This study analyzes the family life and public careers of six generations of a notable Parisian family, the Cochins. Bourgeois merchants in the 17th and 18th centuries, the Cochins earned nobility through the office of alderman (" DEGREESD'echevin") of Paris. Their family ethos fostered a much-needed element in French public life: a cautious, critical, liberal reform that reflected an independence from the Left, the Legitimist--and later nationalist--Right, as well as the Catholic Church. Still, even these reforming conservatives, however liberal, ultimately found themselves opposing the Third Republic.

Winnie highlights the contributions made by the Cochins and the opposition of the Third Republic. He approaches this task not by looking at a mere series of political crises, but rather by examining the cultural background and the family ethos that sustained them from the Old Regime to World War I. Like much of the latest work in modern French social history, this book finds a significant cultural divide between revolutionary republicanism and even liberal notables from the Old Regime. It demonstrates how these tensions continued through the 19th and into the 20th century. This reflects the fundamental incompatibility between France's political legacies--sustained by powerful and abiding social and cultural factors--that has shaped French life to this day.

From Martha Washington to Laura Bush, the wife of each U.S. president has found her place in history, often setting trends and doing important work for the nation.

This reference work traces the lineage of all presidents, wives, arranged alphabetically from Abigail Adams to Jane Wyman. Genealogy reveals that some of the women are connected to one another through common ancestry, sometimes even through royal blood, for example, the bloodlines of Laura Bush and Abigail Adams join at King Henry II and can then be traced to King Pepin the Short, born in 714. Several others can be traced back to King John, William the Conqueror, Charlemagne, and Lady Godiva.

Clearly organized and easy to use, the work includes not only ancestors but offspring, listing children and grandchildren for each woman. Dates of birth, death, and marriage of ancestors, children and grandchildren are included where known.

"Crown and Nobility" traces the development of the relationship between kings and nobles in late medieval England. It shows how the differing abilities and personalities of the late medieval English kings powerfully affected their relationship with the nobility. The author examines the contrast between the dominant style of Edward I and both the weakness of Edward II and the chivalric reputation of Edward III, and reveals how the ineptitude of Henry VI did much to provoke the political crisis of the mid-fifteenth century, which led to the downfall of the House of Lancaster.

Much of the political history of late medieval England was played out against a background of war, and Anthony Tuck vividly describes the Welsh and Scottish wars, the great victories in France, and the final debacle under Henry VI. He shows how success and setback in war crucially affected the relationship between the king and his nobles.

For this new edition the author has revised the original text to take account of recent scholarship. The book now includes a new epilog discussing historiographical developments since the book was first published. There is also an enlarged and updated bibliography.

'Who am I? What are my roots?' These are questions that people ask at sometime in their lives.In "My Father's People" the author tells of his search for his Luxton ancestors. He writes about the origins of the Luxtons in fifteenth and sixteenth century Winkleigh and Brushford in Devon before tracing his own branch of the family at Frogpit Moor, Petton, Bampton from the early eighteenth century. His search took him to the beautiful sylvan villages of Clayhanger, Petton, Morebath, Skilgate,Raddington and Chipstaple and Upton in the foothills of Exmoor on the Devon and Somerset border. They are places he had never heard of and would never have visited if it had not been for the fact he was bitten by the family tree bug! He says,"The journey has taught me a great deal about my ancestors and I have learnt a lot about myself in the process. It's a journey I think we all need to make."

The story of a murder and its aftermath. On Christmas Night in 1881, John Manley, a poor son of Irish immigrants living in the slums of Leeds, was fatally stabbed in a drunken quarrel. The frightened murderer went on the run, knowing that capture could see him hang. A few generations later, author Catherine Czerkawska begins to tease out the truth behind her great-great-uncle's tragic death. But she uncovers far more than she bargained for. In a personal family story that takes us from Ireland to the industrial heartlands of England and Scotland, from the nineteenth century to the twentieth, Catherine gives voice to people often maligned by society and silenced by history - immigrants, women, the working classes. She unearths a tale of injustice and poverty, hope and resilience, and she is both angered and touched by what she finds. Catherine is driven to keep digging, to get to the very heart of life - and death - in the not-so-distant past.

Originally published in 1914, this is a wonderfully learned and detailed book that contains, "A Concise Description of the Several Terms Used and a Dictionary of Every Designation in the Science." Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. Contents Include: Origin of Coat of Arms - The Right to Arms - The Heraldic Executive - Arms of Dominion, Etc, Tinctures, Furs - Lines Used in Parting the Field, Differences, External Ornaments of the Shield - Marshalling Charges on Escutcheons By the Rules of Heraldry - Order of Precedency - Dictionary of Heraldic Terms - The Royal Arms, Union Jack, Heraldry in Connection with History - Architecture, Interior Decoration, Costume, Etc