The Perfect Prince: The Mystery of Perkin Warbeck and His Quest for the Throne of England [Hardcover]

Ann Wroe (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2003

In 1491, as Machiavelli advised popes and princes and Leonardo da Vinci astonished the art world, a young man boarded a ship in Portugal bound for Ireland. He would be greeted upon arrival as the rightful heir to the throne of England. The trouble was, England already had a king.

The most intriguing and ambitious pretender in history, this elegant young man was celebrated throughout Europe as the prince he claimed to be: Richard, Duke of York, the younger of the “Princes in the Tower” who were presumed to have been murdered almost a decade earlier. Handsome, well-mannered, and charismatic, he behaved like the perfect prince, and many believed he was one. The greatest European rulers of the age—among them the emperor Maximilian, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and Charles VIII of France—used him as a diplomatic pawn to their own advantage. As such, he tormented Henry VII for eight years, attempting to invade England three times. Eventually, defeated and captured, he admitted to being Perkin Warbeck, the son of a common boatman from Flanders. But was this really the truth?

Ann Wroe, a historian and storyteller of the first rank, delves into the secret corners of the late medieval world to explore both the elusive nature of identity and the human propensity for deception. In uncovering the mystery of Perkin Warbeck, Wroe illuminates not only a life but an entire world trembling on the verge of discovery.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Many readers who know the English War of the Roses through the plays of Shakespeare will be interested in the coda Wroe offers to that history: several years into the reign of Henry VII, a young man called Perkin Warbeck claimed to be one of the sons of Edward IV, consigned as boys to the Tower of London and supposedly murdered by order of their uncle, Richard III. Invading England with support from both commoners and princes, Warbeck challenged the legitimacy of the first Tudor king. Wroe nicely evokes the ephemera of image and manners that, along with lineage, enabled a prince to rule. Holding out the barest of possibilities that Warbeck was indeed who he said he was, she recreates the shifting sands of identity that confounded his contemporaries. Prominent figures, including Margaret of York and James IV of Scotland, encouraged the young man based not so much on their belief in his story as on how well it fit their own diplomatic ambitions. Contemporary narratives of lost princes and the desire for leadership made Warbeck's claims reasonable to others. In the end, his successes indicate that the Tudor dynasty was initially no more secure than its predecessors, while his ultimate defeat all but ended the conflicting royal claims that had torn England apart in the previous century. Wroe (Pontius Pilate), a senior editor at the Economist, occasionally digresses in the rich cultural and political context of her story, but amateurs of English history will find a highly readable and fascinating new story among names and events they already know.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

History readers probably close their books when Henry Tudor defeats Richard III at Bosworth Field during England's War of the Roses, but the dynastic struggle had a bizarre coda that Wroe rescues from obscurity. She recounts the odyssey of a young man who in the 1490s took in hand the Yorkist pretensions to the throne. He said he was Richard Plantagenet, displaced by Richard III as heir to Edward IV. Trouble was, little Richard hadn't been seen since big Richard clapped him into the Tower of London in 1483. But on the scaffold in 1499, the man who had comported himself with princely dignity cleansed his soul and confessed himself a fraud from Flanders. Wroe pins down documentable truth and also envelops her readers into credulity about "Prince Richard," engendered from rumor, superstition, and faith in fortune's favor that gained him supporters among Cornwall peasants and continental potentates. In a compulsively readable way, Wroe imaginatively draws back the arras to discern the mysterious corners of history. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 624 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st Am. ed. edition (October 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400060338
• ISBN-13: 978-1400060337
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #421,546 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Historical Mystery, May 9, 2004

By 

John D. Cofield - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Perfect Prince: The Mystery of Perkin Warbeck and His Quest for the Throne of England (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed The Perfect Prince for several reasons. First, it covers a fascinating period of English and European history, the late 1400s when the Europeans were beginning to stretch beyond their own borders into other continents like Africa and the Americas. At the same time the European nation states were in the final stages of coalescence, so that terms like "England" and "France" were beginning to have more than just rough geographical meanings. Secondly, I liked this book for its detailed coverage of the mystery of the vanished Princes and whether or not Perkin Warbeck was actually Richard, Duke of York. This is one of the oldest European historical mysteries, but it is just as intriguing as more modern conundrums, such as what happened to the Dauphin in 1793 or to two of the last Tsar's children in 1918. Thirdly, this book is beautifully written, with fine psychological insights into Perkin himself, King Henry VII, Margaret of Burgundy, and numerous others who tend to be considered mere names in dry as dust annals.

So I recommend this book to students of royal and/or English history and to anyone who enjoys a fine, well told tale of mystery and intrigue.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Perfect Prince: The Perfect Read, December 12, 2003

By 

James T. Currie (Alexandria, VA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Perfect Prince: The Mystery of Perkin Warbeck and His Quest for the Throne of England (Hardcover)

I first heard the story of the little princes when I was taking an undergraduate course in English history many years ago, and I really wanted them to have escaped death. Apparently, many people in late fifteenth century England hoped the same thing, even to the point of risking lives and fortunes to support someone who claimed to be one of the princes. Alas, as Ann Wroe recounts so well in her excellent book on the subject, it was all a charade. Regardless of the disappointment when one discovers that Perkin Warbeck was only a pretender and that the princes actually died in the Tower, it is such a pleasure to encounter a book that rises above the commonplace and takes one to another time in such fine fashion that even after 500+ pages the reader is left wanting more. This is a first-rate mystery that Ms. Wroe, whose writing skills have obviously been honed through her many years at The Economist, has turned into a tour of late fifteenth century England. The story is a compelling one of intrigue and treachery and betrayal, and Ms. Wroe has told it with elegance and wit. Hers is a book that I savored, only too sorry when it came to an end. Drawing upon her background as a historian of the medieval age, Ms. Wroe has presented us with a tour de force, a detailed journey through an age that is so far removed from our own that we might be talking about a different planet. This was a time when kings and princes and dukes and knights plotted and counter-plotted and Machiavelli was not just a name to be remembered in a "Jeopardy" contest, but an actual practitioner of the art of political intrigue. This is a book for those who want detail, for Ms. Wroe has looted and pillaged through every relevant archive and has brought to bear an enormous amount of scholarship. It is at the same time that rare volume that combines prodigious and meticulous research with writing that almost literally sings. There were times when I found myself reading sentences aloud just to hear they way they were put together. I highly recommend this book to serious readers of non-fiction, and even dare to suggest that those who normally read only works of fiction would find that it captures and holds their interest from first page to last. This book is, I am confident in asserting, the very last word on one of the most fascinating and little-known episodes in English history. A perfect read for a perfect prince.

25 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a conspiracy of dunces, indeed, January 8, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: The Perfect Prince: The Mystery of Perkin Warbeck and His Quest for the Throne of England (Hardcover)

I was so bemused by the vigorous attacks here, and such a fan of Pontius Pilate, that I put The Perfect Prince at the head of my reading list, jumping over a few long-waiting candidates, just to see what the problem was.

In a word, I haven't the vaguest.

I didn't find the book difficult to follow at all, and it rewards readers' attention with a wealth of fascinating detail that matches the drama of the story.

I don't care to speculate as to whether the intense hostility is motivated by short attention spans or the pique that some people inevitably display when a book they don't care for is praised, but I found Prince to be a rare, cherishable pleasure.