The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors, London, Head of Zeus, 2017, ISBN 978-0-525-42830-5. With the House of Lancaster wiped out in the legitimate male line, only the fourteen-year old Henry Tudor is left to represent the Lancastrian cause, and he is driven into exile in Brittany. ‘ It doesn’t feel too far removed from today’s world either. A recent U.S. President and the current Canadian Prime Minister both got their jobs based not on their qualifications but because of whom their fathers were. Likewise, having a celebrity parent doesn’t just guarantee you a rich inheritance, but a plum posting on television as though you were some sort of expert on anything other than how it felt to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth (looking at you, Meghan McCain, among others).

I felt Mr. Jones did an excellent job of explaining just how Henry VI’s mental instability led to the generation long civil war. Even when he was all there, Henry’s inability to be a medieval monarch led to many in the nobility, including his cousin Richard, Duke of York, to contemplate replacing him, first as regent and later as King. After Richard’s death at Wakefield, his son Edward takes up the claim to eventually defeats Henry’s supporters to become Edward IV.Jones, Dan (18 June 2013). "A scare could be just what the Lions needed". London Evening Standard . Retrieved 23 July 2014. I had some doubts a long the way about the book. I complained on why the author did not tell the story of the Lancasters until almost halfway through the book and I grumbled or why no roses were mentioned until 2/3 of the book. It was silly, really, but I just had to know why. I did found out why but I won't spoil it here.

Unfortunately, Henry V’s glorious reign ended with his early death in 1422. He left his infant son as king Henry VI, and his wife a lonely young widow. The revenge of the French for their humiliation at Agincourt would prove to lie in her blood, for it passed to their son a strain of madness inherited from her father, who had suffered bouts of insanity in which he used to run through his palaces naked and screaming, covered in his own excrement. Book: The War of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors/ The Hollow Crown Edward IV was equal to the task of kingship, but he made the disruptive mistake of marrying into the Woodville family. Richard III’s “ruthless usurpation” broke the rules of “political propriety”, opening the way for Henry Tudor, with his tenuous claim to the throne. “If Richard could seize the Crown, why should it not be seized from him?" As he gets to the later stages of the Wars, Mr. Jones takes on the traditional view of Richard III. Although I felt the author is sympathetic to reasons Richard usurped the throne of his nephew, Edward V. He does support the opinion that Richard had Edward and his brother, the Princes in the Tower, killed. In this there is ample president in English history. Mr. Jones does also give a good look at Richard’s deteriorating political situation prior to Bosworth and the double dealings of the Stanley family that in all probability cost Richard both his throne and his life. In April 2016 he co-wrote and co-presented, with Suzannah Lipscomb, Henry VIII and His Six Wives, shown on Channel 5. [16]Dan Jones (6 May 2012). "Rise of the Plantagenets". The Sunday Times. London. Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Jones quotes Ecclesiastes 10:16 and applies it directly to England. Alas for England, Henry V died young in 1422, leaving behind a 9-month-old son. What is remarkable, actually, is that Henry had put in place a leadership team that would manage the country quite well while the young Henry VI was growing up. The problem is that Henry VI was no ruler, and by the time he was in his late twenties, the old leaders were largely gone and the next generation was vying for power with a king who did little about it. A fine new history . . . Tautly structured, elegantly written, and finely attuned to the values and sensibilities of the age, The Wars of the Roses is probably the best introduction to the conflict currently in print.”

In 2022, Jones started his own Podcast through Somethin' Else and Sony Music Entertainment called This Is History: A Dynasty to Die For, recounting much of the content of his 2012 book, The Plantagenets: The Kings Who Made England. When you get to grips and kind of understand this history you definately see where Shakespeare right through to George Martin became absolutely fascinated and took inspiration for their works as its probaby the greatest fiction, non fiction story, you couldn't even imagine it, if even half of it wasn't the truth then whats left blows you away. Jones' next book, The Templars, The Rise and the Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors, was published in September 2017 about the Knights Templar. [11] Jones also worked as historical consultant on the 2018 History historical drama Knightfall, also presenting the official podcast. [12] In May and June 2017, Jones, with Suzannah Lipscomb and engineer Rob Bell, presented The Great Fire, for Channel 5, a series in which the three presenters walked the actual route the Great Fire of London fire took across the city. [18] [19] [20]

In a follow-up to The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings Who Invented England (2012), British historian Jones authoritatively sets the scene for the next brutal act: the 15th-century succession crises.