After Richard’s death at Bosworth this is exactly what Tudor did, and in an inspired move he chose as his badge the red rose, which had vague Lancastrian connections, uniting it with the famous white rose of York, to create a symbol of national reconciliation. This phase came to an abrupt end in 1460 when York, having been defeated in battle at Ludford Bridge the previous year, realised he could now never be reconciled with the indignant queen, and assumed that his only hope for survival lay in escalating the argument.

Discover the real history behind The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses, the PBS Great Performance series of Shakespeare's plays, starring Judi Dench, Benedict Cumberbatch, Sofie Okenedo and Hugh Bonneville. Thus had been created the red-and-white ‘Tudor rose’ that seemed to be painted everywhere, reminding the populace that the Tudors stood for unity, reconciliation, peace and the incontestable right to rule. My introduction to the Wars of the Roses was when I was a senior in high school doing Model United Nations in a crisis committee. Nobody will ever know if a beloved brother, loyal friend and kind leader, described by contemporary sources as having "a good heart" and never seeking land or power gains for himself, suddenly did an about-turn and murdered his nephew to steal the throne. Margaret of Anjou, though, jealously defended her own rights and those of her infant son, Edward, Prince of Wales, by allying with the Beaufort family and others.I chose this book as I was stumbling through the history section of my library with this history of the Wars of the Roses in mind. I played the historical role of William Neville in the House of Lancaster, one in which I was the mole. Jones begins his book with the horrific execution of the elderly Margaret Pole, the last white rose of York. It acts as a fantastic introduction to this turbulent time in English history that brought the downfall of the powerful Plantagenets and brought forth the Tudors.

The writing is excellent as you'd expect from Dan Jones but as others have said, it is complicated to follow at times as so many of the men had the same names in those days.For ten years Dan wrote a weekly column for the London Evening Standard and his writing has also appeared in newspapers and magazines including The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, The Wall Street Journal, Smithsonian, GQ and The Spectator. Dan Jones completes his epic history of medieval England with a new book about the the Wars of the Roses - and describes how the Plantagenets, tore themselves apart and were finally replaced by the Tudors. There are a lot of noble people to remember in this story, as the bulk of the action and hostility is between the House of York and the House of Lancaster, the two houses trying to claim the throne for their own. I knew the basic details of the nobility during the Wars of the Roses, but I wanted to understand the complicated historical situation even more than I already did, which led me to reading this book over the span of a week. He hounded Edmund’s brother, Richard de la Pole, across Europe, and celebrated heartily on learning of his death at the battle of Pavia in 1525.

There is fine scholarly intuition on display here and a mastery of the grand narrative; it is a supremely skilful piece of storytelling.The Wars of the Roses is something I, an American with an American education, never actually learned about in school. They too tasted the cruel fate that befell their previous ancestors when he last granddaughter of Richard Duke of York was hacked to pieces in 1541.