Battle Royal

November 15, 2016
Lancasters, Yorkists, and appendices, oh my!If you can read a history of the wars of Lancaster and York without being confused then you are in a small minority and probably have a degree in the subject. As it is, the conflict between contending bloodlines and their allies spills over into all sorts of events in the larger European context. In his first book to be published in America, former British intelligence officer Bicheno (Elizabeth's Sea Dogs: How the English Became the Scourge of the Seas, 2014, etc.) does very good work by personalizing some of that larger picture. For instance, he notes that a key figure in the proximate causes of war was the widow of the Duke of Bedford, who had married her so hastily after the death of his wife he lost a "crucial English ally in the endgame of the Hundred Years War." Then there was King Henry VI, whose mother had set up house, unmarried, with Owen Tudor, introducing a name into English history that would soon be heard from again. Those striking personalities aside, Bicheno's history of a bloody war among cousins is complex and sometimes tedious--not through any fault of his own but because the endless back and forth of royal and anti-royal factions is simply tiresome and wrapped in overelaborate but needed detail. A sentence such as, "it is not clear whether the first Lancastrian emissaries were sent after the duchesses arrived at St Albans, or crossed paths with them," begs the question whether it matters. At its best, Bicheno's book--the first volume of a history that will feature better-known figures than the early stirrings recounted here--is a fast-paced study of savage battles full of longbowmen and the equerry.Of much interest to students of late medieval British history, though a glance at the 20-odd pages of charted royal lineages and ranking clergy will doubtless scare off casual readers.

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November 1, 2016

Historian Bicheno (Rebels & Redcoats) takes a leap back to the 15th century to examine the many threads that came together to weave the Wars of the Roses (1455-85). The first of a two-book series, this volume covers the period from the coming of age of Henry VI in 1437 to the essential midpoint of the York/Lancaster wars in 1461, when the ineffectual Henry was supplanted by Edward IV. Dividing the study of these events into two volumes allows Bicheno room to delve into the people, conflicts, and alliances that shorter works must skim over by necessity, though this occasionally results in a narrative slowed by a mass of personalities and details. Helpfully, the book includes numerous materials to assist readers in keeping the various players and their actions straight, including family trees, detailed maps, appendixes on peerages and titles, and a separate index of names with key information. VERDICT The plethora of facts and names might overwhelm those looking for a snappy treatment of the subject, but readers interested in a more in-depth examination should find this a solid choice.--Kathleen McCallister, Tulane Univ., New Orleans

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