LANCASTER AGAINST YORK

An account of the epic 15th-century battle for the crown of England.

How did the struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster, famously dubbed the Wars of the Roses, tear apart England for 30 years? Royle (Civil War, 2005, etc.) attempts to find the answers in his sprawling history, which outlines the involvement of all the key figures. He begins by pinpointing the conflict’s genesis in the tumultuous period that followed the abdication of Richard II in 1399. Examining Richard’s reign, the author cleverly uses Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales to give a glimpse of 14th-century English society. A lengthy history of the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V follows, and Royle packs his text with dramatic descriptions of the violence that pockmarked that era. (The sudden beheading of Duke John under Henry V is a particularly gruesome highlight.) Tensions mounted during these successive reigns, minor skirmishes broke out, and after a nine-month-old child became King Henry VI, Richard, Duke of York, sought to claim the throne from the Lancastrians. Familiar tales of battles follow, and Royle does a good job of capturing the mood of the country, roiled by great economic uncertainty during the years of the Yorkist uprising. He leaves no stone unturned in this exhaustive retelling, and he has a sharp eye for detail, explaining in one instance how changes in the wind provided Yorkist archers with a sudden advantage.

The source material occasionally feels overfamiliar, but Royle’s meticulous research, supplemented by a useful appendix listing the main characters, makes this a welcome addition to the body of literature about this pivotal epoch in English history.