Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower [Paperback]

David Baldwin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 18, 2004

This is the first new account of Elizabeth's life for over fifty years and David Baldwin sets out to reveal the true story of this complex and intriguing woman. Hers was certainly a dramatic life with dizzying reversals of fortune; from poverty in 1461 to queenship in 1464, followed by deposition, restoration, and conflicts with Richard III and Henry VII before spending her final years in religious seclusion. There is also the issue of her two sons, the infamous 'Princes in the Tower', and the controversy surrounding their disappearance.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Baldwin is a medieval historian, who has taught at the Universities of Leicester and Nottingham for many years. His historical research has focused on the great medieval families in the Midlands and he has contributed articles to historical journals and lectured regularly to societies and conferences in this field.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: The History Press (November 18, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750938862
• ISBN-13: 978-0750938860
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #497,236 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Worth reading, but not compelling, December 9, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower (Hardcover)

Readers with an interest in the Wars of the Roses will find this book about Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV's Queen, and the mother of the "Princes in the Tower", perfectly readable, but not extremely compelling. This may be due to the relative scarcity of reliable, original source information about her. (I think much of the contemporary information about her is speculation about how she, a widow from the gentry class with two children, managed to attract and win the King, suggesting that witchcraft was involved.) My sense is the book may go a little far in "white-washing" her historical reputation as grasping, selfish, proud and haughty. I just don't think the sketchy information the author was able to marshall was convincing enough to really establish what kind of person Elizabeth actually was, one way or other.

Also, regarding the earlier reviewer's suggestion that Elizabeth's negative reputation owes to the Tudors "looking back in anger", it might pay to remember that Henry VIII's grandmother was, in fact, Elizabeth Woodville (his mother's mother), so I'm not certain how much her historical reputation is a result of this. I think it actually owes a lot more to her contemporary Yorkist rivals, who were threatened by her very unexpected emergence onto the scene and potential power she could wield as the King's wife, than to the later Tudors, a dynasty Elizabeth's own daughter founded when she married Henry Tudor.

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower, August 21, 2003

By 

Valerie Obey (Costa Mesa, California United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower (Hardcover)

I enjoyed this book very much. I had previously held to the opinion that Elizabeth Woodville was a social climbing, ambitious and manipulative person who was able to influence her husband to do whatever she wanted. This, of course, was based on the accounts of a later time when the Tudors were "looking back in anger".
This book puts her in a more sympathetic light and shows that she was truly a woman of her time.
I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Richard 111 and the Wars of the Roses.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An fascinating lady, June 16, 2007

By 

Mark Latchford (Sydney Australia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower (Paperback)

A complex book about a complex woman in complex times. I knew little about Elizabeth Woodville until I discovered this book but after digesting the detailed material within, you are completely briefed on the person, the extended family, the politics and the times. The tragedy of her children, the ruthlessness of power around her etc, can only mean you conclude the book with great sympathy for Woodville. I commend this book despite the rather dull prose (at times)