The Grammar of History

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Great Siege of Malta 1565 A.D.

The Great Siege of Malta 1565 A.D.

Watch 10 minutes of a great documentary

A knight of the White Cross; a tale of the siege of Rhodes - 1480 A.D.

A Knight of the White Cross; a tale of the siege of Rhodes By G.A. Henty

Young Gervaise Tresham leaves England and the turmoil of the Wars of the Roses to become a Knight of St. John. Starting as a page of the Grand Master, Gervaise quickly attains knighthood and defends Europe and Christendom against the anarchy of piracy in the Mediterranean at that time and the expansion of the Turkish empire. Sir Tresham is there to defend the fortress at Rhodes during the first siege of that city by Soleiman.

(~466 pg)Read Online
(28 MB)PDF
(~466 pg)EPUB (beta)
(~466 pg)Kindle (beta)
(~466 pg)Daisy (beta)
(860 KB)Full Text
(9.85 MB)DjVu

PREFACE. 

The order of the Knights of St. John, which for some 
centuries played a very important part in the great struggle 
between Christianity and Mahomedanism, was, at its origin, 
a semi-religious body, its members being, like other monks, 
bound by vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty, and pledged 
to minister to the wants of the pilgrims who flocked to the 
Holy Places, to receive them at their great Hospital or guest 
house at Jerusalem, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and 
to defend them on their passage to and from the sea, against 
attack by Moslems. In a comparatively short time the constitution

of the order was changed, and the Knights Hospitallers became,

like the Templars, a great military Order pledged to defend the Holy

Sepulchre, and to war everywhere against the Moslems. The Hospitallers

bore a leading share in the struggle which terminated in the triumph of the 
Moslems, and the capture by them of Jerusalem. The Knights 
of St. John then established themselves at Acre, but after a 
valiant defence of that fortress, removed to Crete, and shortly 
afterwards to Ehodes. There they fortified the town, and 
withstood two terrible sieges by the Turks. At the end of 
the second they obtained honourable terms from Sultan Solyman, and

retiring to Malta established themselves there in an even stronger fortress

than that of Ehodes, and repulsed all the efforts of the Turks to dispossess

them. The Order was the great bulwark of Christendom against the invasion 
of the Turks, and the tale of their long struggle is one of absorbing

interest, and of the many eventful episodes none is more full of incident

and excitement than the first siege of Rhodes, which I have chosen for the

subject of my story. 

G. A. HENTY

The Siege of Rhodes

Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Hundred Years War

First Lessons in Geography

There is so much History we can learn through studying Geography.

First Lessons in Geography by Monteith, James

Thursday, January 28, 2010

1415 A.D. At Agincourt: a tale of the white hoods of Paris

At Agincourt: a tale of the white hoods of Paris

By G.A. Henty

The story begins in a grim feudal castle in Normandie, on the old frontier between France and England, where the lad Guy Aylmer had gone to join his father's old friend Sir Eustace de Villeroy. The times were troublous and soon the French king compelled Lady Margaret de Villeroy with her children to go to Paris as hostages for Sir Eustace's loyalty. Guy Aylmer went with her as her page and body-guard. Paris was turbulent and the populace riotous. Soon the guild of the butchers, adopting white hoods as their uniform, seized the city, and besieged the house where our hero and his charges lived. After desperate fighting, the white hoods were beaten and our hero and his charges escaped from the city, and from France. He came back to share in the great battle of Agincourt, and when peace followed returned with honor to England.

(~444 pg)Read Online
(18 MB)PDF
(17 MB)B/W PDF
(~444 pg)EPUB (beta)
(~444 pg)Kindle (beta)
(~444 pg)Daisy (beta)
(730 KB)Full Text
(10 MB)DjVu

PREFACE 

The long and bloody feud between the houses of Orleans and Burgundy
which for many years devastated France, caused a prodigious destruction of
life and property, and was not even relaxed in tlie presence of a common enemy
very fully recorded in the pages of Monstrellet and other contemporary 
historians. I have here only attempted to relate the events of the early portion
of the struggle from its commencement up to the astonishing victory of Agincourt,
won by a handful of Englishmen over the chivalry of France. Here the two
factions, with the exception of the Duke of Burgundy himself, laid aside their
differences for the moment, only to renew them while France still lay prostrate at
the feet of the English concpieror. At this distance of time, even with all the
records at one's disposal, it is difficult to say which party was most to blame 
in this disastrous civil war. A war which had more to cripple the power of France
than was ever accomplished by English arms. Unquestionably Burgundy wasthe first to enter upon the struggle, but the terrible vengeance taken by the 
Arniagnacs, as the Orleanists came to be called. For the murders committed by the mob of Paris in alliance with him, was of almost unexampled atrocity incivil war, and was mainly responsible for the terrible acts of cruelty afterwards 
perpetrated upon each other by both parties. I hope some day to devote another
>volume to the story of this desperate and unnatural struggle. 

