Product Description

LINES OF SUCCESSION was first published in 1981 and is now available in paperback for the first time. It presents a comprehensive account of both the heraldic and the genealogical history of European Royalty and is fully illustrated throughout. Beginning with heraldry in the eleventh century, the two experts who collaborated to make the book present the heraldic shields as well as the genealogy of all the Royal families of Europe, past and present. The genealogical tables provide detailed family trees, country by country. The coat-of-arms representing the various matrimonial alliances show how heraldic devices evolved and developed from simple symbols to complex quarterings. Additional tables highlight the most important historical events involving dynastic succession. The text describes the historical background to each Royal family tree, and shows how such events are reflected in the make-up of the Royal coat of arms.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #203411 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 224 pages

Review
'Splendidly emblazoned ... excellent text... if heraldry really is "the floral border of history", then this book must rank as a herbaceous border of almost tropical splendour and the widest provenance.' THE TIMES

About the Author
Jiri Louda is a Czech scholar and heraldrist and author of several books. Michael Maclagan is the supreme heraldric authority in England and a lecturer on Medievel history at Oxford University.

Customer Reviews

Incomplete Edition
This is an abbreviated edition of the marvellous book of almost the same title, (and identical cover), published in 1981, which will fascinate for a lifetime. It is actually incorrect that this is "the first paperback edition"- the much better complete edition was also available in paperback.

(Approximately one third of the original contents are now missing from this version, these include Liechtenstein, Bavaria & The Palatinate and several other German states, Bohemia & Hungary, The Two Sicilies & several other Italian States, Poland, and the Balkan States).

It is a great shame that the book has been republished like this, as its "parent" edition was better all round; but this one has some of the virtues of its very remarkable parent! It is of interest that the author points out how most of the present royal families of Europe (but not the British Royal Family) are descended from a West Indian creole: the beautiful Josephine, Empress of the French, wife of Napoleon- (not descended from Napoleon himself, but actually from de Beauharnais, Josephine's disgruntled first husband, -who would have been much happier had he known the outcome!!)

The author also points out that most people today with English ancestry are almost certainly descended from one medieval king or another: given the population statistics, the likelihood of not being related somehow to medieval royalty is slight.