The Scandalous Lives of the Sherwood Forest Nobility
£15.00
Description
A5 soft cover, illustrated throughout in black and white, 180 pages
The famous Sherwood Forest has been divided up into the estates of great families – so many dukes that it became known as ‘the Dukeries’. Welbeck, Clumber, Thoresby, Bestwood, Worksop Manor, Newstead – the names are famous.
But who lived there, where did they come from, and what happened to these great titled families? Adrian Gray tells a story of how their rise was often due to violence, calculating marriages and quite a lot of bribery. He then shows how the families wasted their huge wealth and status in gambling, adulterous relationships, costly divorces and frankly some downright bizarre behaviour. Now, for most of these families, there is little left but ruin.
You will meet the murderous Lord Byron, several callous seducers, the ‘most hated man in England’, brides traded by their parents, a woman with two husbands, eloping ladies, corrupt politicians and encounter some unfortunate American romances. The story shows how ‘great names’ came to be associated with immoral living, were dragged through the divorce courts, and finally humiliated in bankruptcy – in some cases, all at the same time. ‘Downton Abbey’ it is not, but if you love reading about the scandalous lives of the rich and infamous, then this is the perfect book.
ADRIAN GRAY is a well-known historian and the author of several books about Nottinghamshire. He has a degree in history from Cambridge University and leads history tours across the region.
