The House of Beaufort: The Bastard Line That Captured the Crown

by Nathen Amin, Graham Mack (Reader)

The Wars of the Roses were a tumultuous period in English history, with family fighting family over the greatest prize in the kingdom--the throne of England. But what gave the eventual victor of these brutal and complex wars, Henry Tudor, the right to claim the crown? What made his Beaufort mother the great heiress of medieval England, and how exactly did an illegitimate line come to challenge the English monarchy? While the Houses of York and Lancaster fought brutally for the crown, other noble families of the kingdom also played integral roles in the wars, but none symbolized the volatile nature of the period quite like the House of Beaufort. Their rise, fall, and rise again is the story of England during the fifteenth century, a dramatic century of war, intrigue, and scandal both at home and abroad. This book uncovers the rise of the Beauforts and tracks their fall during the 1460s and 1470s. The hopes and fortunes of the family gradually came to rest upon the shoulders of a teenage widow named Margaret Beaufort and her young son Henry. From Margaret would rise the House of Tudor, the most famous of all England's royal houses and a dynasty that owed its crown to the blood of its forebears, the House of Beaufort. From bastards to princes, the Beauforts are medieval England's most captivating family.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

Audio CD

Published April 25, 2023

About the author

Nathen Amin is an author from Carmarthenshire, West Wales, who focuses on the 15th Century and the reign of Henry VII. He wrote 'Tudor Wales' in 2014 and 'York Pubs' in 2016, followed by the first full-length biography of the Beaufort family, 'The House of Beaufort' in 2017, an Amazon #1 Bestseller in three historical categories (Wars of the Roses, Norman England, and The Plantagenets & Medieval History). His fourth book, 'Henry VII and the Tudor Pretenders; Simnel, Warbeck and Warwick', is due for release in 2021

Nathen is an experienced public speaker, presenting talks on the Beauforts, Wars of the Roses, and Henry VII, for several societies and book festivals, including the BBC History Weekend, Essex Book Festival, HistFest, Gloucester History Festival, Oundle Festival of Literature, Lancaster Historical Writing Festival, Bosworth Medieval Festival, Barnet Medieval Festival, Richard III Society, and as guest expert for Alison Weir Talks. He has also featured on BBC radio and television, as well as in print and online media across the UK @NathenAmin

Reviews

[Debbie Gilpin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The material itself is excellent, but I really don't recommend going down the audiobook route - the narrator has no idea how to pronounce many of the names (and some general words), for example 'Arundel' is pronounced in at least three different ways. It's kind of vital to establish consistent pronunciation in a factual book with lots of different characters & family names. I'd recommend picking up a physical/e-copy of the book instead.

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and the author does a good job of telling the story of the various members of this illustrious family and how they made their impact on English politics without getting the reader confused with who is who (especially many of them share the same names)

While it's logical for the book to end in 1471,  with the extinction of the male line of the family, I felt the ending was very sudden and I would have liked the book to delve a little more into the life some more of the Beaufort woman, especially the formidable Margaret Beaufort.

[G.G. Gleason · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the info dump but I found it hard to follow a lot of the time. I might need to do a reread at some point.

[Tas le Fay · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

I hoped the book would cover more of Margaret Beaufort at the end but was disappointed. Otherwise, this was quite interesting on the whole, though admittedly rather dry in some parts.