History

The History of King Richard III by Thomas More, the celebrated ‘man for all seasons’, gives us King Richard red in tooth and claw; every inch the merciless tyrant the Tudors wanted us to believe he was. The Langley Press edition of this neglected classic includes modern spelling and punctuation, and an introduction showing how the recent discovery of the king’s skeleton sheds light on More’s spectacular hatchet-job.

‘To rid Bath of scorpions, first one must create an image of a scorpion curled up backwards as if stinging itself . . . ’ Writer, scientist, philosopher and dabbler in magic Adelard of Bath travelled widely throughout the Mediterranean world, wrote about what he had learned, and produced pioneering translations of important Arabic texts. Simon Webb’s highly accessible biography of this celebrated Bathonian sets his life against the background of the twelfth century in Europe and the Middle East; a time of growing enlightenment, but also of superstition, instability and conflict.

At the time of his death in 1186, Aaron the Jew of Lincoln, known as Aaron the Rich, was one of the wealthiest men in England: richer, some said, than the king himself.

Simon Webb’s new book re-examines the surviving evidence about this remarkable man, and draws on the history of the medieval Jews of England to construct a convincing biography.

Pope Adrian IV was not the greatest or most saintly of popes, but he was the only English pope so far, and he lived in very interesting times. Simon Webb's book, completely revised and corrected for Kindle, is a straightforward and impartial biography of this twelfth-century pontiff, who started life as plain Nicholas Breakspear of Abbot's Langley near St Albans.

The Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor Faustus is the classic account of Johann Faust, the scholar who sold his soul to the devil in return for twenty-four years of wealth and power. Simon Webb’s edition includes the complete text, and his introduction speculates on the lasting appeal of the story, examines its sources, and describes how it influenced both Marlowe and Shakespeare.

Though he features in the first of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, Nicholas Flamel was a real person who lived in medieval Paris.

Simon Webb's new book attempts to reconstruct his life, and also looks into the legends that have attached to his name over the centuries. Was he an alchemist, could he make gold from mercury, and are Nicholas and his wife Perenelle still alive after over six hundred years?

Over twenty-two centuries ago, Ashoka Maurya, lord of a vast Indian empire, won a crushing victory in war. Filled with remorse, he embraced compassion, and tried to build a Buddhist utopia throughout India and beyond. The Book of Ashoka is intended as a source-book, reader and introduction to this unique historical figure. Simon Webb’s introductions to the various sections tell the story of the re-discovery of Ashoka by nineteenth-century European colonisers, and explore the lasting significance of Ashoka for modern Indians.

Poland Syndrome is a congenital condition that may affect as many as one in twenty thousand people. In this book Simon Webb, who has PS himself, tells the intriguing tale of how the syndrome was discovered by a teenage medical student in 1840. Simon's book also includes previously unpublished information about George Elt, a native of the English city of Worcester, whose PS led to Alfred Poland's ground-breaking discovery.

Sometimes irascible and intolerant, John Cosin suffered years of poverty and exile before he became bishop of Durham in 1660. Simon Webb's new biography, the first for over a century, attempts to give equal weight to the different aspects of Cosin's character: incorrigible bookworm, gifted administrator and re-builder of the diocese after the ravages of the Interregnum.

Simon's book also takes a fresh look at the story that Cosin possessed a secret box, the contents of which, if revealed, would have changed the course of British history.

Known as the Butcher Baronet and Durham's answer to Dick Whittington, John Duck is supposed to have made his fortune after a raven dropped a large gold coin at his feet in 1657. Simon Webb's new book - the first on this famous Durham character ever written - tells the story of John Duck, and sets it in the context of the seventeenth century in the North - a time of war, conspiracy and revolution.

Polish nobleman, guitarist, world-class flirt and friend of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, Joseph Boruwlaski was also a little person, standing less than a metre high.

'In Search of the Little Count' is the first detailed biography of this famous Durham character in English, and it includes some fascinating new discoveries about his life.

'The two armies stood about five hundred yards apart, both on ridges, with a dry valley between them. Although King David may have refused to let himself accept this, it must have been clear even to a knight peering out through the narrow slits at the front of his helmet that the English army was standing on a better ridge.'

Simon Webb's account of the famous Battle of Neville's Cross, fought near Durham on the seventeenth of October 1346, attempts to reconstruct the battle by drawing on the most reliable contemporary sources. Simon also looks into the causes and consequences of the battle, and the personalities involved.

'At last, one Eadmar, a very devout man, received a vision during which he was told that somewhere called Durham, or ‘Dun-holm’, would be a good place to take Cuthbert. According to a local tradition, none of Cuthbert’s followers had any idea where Durham was at that time, but after wandering around in search of it for a while, they were met by a woman who was looking for her lost dun-coloured cow: this woman was able to point them in the right direction.'

Simon Webb's new book, based on the earliest historical sources, re-tells the extraordinary story of the founding of Durham, of the terrifying siege of the city that happened soon after it was founded, and of the life and death of Aldhun, the first bishop.

A dean who liked to box in public, a minor canon who was a famous fisherman, and a butcher's son who made a fortune from coal are among the characters in Simon Webb's book about the City of Durham in the Age of Victoria.

Founded in 1881, the Durham Light Infantry took part in some of the most important conflicts of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Simon Webb’s new book offers snapshots from the regiment’s history, including the extraordinary story of Jimmy Durham, the tiny Sudanese boy adopted by the regiment in 1886.

'Plain Tales from the D.L.I.' includes glimpses of the regiment’s part in the Sudan Campaign, in the Boer War, in the tragedy of the First World War, and its time in France and North Africa during World War II.

'The river nearly surrounds the chief city of this province, as if it intended to make an island. This city stands on a hill, which is why the Saxons called it Dunholm: Bede says that they called a hill dun and a river island a holm. From this name, the Latin writers have made Dunelmum, the Normans Duresme; but the common people (incorrectly) name it Durham.'

William Camden's account of Durham, which he calls the Bishopric of Durham, offers a fascinating picture of this unique English county as it was at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

‘The bishop became the first state prisoner to be locked up in the Tower of London: after six months, he became the first to escape from the Tower. ’

For nearly eight hundred years, the bishops of Durham ruled like kings between Tees and Tyne. Simon Webb’s book takes a close look at eight of the most famous prince bishops, and explains the origins and development of this unique piece of English history.

The tale of the 'Famous Lambton Worm' is the best-known of the many monster stories of the North of England. Simon Webb's book re-tells the story, speculates on its origins, and compares John Lambton's Worm to other local dragons such as the Sockburn Worm and the Laidley Worm of Spindlestone Heugh.

Illustrated: includes the complete text of the Lambton Worm song.

In 2013 the bones of as many as twenty-nine young men and boys were discovered under a disused courtyard in Durham City. A team of experts later determined that these were the remains of some of the hundreds of Scottish prisoners of war who died in Durham Cathedral over three hundred and sixty years ago. Simon Webb's highly accessible new book offers an up-to-date account of the Dunbar Martyrs - so called because they were taken prisoner after the Battle of Dunbar in 1650.

A native of County Durham, Mary Ann Cotton is regarded as the most prolific female serial killer in British history. This book from Simon Webb and Miranda Brown re-tells her story, re-examines the evidence and includes a startling new theory about the so-called West Auckland Poisoner.