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Having read several historical fiction books about The War of the Roses, I wanted to get an idea of what was true and what wasn’t, so I picked up this non-fiction book some time ago. This book contains a lot of information. Without restating the entire saga, I thought I would set out some the author’s observations about the period that I found interesting.
*In the 15th century, England was the most peaceful country in Europe. It had no standing army and its citizens lived relatively quiet and happy lives. The fact that England is an island, helped this immensely.
*Since there was no standing army, the battles during the Wars of the Roses were fought by forces raised for a particular occasion.
*Generally, kings and princes did not take an active part in actual battles. There was one important exception – civil war – where the purpose was to create fear in those taking the field against his king.
*An Englishman born in 1450 who lived to be 40 would see three civil wars (The Wars of the Roses) and the forcible change of the monarch 5 times.
*The wars were not caused by economic or political tensions; but rather, by the shortcomings and ambitions of men (primarily Henry VI, Warwick and Richard III).
*The propaganda of the time would probably rival today’s media frenzies.
*At times, the relative success of one side over the other has less to do with the “rightness” of their cause than with where they stood in the greater web of European politics and who was on their side.
*Richard’s actions after the death of Edward IV were both “extraordinary and unforeseeable”. Which is why he was successful.
*If Richard had been content to be Protector, he would have been the dominant voice in the government for several years. But like others before him, he wanted more than he had.
*There is no theory put forward as to who killed the Princes in the Tower; only that they died during Richard’s reign.
*Although Richard was a competent military general, he lacked one important quality: the ability to make men want to fight for him – even those who had benefited the most from his reign.
*The choice of one man – William Stanley – at a decisive moment changed history. Choosing to support the unknown Henry Tudor, Stanley made it clear that he no longer wanted Richard as his king.
I found those last two points particularly thought provoking. Much of what I have read so far about Richard III has been the rather "romantic" version (see Susan's latest blog for the "unromantic version) and although I haven't considered him a saint by any means, I have preferred to give him the benefit of most doubts. But after thinking about the above, I thought what greater condemnation of his kingship (and perhaps him as a person) can there be? Surely, those that turned against him were intelligent men of sorts. That couldn't have all been wrong about Richard and/or fooled by Henry Tudor, could they? To choose a total unknown who had been living in exile over a known authority figure I think goes against human nature. It's one reason incubment office holders have such an advantage when it comes re-election time.
Even though this was a non-fiction book, for the most part it was pretty readable. There were a few times I got a little bogged down in the details and I found myself taking notes (like I would have in college) to set out the sequence of events for myself for later reference. The book also contains a wonderful genealogical table with names and titles that I found very helpful. For some reason I have a hard time keeping people and their titles straight. So when the author referred to the "Duke or Earl of such and such", I could look at the table and figure out who that person was and who they were related to.
Rating: Good
The Beloved - Posie Graeme-Evans 
Originally published in 1974 (under the title Tudor Tapestry), A Royal Ambition is the story of Katherine of Valois, a light, fluffy story about her romance with Owen Tudor.
Katherine is a young princess of France when Henry V of England comes to negotiate for her hand in marriage. She is plagued by a mean (but beautiful) mother who doesn't want to lose the power she has acquired due to her husband's mental instability. Queen Isabelle is particularly cruel to Katherine's young brother Charles and openly claims that he is not the king's son. As the politics in France change, Isabelle vows to make her son suffer by marrying Katherine to Henry of England and agreeing that their children will rule France.
On her journey to England, Katherine meets a young man in her husband's service - Owen Tudor - and they are quite taken with each other. Owen is charming and sensitive (two things her husband definately is not) and the two begin to spend time together. Katherine even goes so far as to make it clear to Owen how she feels, but regrets that she is Queen of England and so her future must lie elsewhere.
Katherine and Henry's marriage is covered quickly as is Henry's death. The rest of this short book (290 pages - but my copy is a large print book) covers Katherine and Owen's secret marriage, the birth of their children and their life together mingled with tidbits of the political situations in England and France. Katherine and Owen are completly devoted to each other even though they experience some rough times. Katherine's health does not seem to always be the greatest and after the birth of her sixth child, she becomes very ill. On her deathbed, she begs Owen to go to Wales where he will be safe and Henry to always remember his half brothers and take care of them.
This is primarily a love story mingled with enough history to give you context. There's no real attempt to get into the head of the characters or to go beyond the bare bones of the story. I don't have anything against light, fluffy love stories - sometimes, they are a nice change of pace. For what it is, it does an OK job, but overall, it's rather lackluster.
Rating: Average
