The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses and the Rise of the Tudors

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At first Henry VI, seemed merely gentle and weak. As a young man he was a loving – if not very potent - husband to his loyal wife, Margaret of Anjou, and a kindly half-brother to the recent, and very embarrassing, Tudor additions to the royal family. His widowed mother had married a Welshman ‘of no birth neither of livelihood’, one Owen Tudor, with whom she had fallen in love after he had fallen drunk into her lap at a party (or so legend had it). Books of the Year 2011: History Books". The Daily Telegraph. London. 21 November 2011 . Retrieved 11 February 2012.

All the while the Tudors slowly step more and more into the limelight while the Plantagenets begin tearing each other apart, then finally take the stage. The road to the 1st Battle of St Albans is well told. Making clear a tortuous path of typically complex medieval manoeuvring, between the King, his wife Margaret, and the Dukes of Suffolk, Somerset and York. The seesaw nature of these protracted conflicts makes for exciting reading and all the big battles are there, their consequences to see.

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I would have loved to learn more about the powerful spouses and confidants behind each reign, but this book has done well in whetting my appetite for more. The Templars: The Rise and Spectacular Fall of God's Holy Warriors, London, Head of Zeus, 2017, ISBN 978-0-525-42830-5. I have mixed feelings about this book. Some chapters, as I said above, really held my interest but others didn’t really engage me. I was disappointed to discover that Jones was often very biased, his love or hate for the monarch in question was really obvious. John is described as a ‘delinquent’, Henry III ‘feather brained’ and Edward II as ‘England’s worst ever king’; sweeping, judgmental statements I found very off putting and made it seem as though Jones literally hated these kings (perhaps he does, and that's his right, but I like my books a bit more neutral). I especially found with Edward II there was no attempt at all to be neutral; he was even blamed for the failings of Richard II. On the other hand, Edward III and Richard II’s chapters were very good reading. The author certainly knows his stuff where these two monarchs are concerned, but, more importantly, he seems to like them and to want to tell their stories. I think that made all the difference to the reading experience, for me. Lawson, Mark (29 June 2012). "The Hollow Crown: as good as TV Shakespeare can get?". The Guardian . Retrieved 28 August 2013. Jones, Dan (18 June 2013). "A scare could be just what the Lions needed". London Evening Standard . Retrieved 23 July 2014.

In his prologue, Jones tells us his intention with The Plantagenets is to tell the story in an entertaining way. In this I think he is successful. I liked some of the writing, which was clear and fluid. I found I enjoyed the stories of Henry II, Richard I and Richard II, because these were the reigns that I knew least about, whereas I think Jones did. I found however I learned nothing new about John, Henry III, Edward I and Edward II. This is perhaps because I knew about these reigns before reading; but also because I think Jones doesn't like these kings very much and therefore didn't really 'get into' their stories (I'll go into detail about this shortly). The Colour of Time: A New History of the World, 1850–1960, London, Apollo, 2018, ISBN 978-1-78669-268-9. 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 April 2016 he co-wrote and co-presented, with Suzannah Lipscomb, Henry VIII and His Six Wives, shown on Channel 5. [16]

The sinking of the White Ship is one important marker; the other is Matilda’s marriage in 1128 to one Geoffrey of Anjou. It was a marriage made in hell, or at least Matilda might have thought so. A widow of twenty six, previously married to the Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, she now found herself bound to a red-headed teenager of fourteen, a marriage arranged by her father for the sake of the peace. Geoffrey, son of the count of Anjou, had taken to sporting a sprig of yellow broom as his personal emblem- the planta genista in Latin, hence the name of the ensuing dynasty. Book Genre: British Literature, English History, European History, European Literature, Historical, History, Medieval, Medieval History, Nonfiction, Tudor Period, War Having said that he does admit that possibility esp in Edward’s case, his contempories certainly thought so - thus the legendary manor of his deathWhat a hot mess life could be in the Plantagenet empire! The best one can hope for is that we learn from the mistakes of the past. So, should anyone find themselves in any of the following situations, here are some bits of wisdom, courtesy of these “warrior kings and queen” of yore. This was good. It is about the Wars of the Roses and nothing to do with the later Tudors, which is what I wanted. I'm pretty well-versed in Henry VIII and family, but have only held a very blurry picture of the wars preceding their reign until now.