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Foundation

by Peter Ackroyd

Book 1 in the The History of England series.

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Foundation begins with the first settlement of the land that became England and follows its history through Roman rule, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Viking incursions and the Norman Conquest. It then traces the Plantagenet monarchy, the growth of common law and Parliament, conflict with France, plague and rebellion, the Wars of the Roses and the establishment of Tudor rule under Henry VII.

Alongside dynastic and military history, the book reconstructs how people worshipped, worked, ate, travelled and organised their communities. Archaeological evidence, chronicles and surviving institutions are used to show how successive populations and conquerors reshaped the country while older patterns of landscape, custom and government endured.

Historical periods

Anglo-Saxon England Wars of the Roses Medieval England after the Norman Conquest Early Tudor Consolidation Roman Britain

Genres

Political History

Historical people

Henry VII1457–1509 Henry II of England1133–1189 Richard I of England1157–1199 John, King of England1166–1216 Edward IV1442–1483 Richard III1452–1485 Richard II1367–c. 1400 Henry VI1421–1471 Henry V of England1386–1422 William the Conqueror1028–1087 Harold Godwinson1022–1066 Edward I of England1239–1307 Edward the Confessordied 1066 Edward III of England1312–1377 Cnut the Great994–1035

Series reading order

Books in The History of England

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