The Wars of the Roses: The Conflict that Inspired Game of Thrones

by Martin J. Dougherty

“Westeros is probably closer to medieval Britain than anything else.” George R.R. Martin, creator of Game of Thrones

Kings who were insane, infant or imprisoned; feuding families, disputed successions and monarchs executing their brothers; exiled nobles, war with France and enemies forced to unite against a common foe – the history of the Wars of the Roses is so filled with drama that it feels like fiction. In fact, it has inspired fiction. As Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin said: “I’ve drawn on many parts of history, but the Wars of the Roses is probably the one A Song Of Ice and Fire is closest to.”

Telling the story of the fifteenth century wars between Lancastrians and Yorkists, The Wars of the Roses follows the course of the conflict from the succession of infant King Henry VI right through to the defeat of rebellions under Henry VII. Its protagonists were twisted by their conflicting loyalties of blood, marriage and, above all, ambition. From mad Henry VI captured in battle to the mystery of the ‘Princes in the Tower’ and the truth behind Richard III’s deformity, the book is a lively account of more than 30 tumultuous years. Illustrated with more than 200 colour and black-and-white photographs, artworks and maps, The Wars of the Roses reveals the scheming and betrayal, the skullduggery and murder behind the struggle to gain power – and then hold on to it.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, War, British Literature, Reference, 15th Century, Military History

224 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

Hailing from northeast England, Martin J Dougherty is a professional writer specialising in military history. He has been at times a games designer, an engineer, a self-protection instructor, a teacher and a defence analyst. Martin has published a range of books covering topics as diverse as self-protection, medieval warfare and space flight, and has addressed international conferences on anti-shipping missiles and homeland security issues.

Martin's interests include martial arts and fencing. He has coached Fencing, Ju-Jitsu, Self-Defence and Kickboxing for many years at the University of Sunderland, and has competed to national level as a fencer. As a martial artist he holds black belts in Combat Ju-Jitsu, Nihon Tai-Jitsu and Self-Defence. Martin is a Senior Assessor with the Self-Defence Federation and an IL1 instructor/assessor with the Britsh Federation for Historical Swordplay, specialising in the Military Sabre and the Smallsword.

Reviews

[Sarah Zasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

A riveting and accessible overview of the war of the roses. I enjoyed how easy this book was to follow and I enjoyed the mini biographies throughout on main players. It left me wanting more, but I think that speaks to how interesting this conflict is. As the title suggests, this will is a useful companion to read in tandem with any GoT related content.

I received an arc of this book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Anne Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent introduction to the Wars of the Roses for those looking for an overview of the time period and some the important players, or those looking to just get started with a summary of the surface events. Author Martin Dougherty begins with Henry II and does a good job of laying the groundwork for the wars by explaining the political situation between England and France before the "official" Wars began. There was a lot of repetition that could have been edited out, and more errors than I expected in a book going (if I understood the copyright page correctly) from hardcover to paperback over the course of several years- some small, some large like saying Henry V when it should have been Henry VI. I wish Dougherty had looked at the political situation domestically and abroad during each reign more than he did, although perhaps that wasn't considered feasible in a book of this length and so he stuck more to the military battles as the main focus. I also wish he'd have put more emphasis on some of the importance and focus on the powerful women of the time period instead of relegating them again to the sidelines as mothers and pawns only. Also, a more negative towards Richard III than I'd have liked. Still overall a good introduction to the time period for those looking for a brief, introductory 'gateway' book.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't think it is fair to criticise this book. Granted, it is not a work of scholarship but its value is in the simple fact it is not intended to be. I think it has done well to make the period interesting and accessible to readers who don't know much about 15th century England and in a most digestible way. It's also a sad reflection on the modern reader that titles such as this have little choice but to reference Game of Thrones to get noticed. Once the casual reader starts to scratch the surface with a book like this, they quickly realise history is infinitely more interesting than mass market fantasy fiction.

[Clare Rhianne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I Arc read this copy for @netgalley in exchange for an honest review 📖

I would like to think that I have a pretty good all round grasp on & understanding of the Wars of the Roses by means of the key players, politics, events etc but never the less - am always keen to learn and & glean new information where possible.

I was hopeful going by the description of the book that I would indeed learn something new about the fascinating cousins war, but unfortunately I didn't read anything that I wasn't already aware of.

I'd recommend this book to anyone new to the period & the Wars of the Roses in general; it is a good introduction to the time, climate, key players etc - but I personally would of liked a much more fleshed out and in depth view on said wars.

I was disappointed to come across many a grammatical error, as well as mistakes with various roman numerals repeated through out, actually confusing them with some of the Kings featured.

