History
To Defy a Khan
“Never in our time were so many men engaged on one battlefield, especially so many horsemen. So many died on either side that it was a marvel to behold.” […]
Governance
Britons and Celts
Coastal Scots, Wild Highlanders
“The highlanders and people of the islands, on the other hand, are a savage an untamed nation, rude and independent, ease-loving, of a docile and warm disposition, comely in person, but unsightly in dress, and hostile to the English people and language.” […]
Human Affairs
A Marriage Arranged by Force
“Simulating an illness, he sent for Giselbert, who stood next in line to succeed to the dukedom of his father, captured him by treachery, and sent him under guard to King Henry.” […]
History
Louis the Brawler King
“Thus, although it little befitted a king to do such a thing, he arranged a splendid bath for his foe all the way up to his helmet in that stream.” […]
Britons and Celts
My Strength is Yours To Spy
“But when he learnt what was their errand, and that they wanted to estimate his strength, he had them taken through all the tents, and shewed the whole host to them. Then he used them exceeding well, gave them abundantly to eat and drink, and let them go without injury or molestation.” […]
Britons and Celts
The Man Who Farted
On his return the queen welcomed him home and said, “My lord, I had forgot the fart”. […]
History
A Humbled King
“When the king woke, he asked who it was. ‘It is us,’ he said, ‘the envoys of your father. We have been sent over to you to discuss peace-terms.’ When he gathered this, the king wanted to inquire more closely into how his father was, and he put his head a little way over the gunwale of the ship. Then Palna-Toki grabbed him by the ears and the hair, gave a more powerful heave against his unavailing resistance, and dragged him willy-nilly out of his own ship.” […]
History
The Awkward Priest
“Soon the most kind king, thinking that he did not know how to sing it all, ordered them to help him. When the others sang and the wretched man could not learn the verse from anyone, having sung the responsory he began to chant the Lord’s Prayer in an elaborate way.” […]
History
An End to the Peace
“Then King Harald sent the man named Herleif, and with him the contingent of Germans, to meet King Hring, and had them set up hazel stakes on the battlefield for him and claim the site of the battled, and pronounce the breaking of peace and friendship.” […]
Greek and Roman
The Gullible Emperor
“But as he bowed his head and brought his mouth near to the mouth of one of the brothers, this one seized him firmly by the hair and the other brother cut off his head.” […]