The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors

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There had not been so successful no so fortunate an English general since the days of Henry V’ Jones observes of Edward IV.

There are family members murdering each other, and then we learn of the infamous Princes of the Tower, who I never actually knew were a part of this specific conflict.

Nobody will ever know if a beloved brother, loyal friend and kind leader, described by contemporary sources as having "a good heart" and never seeking land or power gains for himself, suddenly did an about-turn and murdered his nephew to steal the throne. When Richard III overthrew Edward V, and the boy king and his young brother disappeared from the Tower in the summer of 1483, he was following the example set in the overthrow and death of Henry VI. It's not often that a book manages to be both scholarly and a page-turner, but British historian Jones succeeds on both counts.

The way Dan Jones narrates this chapter is done in such a way that you are in suspense as you are reading of Edmund Plantagenent trying to make his way to sanctuary alongside his tutor and priest, only to be caught by one of the men whose father Edmund’s father killed and in something reminiscent of the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones, the man (Lord Clifford) stepped down from his horse and sent his dead father’s regards “As your father slew mine” then “drew his dagger thrust it through his heart. Pope Pius II, watching England from afar, would later describe Henry in this phase of his life as “a man more timorous than a woman, utterly devoid of wit or spirit, who left everything in his wife’s hands.Throughout it all, Henry VI seemed desensitised: during one battle he sat under a tree, sang songs and laughed. With vivid descriptions of the battles of Towton and Bosworth, where the last Plantagenet king was slain, this is a bold and dramatic narrative history that will delight readers who like their history with a healthy dose of bedlam, romance, and intrigue. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. One of Henry VI’s earliest advisers, William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, was blamed for the loss of Normandy and ended his days on Dover beach, his head stuck on a pole next to its truncated corpse.

England coped for a remarkably long time – thanks chiefly to the efforts of William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. There is fine scholarly intuition on display here and a mastery of the grand narrative; it is a supremely skillful piece of storytelling.He did take a big risk fighting Richard III in 1485, but he had procured enough allies and Richard was killed in battle, and so he started a new dynasty.

This wouldn’t have been a problem if Henry VI was as strong as his father, but alas, as king was very weak, which meant that he needed help to rule his kingdoms.Going into it, I had strong opinions about the warring families, having studied the Tudors for 16 years and Shakespeare’s histories in college—but also because my ancestors had been strong supporters of the Lancastrian claim. Over the summer of 1450, Jack Cade’s rebels stormed the city, beheaded the royal treasurer and his son-in-law, and displayed their impaled heads in macabre kissing poses. On December 30, a day that would live in infamy for the Yorkists, their patriarch Richard, his son Edmund and his most important brother in law, the earl of Salisbury and his younger brother, were caught by surprise by Lancastrian forces. This was not chiefly a dynastic conflict, though all protagonists had royal blood, but a tussle for political dominance. But Dan Jones does a great job of explaining and keeping everything straight, and tells a cracking story.