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The Dragon's Breed: The Story of the Tudors from Earliest Times to 1603

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The grandfather of Henry VII of England was a Welshman named Owen ap Meredyth ap Tudor (ap meaning "son of"). Since he spent much of his time at the English court, he conveniently anglicized his name as "Owen Tudor" (being prouder, apparently, of his grandfather than his father). The earlier Tudor (who died in 1367) was a man of considerable estates and power in the island of Anglesey, an area the conquering English monarchs kept in their own hands rather than relinquishing it to the tender mercies of the marcher lords. This was the origin of the dynasty that replaced the direct Plantagenet descent from William I but which produced only five monarchs in a little over a century. Turton goes into considerable detail regarding the careers of the earlier Tudors, which is quite useful, but he also goes far afield in detailing the general international affairs of England, Wales, and France, as well as the personal lives of a number of non-Tudors, some of them quite minor historical figures. While the book is enjoyable and well written, none of this extraneous material is new or original with him. One suspects it was added to fill out what otherwise would have been a rather thin volume in a too-restricted market.