Product Description

There is no single history of the Wars of the Roses - the bloody conflict between supporters of the White Rose of Yorkshire and the Red Rose of Lancashire - which provides a military history while placing the conflict in the context of the political, cultural, religious and social background, not just in England and the rest of the British Isles but also in Europe. This book makes good that omission by producing the definitive account of one of the most dramatic and murderous periods in English history - the years when the rival heirs of King Edward III fought for the right to rule as absolute monarchs. It will also examine the wars and the main personalities against the account provided by William Shakespeare's cycle of historical plays. It paints the period on a broad canvas, refusing to be circumscribed by the narrow dates set down by earlier historians. Instead the story opens with the reign of Richard II and charts over a hundred years of dramatic internecine conflict, treachery and greed, a period in which powerful men perverted justice for their own ends, murdering their opponents and destroying their possessions in the process.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #219298 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

Review
CRIMEA: * 'An excellent account of a complicated subject. Impeccably researched and elegantly written, it puts Britain's contribution to this much derided war into its proper context' - Daily Telegraph * 'A tour de force, a splendidly written account' - Literary Review * 'An exemplary history of an unnecessary war' - Scotsman

About the Author
Military historian Trevor Royle is well-known for his books on war and imperialism, and was defence and foreign affairs specialist of SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY.

Customer Reviews

Well written but careless on detail
Despite the title, this book is really a brief account of the fifteenth century English kings from Richard II to Richard III. Each king gets two or three chapters. The problem is that the first half of the book has little or nothing to do with the Wars of the Roses. While Henry IVs usurpation and the faction between the nobility during the minority of Henry VI may be relevant, I find it hard to justify a chapter on the Agincourt campaign or the troubles in Ireland during the reign of Richard II. When he does eventually get to the Wars of the Roses, the accounts of the battles are too brief. Even the major ones like Barnet & Towton only get a couple of pages each. There are no maps or diagrams.

This is a comfortable history for the general reader but adds nothing new for anyone reasonably familiar with the subject.

That said it is well written; it took me less than a week to finish. Included are extracts from contemporary chronicles though there are no actual notes with supporting references. The summary at the end, giving a description of not just the main players but more obscure ones as well, is useful.

What spoils the whole thing is the large number of fundamental errors. These are just a few that I spotted. A history student of the period would probably notice a lot more. Henry VI didn't inherit France on the death of his father, it was not until the death of Charles VI that he was able to under the terms of the Treaty of Troyes; the English didn't cede Maine & Anjou in the 1440s, they never occupied Anjou in the first place; Margaret Beaufort was the niece, not the sister of Edmund Duke of Somerset, if she had brothers she'd be of little importance. There are also geographical inaccuracies but these are less significant.

In summary this book is a good read but is marred by its lack of originality. The inaccuracies in this book have put me off reading his earlier work on the civil war.