Battle of Benevento, 1265 - Battle of Tagliacozzo, 1268 - Death of Conradin - Death of Richard of Cornwall, 1272. IV. The year 1272 - Political situation in Germany - The rise of new families in Germany - The Princes - The Diet - Imperial elections - The electors - Rudolf of Hapsburg - His election as emperor - His reign - His relations with Burgundy and England.V. Rudolf's immediate successors - Adolf - His relations with England - Loss of Burgundy - Albert of Hapsburg - His relations with Bohemia, Hungary, and Switzerland - His character - Accession of Henry VII. - Attitude towards the Papacy - The Templars - His expedition to Italy - His death, 1313. VI. Disputed succession in the Empire - Frederick of Austria - Lewis of Bavaria - John XXII.'s intervention - Success of Lewis - Expedition to Italy - Death of John XXII, 1334 - Germany and the Hundred Years' War - Crecy - Condition of Germany - The growing independence of Switzerland - Death of Lewis, 1347. VII. Charles IV. - Günther of Schwartzburg - The Golden Bull - Its provisions - Its significance - The Tyrol - His rule in Germany - Crowned King of Arles, 1365 - Relations with England and France - His character. VIII. Political condition of Europe at the close of the fourteenth century - Richard II. - Wenzel - Charles VI. - The great schism - City leagues in Germany - Switzerland - Deposition of Wenzel - Comparison with deposition of Richard II. - Accession of Rupert of the Palatinate - His Italian expedition - The Wetterau league - Death of Rupert, 1410. IX. The disputed succession - Election of Sigismund - His previous history - The great schism - The Council of Constance - John Huss - Sigismund in France and England - Election of Martin V. - The Bohemian War - The Council of Basel - Sigismund's death, 1437 - The situation in Germany - Accession of Albert of Austria - His acts - His death, 1439. X. The reign of Frederick III. - An epoch in the history of Germany and of the Hapsburgs - The discovery of printing - Frederick's character - Close of the Council of Basel - Wars in Germany, 1440-1452 - Bohemia and Hungary - Matthias Corvinus - The Turkish invasions - Death of Filippo Maria Visconti, 1447 - John Hunyadi - Death of Albert of Austria, 1463 - Results of Frederick's reign - His son Maximilian. Xl. Accession of Maximilian I. - The Burgundian inheritance - Maximilian's position in Europe - His marriages - The Diet of Worms, 1495 - Its importance...

Germany in the later middle ages was a site of monumental turbulence and change.The Hanseatic League was revolutionizing commerce, emperors and popes were fighting over the right to control the church, the black death decimated the population, towns and cities emerged as important political entities and the infamous Habsburg family rose to become the dominant ruling family of the lands.William Stubbs’ history of Germany from the beginning thirteenth to the end of the fifteenth century provides brilliant insight into this period of transition.The lands of the Holy Roman Empire and its neighbors underwent cataclysmic transformation through the course of these centuries as they left the world of the dark ages behind and moved forward towards modernity.Famous figures from Germany’s history leap from the page, such as Frederick II, John Huss, and Maximilian I, as Stubbs’ prose brings them to life.“the account of the institutions and constitution of Germany will enable the historical student to follow and to comprehend the peculiar and exceptional developments which took place in the Holy Roman Empire.” Arthur HassallStubbs’ history of Germany from 1200 to 1500 is a magnificent book that sheds light upon an understudied period in the story of this remarkable region.William Stubbs was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford and later served as Bishop of Chester and Bishop of Oxford. Stubbs was widely considered to have been in the front rank of historical scholars both as an author and a critic, and as a master of every department of the historian's work, from the discovery of materials to the elaboration of well-founded theories and literary production. His book Germany in the Later Middle Ages, 1200-1500 was based upon a number of lectures given by Stubbs and was published in 1908. Stubbs had passed away in 1901.

The tale of bold Mister Frog, who sets out so confidently (in spite of his mother's good advice) to woo kind Mistress mouse and whose adventures end in such a disaster, is one of the liveliest and best-loved English ballads. In this picture book version by William Stobbs, Mister Frog, the charming Mistress Mouse, and the suave Mister Rat enjoy their merry-making with enormous gusto, in richly colored pictures. each verse with its cheerful refrain has a full page illustration. The careful detail in the pictures gives character to the animals, and emphasizes to the utmost the humor of the situation, which will be readily appreciated by children.