The Brothers York

by Thomas Penn

First published 2019

Amazon

4.5(717)

Beginning with Edward IV’s victory at Towton in 1461, Thomas Penn follows the three surviving sons of Richard, Duke of York, as they turn military success into a new royal dynasty. Edward IV, George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, emerge within a political world shaped by the weakness of Henry VI, the ambitions of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, Lancastrian resistance and the competing interests of Burgundy and France. Penn reconstructs battles, marriages, ceremonies and negotiations while showing how personal loyalty and royal authority were repeatedly tested by rebellion.

The second half traces the destruction of the Yorkist family from George’s conspiracies and execution to Edward’s sudden death in 1483, Richard’s seizure of the throne and the disappearance of the princes in the Tower. The narrative ends at Bosworth Field, where Richard III’s defeat allowed Henry Tudor to found a rival dynasty. Rather than treating the Wars of the Roses as an impersonal succession dispute, Penn presents them as a family tragedy in which resentment, insecurity and vendetta steadily consumed the political order the brothers had created.

Historical Periods

Battle of Towton1461 CE Battle of Tewkesbury1471 CE Battle of Bosworth Field1485 CE Princes in the Tower1483 CE Battle of Edgcote24 July 1469 Readeption of Henry VI3 October 1470–11 April 1471 Fall of George, Duke of Clarence1477–18 February 1478

Genres

Biographical Fiction Court & Political Fiction Dynastic & Royal Fiction Historical Sagas War Fiction

Historical people

Henry VII1457–1509 Edward IV1442–1483 Elizabeth Woodville1437–1492 Richard III1452–1485 Edward V1470–1483 Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York1473–disappeared 1483 Henry VI1421–1471 Margaret of Anjou1430–1482 Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick1428–1471 George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence1449–1478 Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales1453–1471

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