The Rise of the Tudors : The Family That Changed English History

List of illustrations and maps -- Map of England, France and Brittany during the Wars of the Roses -- Family trees -- Introduction -- A note on money and dates -- Fortune's wheel -- To conquer or die -- Exile -- Usurpation -- Rebellion -- The rat, the cat and the dog -- A confederacy of rebels -- The spiral of decline -- March to war -- Secret friends -- The Battle of Bosworth -- Our victorious field -- Reward, retribution and reconciliation -- Bosworth rediscovered.;On the morning of August 22, 1485, in fields near Bosworth, two armies faced each other. Richard III's army was pitted against the inferior forces of the upstart pretender to the crown, Henry Tudor, a 28-year-old Welshman who had just arrived back on British soil after fourteen years in exile. Yet this was to be a fight to the death--only one man could survive; only one could claim the throne. This legendary battle marked the only successful invasion of England since Hastings, and the last time a king of England died on the battlefield. But this book is much more than an account of the events of that fateful day. It is a tale of brutal feuds and deadly civil wars, and the remarkable rise of the Tudor family from obscure Welsh gentry to the throne of England--a story that began sixty years earlier with Owen Tudor's affair with Henry V's widow, Katherine of Valois. Drawing on newly discovered manuscripts and the latest archaeological evidence, including the recent discovery of Richard III's remains, Chris Skidmore vividly recreates this battle-scarred world.--From publisher description. "A British historian describes the soap opera-worthy story of the ruling family of England's double-crossing, treachery, ruthlessness, feuding and warring in the late 15th to early 17th century and the legacies left by Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. On the morning of August 22, 1485, in fields near Bosworth, two armies faced each other. Richard III's army was pitted against the inferior forces of the upstart pretender to the crown, Henry Tudor, a 28-year-old Welshman who had just arrived back on British soil after fourteen years in exile. Yet this was to be a fight to the death--only one man could survive; only one could claim the throne. This legendary battle marked the only successful invasion of England since Hastings, and the last time a king of England died on the battlefield. But this book is much more than an account of the events of that fateful day. It is a tale of brutal feuds and deadly civil wars, and the remarkable rise of the Tudor family from obscure Welsh gentry to the throne of England--a story that began sixty years earlier with Owen Tudor's affair with Henry V's widow, Katherine of Valois. Drawing on newly discovered manuscripts and the latest archaeological evidence, including the recent discovery of Richard III's remains, Chris Skidmore vividly recreates this battle-scarred world.--From publisher description"

On the morning of August 22, 1485, in fields several miles from Bosworth, two armies faced each other, ready for battle. The might of Richard III's army was pitted against the inferior forces of the upstart pretender to the crown, Henry Tudor, a twenty–eight year old Welshman who had just arrived back on British soil after fourteen years in exile. Yet this was to be a fight to the death—only one man could survive; only one could claim the throne. It would be the end of the War of the Roses.

It would become one of the most legendary battles in English history: the only successful invasion since Hastings, it was the last time a king died on the battlefield. But The Rise Of The Tudors is much more than the account of the dramatic events of that fateful day in August. It is a tale of brutal feuds and deadly civil wars, and the remarkable rise of the Tudor family from obscure Welsh gentry to the throne of England—a story that began sixty years earlier with Owen Tudor's affair with Henry V's widow, Katherine of Valois.
Drawing on eyewitness reports, newly discovered manuscripts and the latest archaeological evidence, including the recent discovery of Richard III's remains, Chris Skidmore vividly recreates this battle-scarred world and the reshaping of British history and the monarchy.

On the morning of August 22, 1485, in fields several miles from Bosworth, two armies faced each other, ready for battle. The might of Richard III's army was pitted against the inferior forces of the upstart pretender to the crown, Henry Tudor, a twenty-eight year old Welshman who had just arrived back on British soil after fourteen years in exile. Yet this was to be a fight to the death--only one man could survive; only one could claim the throne. It would be the end of the War of the Roses. It would become one of the most legendary battles in English history: the only successful invasion since Hastings, it was the last time a king died on the battlefield. But The Rise Of The Tudors is much more than the account of the dramatic events of that fateful day in August. It is a tale of brutal feuds and deadly civil wars, and the remarkable rise of the Tudor family from obscure Welsh gentry to the throne of England--a story that began sixty years earlier with Owen Tudor's affair with Henry V's widow, Katherine of Valois. Drawing on eyewitness reports, newly discovered manuscripts and the latest archaeological evidence, including the recent discovery of Richard III's remains, Chris Skidmore vividly recreates this battle-scarred world and the reshaping of British history and the monarchy.