G. A. HENTY.

Battle of Agincourt

Hundred Year War

Saint Crispin's day

02x04 - Hundred Years War

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29558/29558-h/images/p0165pic1.jpg

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Timeline Directory with Free Worksheets, Lessons and Activities

Creation

ANCIENT HISTORY

1250 BC The Cat of Bubastes (A Tale of Ancient Egypt)

220 BC The Young Carthaginian

A.D 61 Beric the Briton

Roman England

A.D.70 For the Temple (A Tale of the fall of Jerusalem): Relying on the records of the ancient historian Josephus, Henty weaves a story of the first century Jewish-Roman War, recounting the sieges of Jotapata, Gamala and Jerusalem. As Rome seeks to destroy the Jews, desperate city-dwellers endure starvation, capture, and death.

Maps of the Ancient Sea Kings

A.D. 387 The Life of Saint Patrick

THE MIDDLE AGES

The Byzantium Empire 330-1453

870 A.D. The Dragon and the Raven

1066 A.D. Wulf the Saxon

1190 A.D. Winning His Spurs

1314 A.D. In Freedom's Cause

1340 St. George for England: Opens at the dawn of the Hundred Years' War. Edward III is the beloved ruler of England during an era of great battles, disasters, and uprisings.

100 years war (20)

1380 A.D. The Lion of St. Mark

1381 A.D. A March on London: When England levied a poll-tax on the workers in 1381, outraged peasants joined in a wide-spread uprising, led by the charismatic Wat Tyler. "A March on London" tells the story of young Edgar Ormskirk, an idealistic lad who comes to London to strike out on his own, and finds himself swept up by the turbulence of the times.

The Peasants Revolt

1400 A.D. Both Sides of the Border

1415 A.D. At AginCourt: a tale of the white hoods of Paris

100 years war (22)

The Byzantium Empire 330-1453

1480 A.D. A Knight of the White Cross: a tale of the siege of Rhodes

Knights of Saint John

Siege of Malta

REFORMATION AND EXPLORATION

1579 A.D. By Pike and Dyke; a tale of the rise of the Dutch Republic

William of Orange

1580 A.D. St. Bartholomew's Eve ; a tale of the Huguenot wars

1580 A.D. Under Drake's Flag: A tale of the Spanish Main

1588 A.D. By England's aid: The freeing of the Netherlands

The Fighting Veres

1595 A.D. By Right of Conquest (with Cortez in Mexico): Roger Hawkshaw is a rambunctious young lad who sails with his father on the Swan, a British merchant ship. When a Spanish map of secret trade routes falls into their hands, they decide to defy the Spanish trade monopoly and set sail for the Indies in search of gold.

WARS OF RELIGION AND SUCCESSION

1630 A.D.The Lion of the North: A Tale of the time of Gustavus Adolphus and the war of Religion. The Thirty Years' War, one of the great conflicts of early modern Europe, ultimately established religious freedom in Germany. The complexity of the war increased as it spanned decades and crossed borders, encompassing many countries, alliances, and religious sects who fought for dominance and survival. In this novel, Henty focuses only on the Swedish phase of the Thirty Years' War, which lasted from 1630 through 1634.

1640 A.D. Won by the Sword: The Thirty Years' War is upon Europe - Richelieu endeavors to consolidate power in France while Protestants and Catholics throughout the Continent struggle for political supremacy.

1650 A.D. Friends Though Divided: A tale of the Civil War England is torn by a great conflict between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads. The two heroes, Harry Furness and Herbert Rippinghall, are on opposite sides of the struggle, with adventures that spread to Ireland and Bermuda and the efforts of Charles II to regain the throne.

1666A.D. When London Burned

1690 A.D. Orange and Green; A Tale of the Boyne and Limerick

1695 A.D. A Jacobite Exile; the adventures of a young Englishman in the service of Charles XII. of Sweden

1703 The Cornet of Horse

1705 The Bravest of the Brave

1710 In the Irish Brigade

1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie

COLONIAL DISRUPTIONS AND COMPETITION

1759 With Wolfe in Canada: The Seven Years War between France and Britain originated in their North American colonies, and incorporated Native American tribes. The tribes combined with French forces proved difficult foes for the English army and settler allies, until the appointment of General James Wolfe.

