Kirjahaku

St Albans has an incredibly varied history and has been directly involved in major historical trends and events in Britain from the Romans to the present day. Under the Romans, Verulamium became the second largest town in Britain. The first British Christian saint, Alban, was martyred there and the Anglo-Saxon abbey built on the site became the principal medieval abbey in the country. The Dissolution of the Monasteries under Henry VIII changed the economy of the town and the landscape changed still further during the Industrial Revolution, the town becoming a city in Queen Victoria’s reign. New industries came and went, including the film industry, and today St Albans is moving towards a post-industrialist world, like much of Britain. In so many ways, the history of St Albans is both a microcosm of the history of Britain and also the story of a unique place. Illustrated throughout, this accessible historical portrait of the transformation that St Albans has undergone through the ages will be of great interest to residents, visitors and all those with links to the city.

Anne Boleyn is one of the most divisive figures in British history. Her love-match with Henry VIII and her subsequent execution at the Tower of London after only three years of marriage have made her the subject of heated debate and speculation.Everyone wants to know how she really felt and how and why she became queen: was she a ruthless schemer or was her death simply a tragic consequence of court politics?Unbiased descriptions of Anne are difficult to find: most were written after her death. Anne was effectively written out of history for the rest of Henry VIII’s reign, and that of his son, Edward VI. Her name was literally chiselled out of the fabric of Hampton Court, her badges and heraldry replaced by those of Jane Seymour.Historians continue to battle over her reputation today and the fascination with the life and death of Anne Boleyn lives on. This objective and informative book brings clarity to our view of Anne Boleyn, perhaps the most influential and important queen consort England ever had.