The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Dan Jones is a special writer and this is a brilliant book. The Wars of the Roses tells the improbable and violent story of two factions of the House of Plantagenet as they battle over the English crown. This tale sheds light on how decades of strife and conflict brought about the unlikely rise to power of Henry VII and the House of Tudor.
Jones correctly points to the weak and ineffective rule of the Lancastrian king Henry VI as the impetus of the conflict. This tepid and ineffective leader loses the English continental territories to France and suffers a breakdown, which leaves him bedridden and unable to speak for over a year. During his convalesce, Richard Duke of York takes power as regent. Eventually Henry recovers somewhat, but shows little interest in his regal responsibilities. Always a reluctant and feeble ruler, Henry often defers decisions to his queen, Margaret of Anjou, and ultimately she blunders. On May 14, 1455, Margaret calls a Great Council excluding York and his followers. York has a distant claim to the crown himself and the Yorkist faction is born as the duke moves to assert his position sparking conflict and eventually full scale civil war.
The House of Lancaster is symbolized by a red rose, and the House of York’s symbol becomes the white rose, hence the War of the Roses. Jones follows the twisting tale as Henry is taken prisoner by Richard at Northampton on 10 July 1460. He’s rescued a few months later by forces loyal to his wife but Richard begins to style himself as king. York is killed in the Battle of Wakefield in December of 1460 but eventually, his son, Edward, leads a force against the royalists in the Battle of Northampton. Henry is captured and Edward takes the throne becoming the Yorkist king Edward IV.
This tale is convoluted and complicated, but Jones deftly leads us through the twists and turns of Edward’s rule, his grasping in-laws and the eventual murders of his sons in the tower under the “protection” of his usurping brother Richard III. Richard’s eventual defeat at the battle of Bosworth by Henry VII, the first Tudor king, doesn’t end the conflict outright, and Jones details the ongoing challenge to Henry’s reign by others with royal blood. Not until his son and successor, the notorious Henry VIII, takes the thrown, does the conflict finally come to its bloody conclusion with the brutal hacking-to-death of Margaret Pole, the Countess of Salisbury, in the Tower.
This is a fascinating story, full of intrigue, changing fortune, nearly indecipherable motives and shifting alliances. In the hands of a less brilliant writer, this tale would be incomprehensible. Jones is a master.
Read the book.
Russ Gregory 