Dove Amongst the Hawks

During the Yorkist restoration, the London physician Luke Chichele is asked to investigate the death of the deposed Henry VI in the Tower. A papal interest in Henry’s possible sanctity conflicts with Edward IV’s insistence that the former king died naturally and without the qualities required for beatification. Chichele’s access to royal households gives him evidence that others are prepared to suppress.

As he questions witnesses and follows the politics surrounding the prisoner’s final days, the enquiry threatens the legitimacy of the new regime. Lancastrian devotion, Yorkist security and church ambition all shape the competing accounts. Chichele must decide whether historical truth can survive when every powerful faction requires a different version of the king’s death.