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. But like Henry V, Edward dies young, leaving a child – his twelve- Jones describes the fascinating rise of the Tudors. It is probably even more remarkable than the rise of the Stewarts in Scotland. Owen Tudor was a Welsh nobleman. He claimed some ancestry from Welsh kings. Jones is dubious of the claims, but, of course, Welsh kings would include Arthur. He became the lover and then the wife of King Henry V’s widow. When the Yorkists were in power after 1460, the Tudors were in France and Brittany for safety. Owen’s son Edward had one son, Henry. Yeah, I know it sound confusing, but don’t let it. Dan is wonderful at making a complicated matter really simple. He doesn’t write in what I would call a scholarly way. To me, Dan writes for the common person-meaning that if you don’t know anything about the War of the Roses, you will be able to understand what is going on right away.

In normal circumstances, being third cousin from one sitting king and third cousin twice removed from his rival would mean that Henry Tudor would have virtually no chance of becoming king. However, many of the people who might have been in his way had been killed or imprisoned. 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. 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). Children dressed as angels, with gold painted faces, sang ‘Hail flower of England, knight of Christendom’, as they greeted Henry V on his return to London following the great victory at Agincourt. Five years later, in 1420, the king was regent of France, heir to the French throne, and married to their princess, Catherine of Valois. ‘It is not recorded’ wrote one admiring chronicler, ‘that any king of England ever accomplished so much in so short a time’. In 2014, Jones' book The Plantagenets was adapted for television as a four-part series on Channel 5 entitled Britain's Bloodiest Dynasty: The Plantagenets. [14]There had not been so successful no so fortunate an English general since the days of Henry V’ Jones observes of Edward IV. But like Henry V, Edward dies young, leaving a child – his twelve-year old son Edward V – as his heir. England was dependent on the good will of the adults around a king who was too young to rule, and that good will proved in short supply. The rivalry between the young king’s close relatives – his mother’s family, the Woodvilles, and Edward IV’s only surviving brother, Richard - was to be the final undoing of the House of York. 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. Jones’s greatest skill as a historical writer is to somehow render sprawling, messy epochs such as this one into manageable, easily digestible matter; he is keenly tuned to what should be served up and what should be omitted. And he still finds rooms for the telling anecdote and vivid descriptive passage. It makes for an engrossing read and a thoroughly enjoyable introduction to the Lancastrian-Yorkist struggle.” I really loved this book. 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. So imagine my surprise when I read at the end of chapter 11 that “Sir James Luttrell of Devonshire” was later credited with the capture of Richard, Duke of York! For all I knew about my family’s history, I never knew THAT incredible information! I don’t know how Sir James would have felt about his descendant cheering him on 550 years later, but it’s a rare thing to find a book that makes you feel like you are in the midst of the action.

When describing the death of Richard de la Pole, the last "White Rose" of Suffolk, in 1525, Jones calls him the "last remaining grandson of Richard duke of York"—not strictly true, since Jones himself has already noted that another de la Pole brother, William, remained alive in the Tower of London until the 1530s. Clearly, as a captive, William was no threat to the Tudors, but he was still a surviving grandson of York. First Knight. It’s here because of Sean Connery, of course, though Richard Gere and Julia Ormond are also sexy. The casting of Sean Connery, a Scotsman, to play Arthur, a Welshman, is probably a bit of an improvement over casting him as Richard I, an Englishman, in “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves” (See Robin Hood film criticism, here), but both end up working because it’s Sean Connery. I applaud Jones for making complicated history accessible to the amateur historian. While this installment may be somewhat more complex than its predecessor, I still found it quite easy to read, at times capturing events in novel-like fashion. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a greater understanding of the Wars of the Roses. Jones also describes Richard III as tall, even though he was only 5 foot 8—not short for the time, but certainly not remotely tall, at least in comparison to his brother Edward IV's 6 feet 4 inches and especially not when considered that Richard's scoliosis is believed to have taken several inches off his apparent height.Jones, Daniel Gwynne. Who's Who. 2021. doi: 10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U276782. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4 . Retrieved 13 July 2021. 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. ‘