My biggest criticism is that Margaret Beaufort - an absolutely huge, influencial & key player in the wars of the roses was barely mentioned apart from birthing her son Henry VII; Margaret of Anjou, Elizabeth & Jaquetta Woodville, Cecily Neville - the list goes on, these absolute power houses were only credited for their birthing duties through out - Scandalous!

To summarise - a good read for beginners to the period & strife, the foundations are there, though I would not recommend to anyone familiar with events looking for new insight.

[Karen Merino Caballero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Este libro narra como inició la llamada "Guerra de las rosas" que duró aproximadamente 30 años y la cual inspiró como su título lo menciona, la serie "Juego de tronos".
Aquí están involucrados 2 ducados que competían por el trono de Inglaterra.
La casa de Lancaster (Rosa roja) de la que descienden Enrique VIII y la casa de York (Rosa blanca) que descendía de la dinastía inglesa Plantagenet y a la cual pertenece Edmundo de Longley (primer Duque de York. Era hermano de Eduardo "El Príncipe Negro"
Si bien hubo un tiempo en el cual estuvieron emparentados, debido a matrimonios arreglados, estás uniones no prosperaron debido a las traiciones, intrigas, complots y guerras, ya que no querían compartir el trono.
Una lectura que en 242 páginas nos explica muy bien este conflicto , al menos a los que no teníamos conocimiento de esa parte de la historia , como introducción al tema cumple su cometido, de manera sintetizada y ágil. Tiene unas ilustraciones preciosas, lo cual facilita la comprensión de la misma debido a los mucho nombres que destacaron durante la guerra.
Recomendado. 📖📚✔️

[Lori S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Wars of the Roses is one of those parts of history that I didn't learn much about during my youth. Mostly I learned about the Tudors, more specifically from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I. Very recently I heard a series of podcasts all about this period and it caught my interest in a big way. So I was pretty excited to find this book listed on Netgalley so I could investigate further.

The book starts before the conflict, giving some background to Henry VI and the York and Lancastrian histories and follows the ins and outs of who was in power for the thirty or so years this took place. There are chapters on the major players and then there are insets with specific biographies of interest. I must admit some of the story was hard to follow in the ebook version I read because of the way several pages of illustration and insets were stuck in the middle of various chapters. I think I managed okay in the end but I suspect having a hard copy might have been easier for the purposes of flipping pages. Still, it sometimes felt like the story was going forwards and backwards at times with some descriptions of people and events in insets showing up before those events took place in the main chapter. I suspect there are some tradeoffs for providing the large-page illustrations and other detail in what seems to printed book.

I found the book quite informative and I like the way it emphasised early on how the structure of the kingdoms was quite different from what it was much later. I think to some extent we think of history as just a succession of kings and queens. But a kingdom at this time didn't resemble the kingdom two or three hundred years late. Illustrations were numerous and varied. Often they were full or half page which allowed one to see the detail.

Overall this was a good introductory work for those who have an interest in this period of English history and I will give this 3.5 stars. Thank you to Netgalley and Amber Books for the free advanced reader copy. I have provided this review voluntarily.

[J Earl · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Wars of the Roses by Martin J Dougherty is an informative overview of this tumultuous and pivotal period.

This is not, nor do I think it intended to be, an exhaustive history of the period. There are many excellent books on the details and the rationales behind the various machinations. What this book offers, and where it succeeds, is an outline of what happened fleshed out with general explanations of reasons as well as some general background to the culture and norms of the time. If you thought a book just over 200 pages was going to go into detail about every nuance, every player in the many conflicts that took place over about a thirty plus year span, well, I don't know what to say. That expectation is unreasonable and I think, based on the complaints I saw, disingenuous. Even the family trees are accurate, can't help some don't know how to read when a person is made a ward of a person and thus, while not blood, is indeed a branch spliced onto that tree. So much for "untrained" librarians.

While the bibliography is not extensive, anyone wanting to know more can certainly start with what is there and, armed with the information in the book, find plenty of academic works that delve more deeply into whatever aspect interests them. As for the GOT connection, if that is the main reason for reading or your only point of comparison, well, remember, this was just one of Martin's influences for the works, no one is trying to "usurp" anything. Take a pill of chill.

I would recommend this to readers who have little to no knowledge of the period, which includes those with only a GOT connection. Those who studied this in school will probably enjoy the recap but likely won't learn a whole lot new. It is, however, an accessible and pleasant read so worth the time.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.

[Theediscerning · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bringing back to the shop shelves a book first out in 2015, this paperback is the usual highly pictorial effort from Amber, and does pretty much what it says on the tin. I found the first section unfortunately off-putting, with several words from the higher end of the Scrabble dictionary (if that) used to convey the complexities of all the courtly machinations, hierarchical considerations and so on. That context concluded, we do then get the history of the Plantagenets where relevant and the ins and outs and marches here and there and sailings across the Channel (where possible) that led to the several battles that ended up as the Wars of the Roses.

