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The Wars of the Roses

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Margaret
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Post by Margaret » Wed November 12th, 2008, 7:46 pm

Actually, the Tudors did have Welsh ancestry, which they liked to play up as giving them a symbolically better claim to the rule of all England and Wales. Henry VII's paternal grandfather, Owen Tudor, was Welsh. The Tudor kings' policies, of course, were not particularly pro-Welsh.

The Celts were perennially bedeviled by their disinclination to band together under unified leadership, but the Welsh did unify briefly in the face of the threat of English domination (as the Britons under some type of Arthur-like warlord had unified to some extent against the threat of Saxon domination after the Romans pulled out of Britain). During the 11th century, Gruffydd ap Llywelyn ruled all of Wales. Llywelyn the Last (the son of Llywelyn the Great) also ruled most of Wales, but struggled on the one hand with uprisings led by his brothers and on the other with Edward I's ultimately successful efforts to claim Wales for England. Owain Glyndwr led a rebellion against England in the 15th century which had temporary success, and led a united, independent Wales for a short time period. All of this made Arthur a potent figure, because of the legends portraying him as ruler of a unified Britain. The Winchester Round Table (which is undoubtedly not an historic "round table" of Arthur and his knights), was repainted during Henry VIII's rule to include a portrait of Henry.
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Volgadon
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Post by Volgadon » Wed November 12th, 2008, 7:58 pm

What I meant is that Arthur wasn't considered a symbol of Welsh or Celtic nationalism.

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Kasthu
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Post by Kasthu » Sat December 13th, 2008, 3:55 am

As for anothr War of the Roses novel, there's also Daughter of Time. Not, strickyl speaking, fifteenth century, but a fun whodunit about what happened to the Princes in the Tower. Elizabeth Peters, when she wasn't writing about ancient Egyptian artifacts, also wrote a whodunit mystery featuring Richard, called The Murders of Richard III.

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Juniper
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Post by Juniper » Thu March 12th, 2009, 1:05 am

[quote=""Margaret""]I've finally got the "Wars of the Roses" page posted at my website: http://www.HistoricalNovels.info/Wars-of-the-Roses.html. Thanks to everyone here who suggested novels in this period - there were quite a few that had not previously been listed on the "Medieval" page. It's amazing to me how many novels have been written about Edward IV, Richard III, and their cohorts. I don't think there's another outpouring of novels focusing on one generation of royals until Henry VIII and his wives. It was an exceptionally dramatic time period, of course, with many interesting people to write about![/quote]

This list is just what I've been looking for! Thankyou :)

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Post by Chatterbox » Fri June 12th, 2009, 11:24 pm

Is there anyone out there who can give/can direct me to a place where I can get a sense of the subjects of Brenda Honeyman's novels? Some are easy enough to figure out (Elizabeth and Richmond by the title alone; The Warrior King is clearly Henry V, thanks to one amazon pic for that title) but most of them don't have reviews or summaries. The King's Tale? Edward the Warrior (which Edward? at least half of them were were warriors). All the King's Sons? At the King's Court? Golden Griffin? King's Minion?

On a positive note, I'm actually enjoying the first book in the Poesie Graeme-whoever trilogy much more than I expected to. The violent sex was waaay overkill, and I'm weary of the old gods resurfacing this way in late medieval fiction, but generally the writing is good and characters well done. Plot utterly implausible, of course. Henry VI and an illegitimate daughter? Balderdash.

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diamondlil
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Post by diamondlil » Fri June 12th, 2009, 11:28 pm

I really disliked the first half of that book, but enjoyed the second half.
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boswellbaxter
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Post by boswellbaxter » Fri June 12th, 2009, 11:34 pm

[quote=""Chatterbox""]Is there anyone out there who can give/can direct me to a place where I can get a sense of the subjects of Brenda Honeyman's novels? Some are easy enough to figure out (Elizabeth and Richmond by the title alone; The Warrior King is clearly Henry V, thanks to one amazon pic for that title) but most of them don't have reviews or summaries. The King's Tale? Edward the Warrior (which Edward? at least half of them were were warriors). All the King's Sons? At the King's Court? Golden Griffin? King's Minion?

On a positive note, I'm actually enjoying the first book in the Poesie Graeme-whoever trilogy much more than I expected to. The violent sex was waaay overkill, and I'm weary of the old gods resurfacing this way in late medieval fiction, but generally the writing is good and characters well done. Plot utterly implausible, of course. Henry VI and an illegitimate daughter? Balderdash.[/quote]

The King's Minions is about Edward II and Piers Gaveston. Its sequel, The Queen and Mortimer, is about Isabella and Roger Mortimer, as you might guess.

Oh, and Last of the Barons is about Warwick the Kingmaker. Richard by Grace of God and Richard Plantagenet are the same book, both about Richard III. To make matters even more complicated, some of Honeyman's books are listed under Brenda Clarke. (As you probably know, she's also Kate Sedley.)
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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Fri June 12th, 2009, 11:48 pm

[quote=""Chatterbox""]

On a positive note, I'm actually enjoying the first book in the Poesie Graeme-whoever trilogy much more than I expected to. The violent sex was waaay overkill, and I'm weary of the old gods resurfacing this way in late medieval fiction, but generally the writing is good and characters well done. Plot utterly implausible, of course. Henry VI and an illegitimate daughter? Balderdash.[/quote]

I read book 2 in the series. Not for me I have to say.

I read Honeyman years and years and years and y.... you get the picture. Can't remember what I read of hers now either!
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Post by Chatterbox » Sat June 13th, 2009, 1:49 am

Tks, BB! I actually didn't know she was Kate Sedley, though it makes sense given the time period that she's writing about in those mysteries.

Not that I would have wanted to have written Poesie's books -- just that I had expected them to be devoid of any historical accuracy or detail, more romance than history.

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MedievalBookworm
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Post by MedievalBookworm » Sat June 13th, 2009, 11:46 pm

I'm afraid to say the first Posie Graeme-Evans book hit the wall and I haven't picked the others up since. Didn't like the writing style, the sex was too much, and the romance felt ridiculous. I guess expectations make a huge difference because I definitely wasn't expecting what I got!

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