Blood Royal - The Wars of the Roses: 1462-1485

by Hugh Bicheno

England, 1462.

The Yorkist Edward IV has been king for three years since his victory at Towton. The former Lancastrian King Henry VI languishes in the Tower of London. But Edward will soon alienate his backers by favoring the family of his ambitious wife, Elizabeth Woodville. And he will fall out with his chief supporter, Warwick “the Kingmaker,” with dire consequences.

Told with extraordinary authority and narrative verve, Blood Royal is the second part of a two-volume history of the dynastic wars fought between the houses of Lancaster and York for the English throne from 1450 until 1485. Hugh Bicheno tells the story of the Wars of the Roses as an enthralling, character-driven saga of interwoven families, narrating each chapter from the point of view of a key player in the wider drama.

This latest volume describes three Lancastrian attempts to overthrow the Yorkists, ending with the death of Edward's successor, Richard III, at Bosworth in 1485—and the accession of Henry VII and the rise of the Tudor dynasty.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, British Literature, Medieval, War, Medieval History, European History

440 pages, Hardcover

Published June 6, 2017

About the author

Hugh Bicheno graduated from Cambridge and later joined the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). He is now a political risk analyst and an historian of conflict.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the greatest book I have ever read.

The author basically disses anyone who holds a contrary opinion to his. Yes, Richard III may very well have murdered his nephews, but to state it as fact is incorrect. We do not know. We will never know. That sort of attitude and opinion is best left to historical fiction writers.

[Pinko Palest · Rating 1 out of 5]

again, a very intelligent and fascinating take, so avidly lancastrian that it spoils the fun

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an interesting book about the War of Roses, and offers a distinctive approach that many readers will appreciate. Rather than being a military history and focusing on the battles, many of which will be familiar to the reader, such as Towton or St. Albans or Mortimer's Cross, this particular book (while discussing the battles and the campaigns leading up to them) also talks about the personalities involved and the larger stakes of politics and morality and even geopolitics that governed the behavior of different people. In many ways, the personalities of the people involved was starkly limited by their position, such that even an English king that wanted to have peaceful relations with France was limited by the extreme hostility of the English voting population to France, for example, a phenomenon that would continue for long after this period. The author is also quick to notice that England itself was rather peripheral in continental affairs, and that this peripheral status was important in shaping the behavior of English kings and those who would be kings or kingmakers over the course of the Wars of the Roses. For those who like a look at war and society as well as the importance of women and family matters, this book has a lot to offer that gives it a good niche.

This book is about 350 pages or so in length and it is divided into more than 30 short chapters that deal with various aspects of diplomacy, war, and politics, including family politics, in the period between the accession of Edward and the death of Richard III. We see the complicated relationship of the English and French royal families, as well as the excellence of Louis XI in manipulating people against each other in order to increase the power of the French monarchy, which prevented the resumption of the Hundred Year's War and ended up destroying Burgundian power by focusing it on Germany and Switzerland. The author's interest in continental affairs helps us to better understand how it was that the dynastic rivalries between York and Lancaster and ultimately Tudor ended up interacting with larger European geopolitical matters. Yet the detailed look at manorial ownership and the ability of of the Pastons to prevail in their struggle with high nobles is also welcome, as the author manages to blend multiple levels an interesting discussion and analysis of the late medieval monarchy.

One of the interesting aspects that this book makes sense of is the reality as opposed to the image that people have of Edward IV as a monarch. This book really centers on the period in which he was king, and points out the issues he had when it came to his general lack of character which led to him not being viewed at home or abroad with a lot of respect, his bad relationship with his mother, and with the way that the Woodville fashion served him and his interests and not the other way around. The hollowing out of the English elites as a result of decades of war led to serious problems for Richard III, who simply didn't have a lot of "regime locks" that he could trust to stand by his side even if the people as a whole were not hostile to him and to his regime. Indeed, if you read this book, one thing that will come up a lot is a discussion of "regime locks" and the importance of having people one could trust to be in positions of authority in key peripheral regions of the kingdom (the North, Wales, etc). If this is appealing to you this book will offer a lot of enjoyment.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second of the two books he wrote about Wars of the Roses. He has much more strident opinions on legends from this era than other writers I've read. The most notable is he fully abides by the rumor that Edward IV was not York's actual son, but was instead the result of an affair by his mother, which his younger brothers later used to slander him.

