Customer Reviews

The Lost Prince: The Survival of Richard of York

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4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

A well written book, whatever your opinion of the theory presented. It seems unlikely that little Richard of york would have been allowed to live, & the reasons given are somewhat implausible. The author obviously researched thoroughly, & tells a fascinating story. Well worth reading for the general information given on the period, & he has the talent of making the historical characters come alive. I felt I had a good picture of the personalities involved after finishing the book. Interesting appendices give a look at modern involvement in the story, & he offers a good case for DNA testing of the bones generally held to be those of the lost princes. Well worth buying.

The reader may or may not accept Baldwin's theory that the youngest of Edward IV's two sons survived the reign of Richard III, the Battle of Bosworth Field and the transition to Tudor rule, to die years later as an elderly stone mason in an obscure Kentish village. It is particularly difficult to believe that Henry VII and VIII, while murdering everyone else with a drop of Yorkist blood, knowing left alive the most dangerous threat to the survival of their dynasty. However, Baldwin is to be commended for bringing together all the evidence regarding Richard Plantagenet and for advancing an inventive new theory in a thoroughly readable style. This is a must read for anyone interested in the Wars of the Roses.

This is a very readable account of the missing prince, Richard of York. However, I do have some problems with the theory presented as to the identity of the lost prince and I agree with the reviewer who said Henry VII, and particularly Henry VIII, would not have allowed this young man to live out his natural life when they were busy murdering anyone who posed even the remotest threat to their regimes. In addition, there seems to be a certain naivite on the author's part regarding the dismissal of Perkin Warbect as the real Prince Richard. On page 116, he says "He [Perkin] told his interrogators after he was captured that he was only a substitute or stand-in..." Indeed he would when faced with the appalling horrors of the torture chamber in the Tower of London! On page 143 Baldwin states "henry's curiously negative response when Ferdinand and Isabella and others offered to help him 'prove' that Perkin Warbeck was an imposter - and his apparent failure to conmfront Warbeck with his 'sisters' - is also entirely explicable if he knew that prince Richard was alive and well and living at Colchester [i.e., as a stonemason]." This explanation is a bit of a stretch when the obvious one is ignored, viz. that Henry refused these requests and failed to confront the Pretender with his 'sisters' because he knew the Pretender was the real prince, Richard of York. Author Diana Kleyn in RICHARD OF ENGLAND makes a far more powerful and convincing argument as to the identity of this most unfortunate 'Pretender'-- that he really was who he said he was -- Richard, Duke of York and the true King of England. However, THE LOST PRINCE is a well-written and interesting account of this aspect of the Wars of the Roses in general, and has much to offer scholars and general readers alike. For that reason it should not be missed.

I had read a book about Edward VI, a romance novel. So I was interested in the life of Edward so I ordered an other book about Edward, a history book and became interested in Princess Elizabeth and Henry VII and the Princes in the tower. This was a good book but it had no more information than the other books. But I was intreged by Richard III and read a history book about him and that was that. So if you are lookin gfor some reveiling info about the Princes you will be let down. I was however shocked to dicover that the bones of two male children found in the tower were in the posession of the Church of England and they denied acess to the bones for DNA testing, something about the present monarcy.

This book told you nothing new and kept saying "maybe" this happened. I wanted my money back!!!!