Richard’s decision to depose his late brother’s brood by declaring the illegitimate through his priest Shaa the previous man was the first of his many acts that mirrored his brother’s ruthlessness of disposing of rival claimants. This entry was posted in Book review, Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Woodville, Henry VI, Henry VII, Lancaster, Plantagenet, Richard II, Tudor, Wars of the Roses, York and tagged . 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.

Throughout it all, Henry VI seemed desensitised: during one battle he sat under a tree, sang songs and laughed. 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. Jones begins his book with the horrific execution of the elderly Margaret Pole, the last white rose of York. There is fine scholarly intuition on display here and a mastery of the grand narrative; it is a supremely skilful piece of storytelling.Five years later, in 1420, the king was regent of France, heir to the French throne, and married to their princess, Catherine of Valois. Standing in a rose garden, he has plucked a red flower from a great bush that stands between him and his nemesis, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. It's not often that a book manages to be both scholarly and a page-turner, but Jones succeeds on both counts in this entertaining follow-up to his bestselling The Plantagenets.

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. We see this in a lot of other monarchs throughout history, ones who are thrust into the role of ruler at a young age and never recover from it.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.