JESSICA WÄRNBERG’s City of Echoes: A new history of Rome, its popes and its people, first published in hardback in August of last year, is now available in paperback (Icon Books, £11.99 (£10.79); 978-3-8377-3182-4). The author divides her account into four periods, beginning with the evidence of Peter and Paul’s presence there, and focusing her narrative on the part played by the papacy in the development of the city through history, and bringing the story briefly up to the bleak scene of an empty St Peter’s Square when Pope Francis gave his urbi et orbi address during the coronavirus pandemic in March 202. The book contains 16 pages of colour plates.

Catherine Hanley, in 1217: The battles that saved England (Osprey Publishing, £25 (£22.50); 978-1-4728-6087-3), describes the conclusion of the First Barons’ War: the invasion of England by Prince Louis of France after King John had reneged on Magna Carta, and the Battle of Lincoln, the siege of Dover Castle, and the great sea Battle of Sandwich. Twenty-six illustrations.