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Historical person
Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby, was an English nobleman whose careful political manoeuvring allowed his family to survive the dynastic conflicts of the Wars of the Roses. Through his marriage to Margaret Beaufort he became stepfather to Henry Tudor, the future Henry VII.
At the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 Stanley and his brother William withheld their forces until the outcome became clear and then intervened against Richard III, helping secure Henry Tudor’s victory. Henry VII rewarded him with the earldom of Derby and continued to rely on Stanley influence in the north-west.
Derek Birks’ Crown of Fear places Thomas Stanley among the nobles whose uncertain loyalty makes Bosworth as much a political gamble as a battle, with Richard III unable to know whether Stanley will fight for him or against him. Joanna Hickson’s The Tudor Crown shows the same calculation from Margaret Beaufort’s side: her marriage to Stanley gives her protection at the Yorkist court while creating the alliance that helps preserve Henry Tudor’s claim.
Series
The Tudor Dynasty sequence traces the family’s survival during the later Wars of the Roses. First of the Tudors centres on Jasper and Edmund Tudor, Margaret Beaufort and the protection of the young Henry Tudor after the collapse of Lancastrian power. The Tudor Crown continues with Henry in…
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The Wars of the Roses series follows the fictional Elder family through the dynastic conflicts that divided England between 1459 and 1485. Beginning with a private Yorkshire feud, the family is drawn into the struggle between Lancaster and York and repeatedly finds its survival tied to the fortunes…
All books in this series
