The Rise of the Tudors

The epic story of treachery and ruthlessness, death and deception, and the birth of the dynasty that produced Henry VIII and Elizabeth I—"An authoritative overview of the causes and consequences of the most important battle in all of the War of the Roses" (Philippa Gregory). 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. "This period in British history is so rich and convoluted that not many could tell the story well, yet Chris Skidmore not only tells it well, but sines a light in every dark corner and tells where all the bodies are buried." — Tulsa Book Review "Skidmore retells the story of how the Tudor dynasty ascended from obscurity to the throne in late medieval England. . . . An incredible tale." — Publishers Weekly