The North South Frontier: Nottinghamshire Through the Ages by Ian Clarke

Description

Once an unremarkable thoroughfare for migrating herds and hunters, Nottinghamshire became an inhospitable frontier land between Celtic kingdoms before it served as their last defence against the might of Rome.  Following the Roman retreat, the kingdom of Elmet used the county as a barrier against the Anglo-Saxons.  Elmet’s fall left Britain under the sway of petty kingdoms which in turn found themselves unable to resist the Danish invasion from the North. After an Anglo-Saxon resurgence, the county became Britain’s last bulwark against Norman control.  Religious forces later took control of Nottinghamshire, but once Henry VIII swept away the religious houses, the powerful resident aristocracy took over which played its part in the conflict between parliament and monarchy.

The final conflict came in the form of the struggle between an unrepresentative parliament and the common people.  The only Chartist MP ever elected was returned by a Nottinghamshire electorate. 291pp diagrams, maps