Customer Reviews

EDWARD IV AND THE WARS OF THE ROSES

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Before Richard III and Henry VIII there was The Rose of Rouen.A concise well researched history of Edward IV as a late medieval soldier king of England. It was refreshing that the author leaves the controversy of Edward's personal foibles and conspiracy theories to others. Edward was the man who brought peace and prosperity to England at a turning point between the Middle Ages and Renaissance.He was also grandfather of Henry VIII and a man whom Henry no doubt attempted to emulate with his showy yet ultimately meaningless martial heroics and pursuit of luxury.Read this book if you are interested in what came before the Tudors and the amazing figure who paved the way for a new dynasty and era.

Several facts often overlooked about Edward IV:

Although he was not a scholarly king per se he appreciated the arts and enjoyed the company of learned men.Edward was patron to William Caxton who was given royal license to set up the first printing press in England. Edward left a collection of books which are housed at the British Library.

Edward founded the Perpendicular style architectural gem of St Georges Chapel at Windsor Castle,although you might be hard pressed to learn this upon visiting. He was buried in the northeast corner of the chapel to be followed by his queen Elizabeth Woodville and his best friend William Hastings.All that remains of Edward's tomb are its fine hand wrought iron gates built for his chantry.There are several ancient Yorkist remnants to be found in the chapel if one looks carefully. An especially interesting one being a carved misericord commemorating the Treaty of Picquigny,1475.

The Medieval Hall at Eltham Palace outside London was built for Edward. It was here that Henry VIII grew up and the magnificent hammerbeam roof was undoubtedly the pattern used for a similar one at Hampton Court.The palace no longer exists and the Great Hall was used as a barn before narrowly escaping the wrecking ball.

I strongly recommend this book for War of the Roses military buffs. If you are at all interested in the battles, you will probably enjoy this book. This book is also a good resource for anyone who wants to get a good well-rounded introduction to the battles.

I was mildly annoyed because the title of this book is somewhat unclear - the title should not be "*Edward IV* and the War of the Roses" since it is really a military history of the battles themselves.

From that perspective, the book is excellent. I spent extensive amounts of time researching the battles and this is one of the best books I've read for tying all the battles together in a concise, comprehensive way. I believe the author hits most of the major points about the battles.

The best part of the book in my opinion was the photos. I was *THRILLED* to see the Towton battlefield photographs. In one photo of the fields were Towton was fought, the author points out a landmark and tells us that you could see troops all the way back to that point. This caption and photo choice were an excellent way to bring the enormity of Towton to life.