Now, I come to this very much as a layman, the odd performance in front of 3000 people at Bosworth Battlefield regardless. So I can't state how accurate or definitive this is, but I found it all highly readable, and definitely successfully aimed at the general browser. It's easy to take on board who is who, what they're doing with/against whom, and why, meaning this must surely be a success. I note that one negative review on amazon of the 2015 hardback just said it was a low level of detail, and not that there were mistakes on these pages. I can only take that as evidence there are few flaws, then, for the low level of detail – together with the consummate picture library research Amber give all their titles – was what I would have signed up for. I didn't expect a complex barrage of minutiae, but the blunt simplicity and readability of the better, general audience-serving history reads. So I'll conclude with an equally concise:- four and a half stars.

[Ara · Rating 4 out of 5]

El autor tiene una forma muy sencilla y particular de narrar la historia, hace fácil el entendimiento de las batallas y las familias, la historia es clara pero muy precisa, con muchos detalles que permiten imaginar a detalle la época que está narrando y hace comprensible lo que está sucediendo, incluso, permite que el uso de tantos nombres similares no sea un tema muy difícil pues a veces eso crea confusión para los lectores. Conocer el conflicto de la Guerra de las Rosas como parte de inspiración de una saga como Juego de Tronos puede volverlo más interesante por que se puede conocer más detalle sobre una época totalmente distinta a la nuestra en la que el ser humano, aun que se encontraba con leyes y una sociedad establecida, se comporta aun de forma muy austera y en ocasiones poco razonable, nos muestra lo que el poder, el dinero y la familia son capaces de hacer desde tiempos inmemoriales.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poorly written, sparsely sourced, and left out significant influences of female players. Women were pretty much only mentioned for their birthing duties.

To the untrained or casual reader, the Lancaster family tree printed multiple times is made to appear as if Henry VII descended from the Lancaster line through Henry V. Visuals are important to enhancing the understanding of this complicated period, and this tree seems intentionally misleading.

[Sammy Duncan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick overview of The Wars of the Roses. It helped me to put several figures and events into their proper locations and chronology. If you have read much about the period it will be a waste of your time but if you are like myself it can serve its purpose.

[Rick Vickers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murder, back stabbing, treachery,.ransom, being held prisoner, kidnapping, cheating, throw in a little insanity, it's all here the true life story of English Royalty in the 15 century, talk about dirty politics,

[spencer wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good overview for those new to the topic. Not very in-depth for those more knowledgeable of the era, and doesn't propose any new theories, but I'd still give this 4 stars for readability and accessibility.

[Lauren (AWriterCanDream) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tool for the Princes in the Tower historical Fiction I was writing!

[Barbara Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hhought I didn't care a wit about the TV show Game of Thrones until I read this book. Now I cant wait to watch it

[Adam DelGarbino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having next to no knowledge going into this book I learned so much from it. I cannot wait to read so many more books covering this time period.

[Gloria Ortiz · Rating 3 out of 5]

mucho texto watafak

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley for an advanced copy!

A very good reference book on all of the War of the Roses - the background going all the way back to William the Conqueror, the rival factions, the people, the politics, the main events, etc. And all of it distilled into an easy to read manner that anyone could find accessible, even if you don't already know the history.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! The history itself is so fascinating, and the way Dougherty presented it here made it so easy to follow and pulled you right in to the stories. Fantastic.

[Tiffany · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a waste of time. I read anything Plantagenet/Tudor; however, this was full of grammatical errors as well as repeatedly using the incorrect Roman Numerals for Kings.
This book has taught me absolutely nothing new.
I'm most annoyed that Margaret Beaufort was not once credited or mentioned for anything other than giving birth to Henry Tudor.
The author seems to know nothing other than a basic history of the timeframe and appears to have a lack of sources... The bibliography is half a page.

[Rebecca Hill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Get ready for the original Game of Thrones! Martin J, Dougherty brings a fascinating view of the Wars of the Roses. You get to see the major players, and the causes of the war. It would not be complete without a king who was unable to rule his own country, a queen who attempted to take over, and unhappy nobles.

Absolutely LOVED this book. Anything with the Wars of the Roses fascinates me, and Dougherty's book does not disappoint! Grab a copy!

[Kelton Crooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better books on the War of the Roses. Give a basic overview. Presents information in an understandable way. As someone obsessed with this war and it's characters, I found new information in this book and clarification to some regularly confusing sequences.

[Hallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent history book and would have received 5 stars if the author didn't have mistakes with the order of the kings names..

[Melissa Blessington · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty fascinating. This book really explained the conflict well.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a fairly interesting read, albeit some of the names and dates were wrong, which was annoying. overall it gave great insight into an interesting time in history