The Davenant Press

About The Davenant Press

Judith Loades launched her first publishing company some thirty years ago with Monastic Studies I and II – two volumes of scholarly articles resulting from conferences she organised at the University of Wales, Bangor. These were followed by the launch of the journal Medieval History and the paperback series and the first in six titles included Thomas Cromwell by Professor Sir Geoffrey Elton, University of Cambridge. The paperbacks were pitched at sixth forms and undergraduates.

The lists were developed and with monographs added and within ten years the company was too large for one person to manage so in 2000 part of it was sold to a new company Plantagenet Press. Judith then founded the Davenant Press and persuaded her husband, Professor David Loades to write essay collections based on his teaching of the Tudors and sixteenth century Europe at the universities of St. Andrews, Durham and Bangor. She also persuaded him to contribute to the Notes Series. Then an author told me that the Plantagenet Press had failed and schools and scholars around the world were unable to get copies of his paperback, He wanted to return to me. He and other authors returned so an even bigger company existed.

Sadly from 2013 David’s health declined and he died in April 2016. As an increasingly full-time carer Judith’s health also suffered with a mysterious downturn. Re-launching Davenant Press has not been easy but it is alive and flourishing despite the grim challenge of Covid19 virus. The internet is a help! To my main History list I am adding Classics, Ancient History and Patristics along with ten new scholarly series. The two Monastic Studies volumes will be reprinted as will Two Tudor Conspiracies, The Life and Times of David Lloyd George along with others.

Please do browse the rest of this new website.

Judith Loades (Proprietor)