King S Counsellor

The diaries of 'Tommy' Lascelles - as featured in the Netflix hit THE CROWN 'Brilliantly entertaining and historically priceless' Spectator 'Fascinating ... as much a contribution to royal legend as to the history of the war' Daily Telegraph As Assistant Private Secretary to four monarchs, 'Tommy' Lascelles had a ringside seat from which to observe the workings of the royal household and Downing Street during the first half of the 20th century. These fascinating diaries begin with Edward VIII's abdication and end with George VI's death and his daughter Elizabeth's Coronation. In between we see George VI at work and play, a portrait more intimate than any other previously published. This compelling account also includes Princess Margaret's relationship with Peter Townsend, and throws an intriguing new light on the way in which King George VI and Winston Churchill worked together during the Second World War. Lascelles was a fine writer - like most of the best diaries his are a delight to read as well as being invaluable history.

‘He [Harwood] is the sole Horatio known to me in this age of Hamlets…’ – C. S. Lewis, from Surprised by Joy Cecil Harwood (1898-1975) – lecturer, Waldorf teacher, writer, editor and anthroposophist – pioneered and developed the first Rudolf Steiner (Waldorf) school in the United Kingdom (the New School in London, now Michael Hall School in Sussex). He also led the Anthroposophical Society in Great Britain for some 37 years. In 1922, at the age of 24, Harwood attended a festival of English folk song and dance in Cornwall, alongside his life-long friend Owen Barfield. It was here – and not in the academic citadel of Oxford University, where they were both part of the literary circle known as the Inklings – that Harwood and Barfield were to encounter the work of Rudolf Steiner through meeting Daphne Olivier. Sun King’s Counsellor provides an intricate picture of the human connections, cultural movements and spiritual background that contributed to what came together in Cornwall in 1922, leading to Harwood’s life’s work. Featuring a colour plate section and full index, it documents Harwood’s early years and antecedents, marriages to Daphne Olivier and Margaret Lundgren, friendships with Barfield and C.S. Lewis, his life-changing meeting with anthroposophy and Rudolf Steiner, teaching and educational work, and Harwood’s critical role in healing divisions within the Anthroposophical Society. Based on extensive research of primary sources, Blaxland-de Lange’s biography reveals the multi-faceted, flexible and sacrificial nature of this unique personality. Alfred Cecil Harwood – he preferred ‘Cecil’ instead of Alfred, with its meaning of ‘wise counsellor’ – began his career with the hope of becoming a writer, and had neither the intention nor ambition to become a teacher or the head of a national organization. Yet he became both an exemplary teacher and leader, as well as a celebrated author, editor, translator and lecturer.

Pierre Salmon served as royal secretary to Charles VI of France at a time when papal schism plagued the church, civil war divided the country, and the king suffered from an intermittent but incapacitating psychosis. In an effort to find a cure for the king's illness, stabilize the turbulent political situation, and secure his own future, Salmon supervised the production of two distinct versions of the beautifully illuminated guidebooks to good kingship known as his Dialogues. Where much previous scholarship has relied on an abridged edition of the Dialogues, Anne D. Hedeman returns to the complete, original manuscripts to present a fresh view of Salmon's purposes. She suggests that whereas the first version (1409) held out hope for the king's eventual complete recovery and accordingly counseled him on ruling wisely, the second version (1412-15) reflected a changed political situation: the French civil war had erupted, the compromise pope had died, and efforts to find a cure for the king had failed. include the future governors of France, especially the heir, Louis of Guyenne, who took on an increased role in the government of the realm during his father's attacks of madness. Hedeman shows how Salmon manipulated artistic style and iconography to construct a visual narrative that often was quite independent of its text. She also suggests how changes to the images in Franois de Rochechouart's copy of the manuscript (ca. 1500) signal efforts to appropriate Salmon's stature as a trusted royal advisor for later political purposes. Richly illustrated with plates from the original manuscripts, Of Counselors and Kings is a treat to the eye as well as to the intellect.

In the magical land of Halruaa, an unassuming counselor discovers he has more power—and a destiny far greater—than he ever imagined Some are born with magic, and some are born without . . . Matteo, un-magical counselor to the mighty wizards of Halruaa, has devoted his life to the truth—until he finds that he may have a hidden spark of magic after all. Now, with only a street waif for a companion, he's on the run from the mysterious Cabal. In the dismal Swamp of Akhlaur, Matteo will seek his own truth while battling a creature out of his nightmares. But something even worse is on his trail, a relentless persecutor of magic: The Magehound.