I have always been drawn to the histories and biographies written by Alison Weir. She is a specialist in late-Medieval/Enlightenment English history. I decided to read this book because I realized that I had very little knowledge about the Wars of the Roses and I wanted to learn more after watching a documentary series called Monarchy that takes viewers through the whole history of the British royal houses.

The first third of the book provides background history about the ruling kings prior to the period the book is focusing on. This includes kings like Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V, who will all be familiar to folks into Shakespeare. While this period is not actually part of the Wars of the Roses, it is the events that occurred during this time that set up the division.

Richard II was ousted from the throne by Henry IV, the first of the Lancastrian kings. Richard's relatives would continue on the the form of the Dukes of York, who would try to regain the throne, claiming that the House of Lancaster were usurpers. For much of this early history, the two families would bicker through political intrigue and gossip, but that would change once Henry VI became king.

He married Margaret of Anjou, a niece of the French king. Beside bringing some strong continental support, Margaret also proved to be quite the administrator. She was able to step in as Her husband would suffer from bouts of of a psychological condition that would (at times) send him into a stupor for months at a time.

The problem was she would accomplish many things through special favors to the supporters of Lancaster to the detriment of their foes, the supporters of York, and the average English citizen. This caused resentment to brew, and before long, the two sides found themselves fighting minor-to-major day-long battles over the course of more than 30 years. During that time, the crown would repeatedly change hands between Henry VI and Edward IV, the first of the Yorkish kings.

The noble houses of England would jostle for power as they supported either the Yorks or the Lancasters. At times, some of the nobles (or magnates) would even switch sides or try to position themselves from a third perspective in the hopes of using the ongoing fighting to bring power into their own hands.

The result is a country that was confronted with decades of civil war, but at a pace in which it was not crippled since battles never lasted more than a day and were spread out over a great deal of time. In fact, Weir points out that their was only about 13 weeks of actual warfare during the more than 30 years of conflict.

Weir does a wonderful job of utilizing primary resources from the period and secondary sources from a short time later (the Tudor period) to supplement the content and provide interesting details to the story and insight to the events and the people that experienced them. These include household records such as supply lists to actual histories from the period. These also do a nice job of presenting the biases of those involved and those who followed.

As with other books that I have read by her, including her biographies of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Elizabeth I, the tale is rich with detail and presented with a smooth and comfortable narrative that makes it feel almost like a novel rather than a history.

The one complaint I have has nothing to do with her own presentation of the events. The folks from the period seemed quite attracted to the same names as they named their children so the presentation is filled with Henrys, Marys, Margarets, Edwards, and a number of other common names. Weir does a great job of trying to help the reader keep track of who is who by referring to them by their landed titles or making sure to include their prenomens.

The books also has some really great genealogical charts for those who are really into that. Besides being interesting to see how interrelated everyone is, it helps provide some clarity when reading about the individuals since they can be referenced in the family trees.

As an interesting aside, I learned that the Tudors, who would rule later one in the form of Henry VIII, his father, and his children, first come to notice in the history of the Wars of the Roses. They apparently were a very minor Welsh family who married into some of the minor noble houses and dedicated themselves to both the Yorks and the Lancasters at various points in the period. They also started out as Tewdwrs rather than Tudors. One of them changed the spelling right around the time they started to get noticed.

Anyway, this was an awesome and very thorough read on the topic. I would definitely recommend it!