The birthplace of Robin Hood

The birthplace of Robin Hood

In 1637 John Harrison visited Loxley while compiling his history of Sheffield. He records that a local man pointed out to him a few stones lying in a field a little outside the village. These, Harrison was told, were the ruins of the cottage where Robin Hood had been born. No doubt Harrison was telling the truth, but there is no way of knowing if the local man was passing on a genuine tradition dating back to the middle ages or pulling Harrison’s leg. By this date the Locksley birthplace of Robin Hood had become famous so the local inhabitants may have simply invented the fact that the outlaw had been born in the ruined cottage for the benefit of visitors. 

 

Loxley

Ancient water troughs in the Yorkshire village of Loxley catch natural spring water. Robin Hood is said to have been born in a cottage, now demolished, near this spring.

Nicky Morgan MP and “The Civil War in Loughborough” New Book Released Today

Loughborough MP, Nicky Morgan, has written a children's activity non-fiction book about Loughborough during the Civil War, published today.

It is time to explore the past with this fantastically fun “cut out and play” title packed with amazing facts, fun activities, cut-out characters to colour in, puzzles and more interesting information than you can shake a stick at.

With a bold and accessible look, this title allows younger readers to discover why holding a match at night was a really bad idea, how spending a penny could get you thrown in prison and what to do if you met a man named Praise God Barebone.

Fun, informative and educational, this is how to get children interested in history.

About the Author

Rt Hon Nicola Morgan MP is Member of Parliament for Loughborough and was fascinated to learn that her constituency played such a significant role in the English Civil War - with a battle being fought almost on her own doorstep

Note to Editor : Author Nicky Morgan is available for interview through Editorial Director Rupert Matthews on 07721 455944.

Attached photos show:

1) The Book cover

2) Author Mrs Nicky Morgan MP

3) Artworks from the book

NB Other photos are available on request

About the Book

Title:               The Civil War in Loughborough

Author            Rt Hon Nicola Morgan MP

ISBN                978-1-910440-28-5

Publisher       Bretwalda Books

Price               £4.99

NEW EBOOK - The Discerning Mercenary's Guide to the 100 Years War

NEW EBOOK - The Discerning Mercenary's Guide to the 100 Years War

The Past, as they say, is Another Country. Now there is a guide book to Britain and France as they were during The Hundred Years War of 1337-1453. Technically that is 116 years, but that’s history for you.
Written by Dr Lee Rotherham this book tells the modern reader everything they would need to know when visiting this war torn period of our past some 600 years ago.
Written as if it were a guide book to be used by a visiting medieval tourist, and illustrated, this book is the essential guidebook to The Hundred Years War.
You will learn the difference between Armagnac and Burgundy (the people not the drinks), get to decide if Joan of Arc is God’s lieutenant on Earth (the French view) or a crazed cross-dresser (the English view), view the glories of Rheims, meet the last Prince of the Welsh, have a chat with the first man to speak modern English and learn the best way to avoid the plague like, err, the plague.
So this handbook is part survival guide, part tome to assist in cultural acclimatisation, part aide-memoire to help manage expectations in what remains a pretty vicious period of our past.

About the Author

Dr Lee Rotherham is author of the previous titles in this series “The Discerning Barbarian’s Guide to Roman Britain” and ““The Discerning Gentleman’s Guidebook to Britain’s American Colonies - 1770s Edition”.

Lee is an historian, political consultant, and writer with a distant background in mediaeval French and Occitan. His interest in the Hundred Years’ War was first piqued during breaks from teaching English in France, spent driving around the castles and battlefields of the Loire in an absurdly green Renault 6.
A part-time soldier, his military incursions have since led him to reconnoitring Iraq’s archaeological sites in a helicopter, pondering over ancient forts in the Afghan desert, and stomping through undergrowth in the retirement town of Scipio Africanus. When not worrying about the national debt or researching arcana about the activities of the European Union (of which there are, sadly, many), he spends his free time wondering where to store a troublingly large photo collection.


Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1 An Introduction for Mediaeval Tourists
Chapter 2 Planning Your Visit
Chapter 3 Information for Business Visitors
Chapter 4 The War Itself
Chapter 5 Meet and Greet
Chapter 6 Where to Visit
Chapter 7 1453 and All that
Acknowledgments
Further Study
About the Author

Get your copy HERE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Discerning-Mercenarys-Guide-100-Years-ebook/dp/B00TEBVSIY/ref=sr_1_1_twi_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426232660&sr=1-1&keywords=bretwalda+mercenary+discerning

Chinese Signal Gun

Chinese Signal Gun




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A Chinese signal gun made in the 18th century. The bronze weapon has a pair of lugs to fix it to the wooden stock in which it was originally held. Bronze was favoured for gun barrels at this date as methods of casting iron were prone to create tiny flaws that might cause the barrel to burst when fired. The dragon writhing along the barrel has four claws on each foot, marking this as part of the arsenal of a nobleman. Imperial forces would have been decorated with the five toed dragon of the Emperor.   

from "Rifles" by Rupert Matthews
Get your copy HERE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rifles-Illustrated-History-Weapons-Matthews/dp/1743630573/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426071116&sr=1-1&keywords=rupert+matthews+rifles

Short-lived peace with France - 1803

Short-lived peace with France - 1803

Bonaparte worked over the next few months not only to consolidate his own power within the new military government, but also to achieve peace. In 1801 France signed the Treaty of Luneville with Austria and her allies, then the following year came the Treaty of Amiens with Britain and her allies. Europe was at peace.

It was not to last. When British Prime Minister Henry Addington announced the terms of the Treaty of Amiens there was outrage among the merchants and gentry. Key trading posts, such as Malta in the Mediterranean and Pondicherry in India, were to be handed back to France and Britain was getting little in return. In January 1802 France annexed the Cisalpine Republic, a large area of northern Italy. Although this was not a breach of the Treaty of Amiens it was a clearly aggressive move that confirmed to anti-Treaty forces in Britain that Napoleon was up to no good. The view was strengthened by the French invasion of Switzerland to impose pro-French officials on the locals. The Russian Tsar Alexander I was equally alarmed by the activities of French agents in the Baltic and northern Germany. They seemed to be working toward fomenting liberal revolutions and were promising that the French army would march to the aid of the uprisings.

In February 1803 Napoleon summoned the British ambassador to France, Lord Whitworth to a meeting. Napoleon raged at Whitworth about the failure of Britain to comply with the terms of the treaty, especially the handing over of Malta, and angrily refused to listen to any excuses or to hear anything about French actions. Whitworth left convinced that Napoleon was looking for an excuse to declare war against Britain while keeping at peace with the rest of Europe.

If war did come, and when news of the Whitworth interview became public nearly everyone thought it would come, then a key naval battleground was bound to be the Indian Ocean. Napoleon knew this as well as anyone, which was why he sent for two seasoned campaigners: Admiral Charles-Alexandre Linois and General Charles Decean to give them a powerful military force and some top-secret orders.

from The Battle of Pulu Aor
Get your ebook copy HERE

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Pulu-Bretwalda-Battles-Book-ebook/dp/B008CQ4HJO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425460370&sr=1-1&keywords=bretwalda+pulu