1760 With Frederick the Great: In The Seven Years' War, Prussia - a small and embattled kingdom - fought off the combined forces of Russia, Austria, and France for seven years. Their success was due largely to the military genius of Frederick the Great.

1780 True to the Old Flag

1780 Held Fast for England

1786 With Clive in India: Robert Clive, a British captain, ensured peace in India under British domination in the latter half of the 18th century. He defended India with both indigenous and English forces from every intruder from the French to the Bengals, in a dual quest for empire and stability.

THE NAPOLEONIC ERA

1793 In the Reign of Terror

1795 No Surrender!

1795 A Roving Commission

1795 The Tiger of Mysore: Of the many stories that came out of the British occupation of India, few are as dramatic as the conflict between the British and the Sultan of Mysore, Tippoo Saib, who owned a model of a tiger tearing into a redcoat.

1795 By Conduct and Courage

1798 At Aboukir and Acre

1800 At the Point of the Bayonet

1808 With Moore at Corunna

1810 The Young Buglers (A tale of the Peninsular War): This story follows the adventures of two brothers, Tom and Peter Scudamore. A family tragedy leads the boys to enlist in the Norfolk Rangers.

1810 Under Wellington's Command: Britain put Sir Arthur Wellesley in charge of the peninsular campaign to drive Napoleon out of Spain and Portugal in 1809. By 1810, Wellesley had been named Duke of Wellington after having led the Brits to victory at Talavera, and continued to command the forces until the war ended in 1814.

1812 Through Russian Snows: The year is 1812 and Napoleon has embarked on his ill-fated campaign against the Czar in Moscow. British brothers Julian and Frank Wyatt are separated when Julian is kidnapped and smuggled into France, where he lands in prison.

1815 One of the 28th

INDIAN TROUBLES AND NEIGHBORS' WARS

1820 With Cochrane the Dauntless

1824 On the Irrawaddy

1825 In Greek Waters

1835 With the British Legion

1840 To Herat and Cabul

THE VICTORIAN ERA: DEFENDING AN EMPIRE

1850 Through the Sikh War

1854 Jack Archer

1856 In Times of Peril

1856 Rujub the Juggler

1860 With Lee in Virginia: Though at first Virginians of the Civil War era were reluctant to count their votes among the secessionists, yearning for the protection of the Union, they changed their minds as they saw the reality of Union forces approaching their land, and fought with much conviction for the Confederate cause.

1865 Out With Garibaldi

1867 The March to Magdala

1870 Maori and Settler

1870 A Woman of the Commune (A tale of two sieges of Paris) : Mary Brander and Cuthbert Hartington are two young people raised in Britain but living in France during the brief rule of the Paris Commune.

1870 The Young Franc-Tireurs

1873 By Sheer Pluck

1873 The March to Coomassie

1879 For Name and Fame

1880 The Young Colonists

1882 A Chapter of Adventures

1885 The Dash for Khartoum: In the late nineteenth century, a Sudanese Arab known as Mahdi led a jihad, or religious war, against the Egyptians of the Sudan. Britain dispatched Colonel Charles "Chinese" Gordon to bring Egyptian officials from the capital at Khartoum to safety. Colonel Gordon became a popular figure of heroic defiance in the British press, and in 1884 troops were gathered to assist him in Khartoum.

In the heart of the Rockies ( A story of adventure in Colorado): When their father dies, the six Wade children are orphaned and must decide how to support themselves. Tom Wade, an ambitious and adventurous boy, decides to accept his uncle's offer to join him in America where there is a fortune to be made in gold mining.

A Search for a Secret: The pages of Agnes Ashleigh's journal reveal a story of two country families-the Harmers and the Ashleighs-whose fates are interwoven by a missing will.

Through Three Campaigns: In this novel, Henty praises the "contempt for danger" of the British soldiers who fought in small but dangerous Indian campaigns. Though obscure, the three campaigns depicted here were carried out in treacherous environments where the landscape was as fatal as the enemy.

With Kitchener in the Soudan: As the sun set on the 19th century, the English rallied European and African troops in an attempt to regain control of the Sudan from Mahdist reign. The drive climaxed in a bright and bloody battle at Omdurman, as General Sir Herbert Kitchener led his forces to a rousing victory.

The Queens Cup: After years of fighting for Britain, Captain Frank Mallett's sudden inheritance of his father's estate does nothing to tame his adventurous soldier's spirit.