David Horspool

Last updated
David Horspool
Born
David Cyril Greame Horspool

(1971-01-07) 7 January 1971 (age 53)
Wimbledon, London
NationalityBritish
Education Milbourne Lodge School
Eton College
Alma mater Christ Church, Oxford
Occupation(s)Journalist
Author
Employer Times Literary Supplement
Notable work
  • Why Alfred Burnt the Cakes
  • Richard III: A Ruler and his Reputation
Children2
Mother Margot Horspool

David Cyril Greame Horspool (born 7 January 1971) is a historian and sport editor of The Times Literary Supplement . [1]

Contents

Writing

A scholar at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, he writes for the Sunday Times, The Guardian , the Telegraph and The New York Times .

Books

His first book, Why Alfred Burned the Cakes: A King and His 1100-year Afterlife, was a scholarly yet popular history of the reign of King Alfred. His next book, published in August 2009, was The English Rebel: One Thousand Years of Trouble-making from the Normans to the Nineties, a history of rebellion from Magna Carta to Arthur Scargill. David collaborated with Colin Firth and Anthony Arnove to produce the book The People's Speak, published by Canongate Books in August 2013. In 2015 he published Richard III: A Ruler and his reputation. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred the Great</span> King of Wessex (871 – c. 886); King of the Anglo-Saxons (c. 886 – 899)

Alfred the Great was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfred was young. Three of Alfred's brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred, reigned in turn before him. Under Alfred's rule, considerable administrative and military reforms were introduced, prompting lasting change in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard III of England</span> King of England from 1483 to 1485

Richard III was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field marked the end of the Middle Ages in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1198</span> Calendar year

Year 1198 (MCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward IV</span> King of England (1461–70, 1471–83)

Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England fought between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions between 1455 and 1487.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth of York</span> Queen of England from 1486 to 1503

Elizabeth of York was Queen of England from her marriage to King Henry VII on 18 January 1486 until her death in 1503. She was the daughter of King Edward IV and his wife, Elizabeth Woodville, and her marriage to Henry VII followed his victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field, which marked the end of the civil war known as the Wars of the Roses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Æthelstan</span> King of the English from 927 to 939

Æthelstan or Athelstan was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern historians regard him as the first King of England and one of the "greatest Anglo-Saxon kings". He never married and had no children; he was succeeded by his half-brother, Edmund I.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Edington</span> Battle between kingdom of Wessex and the Great Heathen Army in 878

At the Battle of Edington, an army of the kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great defeated the Great Heathen Army led by the Dane Guthrum sometime between 6 and 12 May 878, resulting in the Treaty of Wedmore later the same year. Primary sources locate the battle at "Eðandun". Until a scholarly consensus linked the battle site with the present-day village of Edington in Wiltshire, it was known as the Battle of Ethandun. This name continues to be used.

A fyrd was a type of early Anglo-Saxon army that was mobilised from freemen or paid men to defend their Shire's lords estate, or from selected representatives to join a royal expedition. Service in the fyrd was usually of short duration and participants were expected to provide their own arms and provisions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred A. Knopf Sr.</span> American publisher

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The Treaty of Wedmore is a 9th century agreement between King Alfred the Great of Wessex and the Viking king, Guthrum the Old. The only contemporary reference to the treaty is that of a Welsh monk, Asser, in his biography of Alfred, known as Vita Ælfredi regis Angul Saxonum, or "The Life of King Alfred", in which Asser describes how after Guthrum's defeat at the Battle of Edington, followed by his surrender some days later, he agreed to a peace treaty with Alfred. The treaty was conditional on Guthrum's being baptised to endorse the agreement, as well as to allow him to rule more legitimately over his Christian vassals but to remain pagan to his pagan vassals. Also, Guthrum and his army were to leave Wessex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blood eagle</span> Method of execution

The blood eagle was a method of ritual execution as detailed in late skaldic poetry. According to the two instances mentioned in the Christian sagas, the victims were placed in a prone position, their ribs severed from the spine with a sharp tool, and their lungs pulled through the opening to create a pair of "wings". There has been continuing debate about whether the rite was a literary invention of the original texts, a mistranslation of the texts themselves, or an authentic historical practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harrying of the North</span> Military campaign in England, 1069–1070

The Harrying of the North was a series of military campaigns waged by William the Conqueror in the winter of 1069–1070 to subjugate Northern England, where the presence of the last Wessex claimant, Edgar Ætheling, had encouraged Anglo-Saxon Northumbrian, Anglo-Scandinavian and Danish rebellions. William paid the Danes to go home, but the remaining rebels refused to meet him in battle, and he decided to starve them out by laying waste to the Northern shires using scorched earth tactics, especially in the historic county of Yorkshire and the city of York, before relieving the English aristocracy of their positions, and installing Norman aristocrats throughout the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dominic Sandbrook</span> British historian and television presenter

Dominic Christopher Sandbrook, is a British historian, author, columnist and television presenter. He co-hosts The Rest is History podcast with author Tom Holland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Barber</span> British historian of the Middle Ages (born 1941)

Richard William Barber is a British historian who has published several books about medieval history and literature. His book The Knight and Chivalry, about the interplay between history and literature, won the Somerset Maugham Award, a well-known British literary prize, in 1971. A similarly-themed 2004 book, The Holy Grail: Imagination and Belief, was widely praised in the UK press, and received major reviews in The New York Times and The New Republic.

Denewulf was a medieval Bishop of Winchester from 878 or 879 until his death. Little is known of him, though by tradition he began life as a swineherd, and was promoted to bishop at an advanced age after a chance encounter with Alfred the Great.

David Baldwin was a British historian, author and former university lecturer, who lived near Leicester, England.

The Treaty of Abernethy was signed at the Scottish village of Abernethy in 1072 by King Malcolm III of Scotland and by William of Normandy.

The Battle of Buttington was fought in 893 between a Viking army and an alliance of Anglo-Saxons and Welsh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cultural depictions of Alfred the Great</span> Cultural depictions of Alfred the Great in art, writing, education and other mediums i

Alfred the Great was an Anglo-Saxon king (871–899) of Wessex, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom that existed from 519 to 927 south of the river Thames in England. In the late 9th century, the Vikings had overrun most of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms that constituted England at the time. Alfred's reign has become regarded as pivotal in the eventual unification of England, after he famously defended Wessex and southern England against the Viking invasions, winning a decisive victory at the Battle of Edington in 878.

References

  1. "Profile Books::David Horspool". Archived from the original on 2007-11-11. Retrieved 2010-12-21.
  2. Horspool, David (22 October 2015). Richard III: A Ruler and his Reputation. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN   978-1-4729-0300-6.