He's also far more progressive. He doesn't give much credence to the idea that the Woodvilles were this evil faction that had cast their spells on Edward, but more that they were loyal servants/wife of his who only were allowed the station that he determined. He also debunks a lot of general attitudes about Elizabeth and women in general from that era.

I didn't love these two books at the start b/c of the astounding amount of details, names, family histories, etc, and in particular, he really delves into the logistics of the famous battles. I've been reading military histories for decades and I've never really cared about the actual battle details. It's far too hard to follow in a non-classroom setting, for one thing, and how do we really know what the hell happened in some field in middle England in 1485 anyways? And, yes, I know they've done amazing research and found lead deposits from bullets, etc. It's still complete conjecture, at a certain point of detail.

At any rate, I liked this book. But it's not an easy read.

[Jane Irish Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe 2.5 stars. I will admit upfront that I am a Ricardian; I read Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time at an impressionable age. But I am fully aware of my bias, while I do not think the author of this book realizes his. He seems to me to favor the Lancastrians, since to him Marguerite d'Anjou is a heroine, Edward IV a bastard, and Richard II a psychopath! Despite this much of the background detail is informative; however there are no source citations, so the reader has no way of determining just what these "facts" are based on. Disappointing.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally interesting, though I'm taking some of it with a shaker of salt - the repeated unsourced assertions of Edward's bastardy are a bit odd, given that there is no evidence offered and it would have been quite remarkable for Cecily Neville to have admitted to anyone that she had borne a bastard, let alone allowed it be made public. The assertion that this was in fact what happened requires some evidence, but none is offered beyond logic that doesn't hold up very well given that royal brothers quarrelling was hardly remarkable at the time, nor was slagging it out in the court of public opinion with allegations of illegitimacy unusual.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author says he was inspired by the feudal inter-connections of "Game of Thrones", but by presenting such a saga in a straightforward manner, the result is something that is incredibly dense but incredibly clinical -- the equivalent of reading hundreds of people untying the ropes that hold them all together. It's extremely well-researched and useful for any scholar, but authors such as Philippa Gregory have the advantage of adding soaring emotional storytelling to the facts, which is why the historical novels on the War of the Roses are far more effective.

[Judith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very much against Richard III, whose guilt in killing the princes is unproven and all sources are Henry VII, who had as much reason to kill them as Richard. Evidence has recently been uncovered in several European archives that both young princes were spirited away, grew up, recognized by their relatives living in European courts. Henry VII did not have equal right to the throne while Edward IV or Richard III lived.

I would have liked more clear identification of who was who; there are a lot of names: so many Edwards, Richards, Henrys in the peerage!

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

On the one hand Bicheno offers some excellent analysis of things such as battles, the spiderwebs of alliances, Edward IV's plans to redraw the political map and what exactly Clarence's motivations might have been. On the other, he holds up as facts some truly bizarre theories such as the idea that "everyone knew" Edward IV was an illegitimate child - including his "father" the Duke of York!!! So, 50/50 loved it and hated it.

[David Withers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 2 of 2 on the background and causes of the Wars of the Roses. Seems to be very well researched and extremely well explained, whilst still coming up with some theories and insights that I have not heard anywhere else before even though this is my favourite bit of history.

[David Akeroyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far too much speculation about Edward being a bastard without ever offering any proof. That's only the most glaring and oft repeated claim in a book full of them.

[Dvdurante · Rating 5 out of 5]

I do love this new trend of turning histories into stories.

[Daniel Pearse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well done second half of the great duology about the English War of the Roses.
This series really shows that power abhors a vacuum. What a bunch of power hungry people.