Dan Jones. The Wars of the Roses. New York: Penguin, 2015. E-book.

Like many people, I have gotten much of my English history from historical fiction, especially Shakespeare but also including writers from Walter Scott to Philippa Gregory. Since I do teach some of the Shakespeare English histories from time to time (always Henry IV Part 1, usually Henry V, and sometimes Richard III), I have a fairly detailed royal family tree that I give to my students. Still, a lot of the nonfiction background reading that I have done has been articles and works like Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare—yes, Isaac Asimov the Robot guy. Jones’ The Wars of the Roses goes into much greater detail, but it reads like a novel. I believe that is simply that this period in English history is wilder than any storyteller could fabricate.

In the early part of the fifteenth century, it appeared that England was on the rise. It had a stable, capable government led by a king who is arguably the best monarch in the country’s history (Shakespeare thought so). It appeared that the Hundred Years’ War had been settled and England had regained much of the continental land that it had lost in the thirteenth century. Indeed, the French were going to recognize the son of Henry V as their king as well as England’s.

Jones quotes Ecclesiastes 10:16 and applies it directly to England. Alas for England, Henry V died young in 1422, leaving behind a 9-month-old son. What is remarkable, actually, is that Henry had put in place a leadership team that would manage the country quite well while the young Henry VI was growing up. The problem is that Henry VI was no ruler, and by the time he was in his late twenties, the old leaders were largely gone and the next generation was vying for power with a king who did little about it.

Meanwhile, the French gained back much of the land Henry V had conquered, and they never had to recognize Henry VI as theirs. We learn about Joan of Arc and others who helped bring this about.

The Wars of the Roses started in earnest around 1450, and England was in a state of civil war much of the time until 1485 when Henry Tudor defeated Richard III in battle and became Henry VII. Yes, the main competing royal houses were those of Lancaster, supporters of Henry VI and his family and associates, and the Dukes of York who also claimed royal ancestry and were frustrated over Henry VI.

The crown actually did change hands several times, but what is perhaps most remarkable is that nearly everyone involved in an attempt to rule or, often, simply to bring order to their own region, was killed. Some were killed in battle, but most were killed judicially. A few were assassinated.

I once read the Chinese classic The Three Kingdoms. That work covers a period of about a century during a time of great civil unrest in China. It was appalling how many men were beheaded by their enemies and allies alike. I realize after reading The Wars of the Roses that fifteenth century England was not much different. I understand that Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories in part parody English history. Now I can understand where the Red Queen’s “off with his head!” came from.

Henry VI was overthrown but came back to power about nine years later. At one point before his overthrow he had actually been in a catatonic state for about fifteen months beginning in 1453, probably from a stroke. People hoped he would follow in the footsteps of his father. It appeared he was following after his French grandfather, Charles VI, a.k.a. Charles the Mad.

One of the main figures in all the intrigue is the Earl of Warwick. He had become quite powerful and something of a literal kingmaker. Still, things would catch up with him eventually. Jones believes it is no surprise that one of Warwick’s knights, Sir Thomas Malory, would write a collection of King Arthur stories to give people a sense of what a true and good king should be like, but also with an awareness of plotting and civil strife going on just below the surface.

The Yorkist Edward IV ruled 1461-1483 with a significant interruption. He seemed to managing to get things together, but alas, when he died, his oldest son was only twelve, and he was put out of the way shortly by people supporting Edward IV’s brother who became Richard III.

Jones describes the fascinating rise of the Tudors. It is probably even more remarkable than the rise of the Stewarts in Scotland. Owen Tudor was a Welsh nobleman. He claimed some ancestry from Welsh kings. Jones is dubious of the claims, but, of course, Welsh kings would include Arthur. He became the lover and then the wife of King Henry V’s widow. For a long time Katherine of Anjou as the young Henry VI’s mother had a lot of power. While she lived, she never receded quite to the background. When the Yorkists were in power after 1460, the Tudors were in France and Brittany for safety. Owen’s son Edward had one son, Henry.

At the time Brittany was a separate Duchy from France, and the Tudors found favor with the Dukes there. Brittany and Wales were both made up of Britons who had been driven west and south by the Anglo-Saxons. Even today a person speaking Welsh and one speaking Breton can understand each other. The Tudors did have some difficulties when the King of France took over Brittany, but they managed to win favor with him as well. Although never stated, a recurring theme in The Wars of the Roses is the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Interestingly, Jones points out that Edmund Tudor, Owen’s son, was Welsh and French, not English. The only provable royal blood in his veins was French from his mother, though she did become Queen of England by marriage. Still, he married Margaret Beaufort, the daughter of the Earl of Somerset, a son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; both Somerset and Gaunt were brothers to kings. So Henry Tudor, Edmund’s son could claim English royal blood through his mother.

In normal circumstances, being third cousin from one sitting king and third cousin twice removed from his rival would mean that Henry Tudor would have virtually no chance of becoming king. However, many of the people who might have been in his way had been killed or imprisoned. He did take a big risk fighting Richard III in 1485, but he had procured enough allies and Richard was killed in battle, and so he started a new dynasty.

Jones does not end his history with 1485. There was something of a legacy of that bloody century. He notes a few pretenders who claimed be one of the young princes who were killed in the Tower of London. These proved to be phonies, but Henry VII was relatively merciful to them. Henry also looked with suspicion on anyone with a royal connection. As he grew older, he became more paranoid apparently, and a few somewhat harmless souls ended up being accused of treason and losing their heads.

Perhaps to prove a point, Henry VII named his first son Arthur, not only suggesting his Welsh background, but his hopes for a stable and great British rule. Arthur died childless before his father did, so Henry Tudor’s second son would become the next king, Henry VIII. Jones points out that there were many conflicts in England in the next century, but most of them involved religion and international intrigue. He also notes that between 1413 and 1509 no King of England took the throne as the adult son of the previous king. The new king was either a child or had overthrown the previous one. Even in 1509, Henry VIII was only seventeen, but he was pretty experienced and was up to the task.

Interestingly, Jones notes that the term War or Wars of the Roses was first used in the early nineteenth century. Still, the Tudors would use the symbols of the roses to not only emphasize their legitimacy but to present the idea that they had brought stability to the land after of period of incompetent or evil rulers. By the time Shakespeare was writing, some of the events had already been transformed from history to legend. Jones wants to emphasize the history.

The Wars of the Roses reads like a novel. Jones does a pretty good job with background, and he alternates chapters like a novelist to keep the pages turning. It is a wild run.

I have not read any Song of Fire and Ice books, nor do I get the Game of Thrones television show on my set, but I have certainly read enough about the program. George R. R. Martin, the author of the books, has said that he was inspired by the Wars of the Roses. Lannister even sounds like Lancaster. I suspect that fans of the television show or Martin’s book series would enjoy this book, even if it is nonfiction.