Customer Reviews

Bosworth 1485: The Psychology of a Battle

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The battle of Bosworth marked the end of the reign of Richard III. Today it is one of the most intriguing medieval battles that took place in history with not enough information known.

The traditional view of where the battle took place has been a controversial point along with where the key players of the battle took place. Mr. Jones provides new insight and offers an entirely new perspective on the attitude of Richard III.

Jones overturns Shakespeares account separating the literary Richard III from the historical figure showing us a man who knew and understood medieval chivalry, battle tactics and the society in which he lived.

Jones touches on the illegitmacy of Edward IV, his similarity between his role at Bosworth and his father's role in 1441 in Pontoise and the significance of the crown that he wore into battle.

Jones relocation of the battle to the villages of Atherstone, Atterton and Fenny Drayton commands not only our attention but more research into the villages and locations in proximity to the current and traditional location.

The book is beautifully illustrated with maps showing the new and traditional sites. Jones meticulous research on Bosworth
is an important work in the continuing questions and intrigue surrounding the last battle of the last English King to fight in battle.

Joe Ann Ricca
CEO/President
The Richard III Foundation, Inc.

Dr. Jones led a tour I was on to the battlefields of Kursk, Moscow and Stalingrad and his presentations were so fascinating I wanted to read his Bosworth 1485. I had, for reasons that escape me, great difficulty getting the book finally having to get a used copy from Alibris but the effort was well rewarded. I am not a specialist in that period of history or the battle but found the book well written and convincing . It was interesting to say the least to have a different point of view about Richard III from the one most of us have from reading and seeing Shakespeare. And most of all for a reader interested in military history is was a good read.

I found this book to be well written and very clever in its presentation. While Battle of Bosworth remains one of the main subjects of the book, its not the true subject of the book. The true subject of the book rest on the author's efforts to restored King Richard III's good name and hopes that his actions were done in honor and respect while maintaining the ruthless elements of his days.

However, the author failed to make his points because he failed to delivered on certain elements of logic and facts that cannot be changed. Even if we accept the illogical fact that Edward IV was not a legitimate heir of the House of York, he remains the legitimate King of England. As a legitimate King of England, Richard swore an oath of loyalty to him as his lord and liege. While Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was unpopular, it was legal. Their two children cannot be considered as bastards even if their father was. (Sons of a bastard is not a bastard themselves.) If their father was the legitimate King of England, then they were his legitimate heirs and Edward V was Richard's lawful and legitimate King. They cannot be bastardized because of their father's status. The author totally missed this point in his long chapters which from his perception, seem to legalized Richard's actions because his older "half brother" (according to the author's premise) was not a true heir to the House of York. That shouldn't matter at all.

I think the author was bit obsessive about how Shakespeare protrayed Richard III instead of how historians protrayed him.

Richard did murdered his nephews, he did overthrow a legitimate young ruler to gained power and he lost his throne and crown to an upstart Henry Tudor who probably had every right to be more ruthless due to his initial lack of foundation of his family rule. I have no doubts that Richard did have many redeeming quality as the author like to point out and he was a "man of his time". But his actions reflects a power hungry man who wanted to be King of England. He fought well at Bosworth and was let down by his other commanders. The author failed to explained why Richard allowed himself to be place in a situation where he might be easily betrayed.

The battle analysis was bit better and I really kind of wished that the author stay on this with greater degree. His attempts to turn Richard's reputation proves to be bit meaningless and it took away from what should be the main subject of the book.

This is respectfully addressed to the third reviewer of this book. Since you've decided to make most of your review about the author having his facts wrong I have to point out that it is you that are mistaken. Richard III based his claim to the throne on Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville being invalid and therefore the children of this marriage illegitimate, not on the basis of Edward IV being illegitimate himself. And illegitimate children cannot inherit the crown whether their father is lawful king or not. You can check on the facts and learn more about this by doing a bit of research. But since you seem to know everything about the subject and want to educate everyone maybe you don't need to. After all you KNOW Richard III killed Edward's sons. Were you there or what incontrovertible proof do you have? Please share it with us. Historians have puzzled over this for years and all along you had all the answers.