Summary of Dan Jones's The Wars of the Roses

Everest Media

Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.
Sample Book Insights:
#1 Catherine de Valois, the king of England’s wife, was married in a French church in Troyes in June 1420. The wedding was conducted in the traditional French fashion, with a large band of musicians playing a triumphant tune as the elegant parish church filled with splendidly dressed lords and ladies.
#2 Henry’s accession to the throne reunited England under a undisputed leader. His reign was marked by success in almost every area of government and warfare. He made significant gestures of reconciliation, offering forgiveness to rebels of his father’s reign.
#3 The Treaty of Troyes and the royal marriage that followed were made possible by the woeful condition of the French crown. Charles VI had been suffering from a combination of paranoia, delusion, schizophrenia, and severe depression, which came in bouts lasting for months at a time.
#4 The madness of King Charles VI had caused a power vacuum in France. In 1407, two powerful and ruthless groups of French noblemen and their supporters began fighting over land, personal differences, and their relative influence over the regency council.

Sujets

• Royalty

Informations

• Publié par: Everest Media LLC
• Date de parution: 24 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781669359609
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insights on Dan Jones's The Wars of the Roses
Contents Insights from Chapter 1 Insights from Chapter 2 Insights from Chapter 3 Insights from Chapter 4
Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Catherine de Valois, the king of England’s wife, was married in a French church in Troyes in June 1420. The wedding was conducted in the traditional French fashion, with a large band of musicians playing a triumphant tune as the elegant parish church filled with splendidly dressed lords and ladies.

#2

Henry’s accession to the throne reunited England under a undisputed leader. His reign was marked by success in almost every area of government and warfare. He made significant gestures of reconciliation, offering forgiveness to rebels of his father’s reign.

#3

The Treaty of Troyes and the royal marriage that followed were made possible by the woeful condition of the French crown. Charles VI had been suffering from a combination of paranoia, delusion, schizophrenia, and severe depression, which came in bouts lasting for months at a time.

#4

The madness of King Charles VI had caused a power vacuum in France. In 1407, two powerful and ruthless groups of French noblemen and their supporters began fighting over land, personal differences, and their relative influence over the regency council.

#5

After the Battle of Agincourt, Henry returned to France and conquered more territory. In July 1417, he launched a systematic conquest of Normandy, sacking and brutalizing the French town of Caen. By the late summer, he had become the first English king in command of Normandy since his ancestor King John was chased out by Philip II of France in 1204.

#6

Catherine’s marriage to Henry was important for both royal houses. It was the first time that an English and French dynasty had come together with the specific aim of settling their two crowns on a single king, as would be the case whenever the merciful death of the poor, demented, fifty-one-year-old Charles finally came.

#7

The England in which Catherine arrived in 1421 was a strong, stable realm that was more politically unified under Henry’s leadership than ever before. The kingdom had flourished largely due to the personal charisma of its ruler, who was widely admired and trusted by his nobles and soldiers.

#8

After her coronation, Catherine was given a personal staff of her own. She found England a profitable and hospitable country, and she did not tarry long in England. She crossed the channel in June 1421 to attend the funeral of her brother-in-law, the duke of Clarence.

#9

Henry V’s victories on the battlefield had allowed him to manufacture a situation in which he could claim to be the rightful king of two realms. He began to prepare for the political settlements in England and France after his death. He died of dysentery in August 31, just short of his 36th birthday.

#10

When Charles VI died in 1422, he was fifty-three, and the infant Henry of Windsor was now not just the new king of England, but also the heir to the English kingdom of France.

#11

The king was unable to choose his officials and servants or give direction in war and justice, yet these matters could not be ignored for eighteen years until the boy became a man. The solution was to make all the decisions on his behalf, and have women take care of him.

#12

The young king had extensive lands and properties throughout England and Wales, and he divided his time between them. He spent most of his time at his favorite residences, near his mother in the Thames valley.

#13

The English government was extremely complex, and it was not a machine that could operate on its own. The king was the central hub of the wheel, and it was his will that made the machine work. The king was able to settle disputes between the great men of the realm, and he could give a sense of leadership and direction to the country.

#14

The first parliament of the new reign was held in December 1422, and Gloucester was summoned to be told that he had been awarded the title of Protector and Defender of the kingdom of England and the English church and principal councillor of the lord King. This title was strictly limited, and it would lapse whenever Bedford visited England.

#15

The decision to pass over Gloucester in favor of a conciliar rule was both a piece of artificial constitutional back bending and a stroke of brilliance. Without a collective attempt to create a stable form of minority government, the realm could easily end up in the same disastrous condition as France.

#16

The start of the king’s trip to parliament was not smooth, as he threw a royal tantrum. However, it was important for the men who performed it to draw the young king into the symbolic rituals of kingship.

#17

The transfer of the great seal of England out of the hands of the old king’s chancellor was a ceremony that marked the start of Henry VI’s reign. The king was five years old at the time. In areas where an adult king would typically intervene in person, such as arbitrating disputes between the great nobles in the shires, a system of mutual oath taking kept the peace.

#18

The background to the quarrel between Gloucester and Beaufort was complex. They were both capable and experienced men, with vital roles in the minority government, but their views on foreign policy and domestic issues frequently clashed, producing mutual suspicion and hostility.

#19

The conflict between the two uncles of the king, Gloucester and Beaufort, was extremely intense by 1425. Gloucester had led a military expedition to the Low Countries in pursuit of his wife’s claim to the county of Hainault, but the campaign was a total failure.

#20

The crisis of 1425–27 illustrated why it was so important to see in the child-king the ability to occupy his own royal power within a few years. Henry would have to grow up or be forced to grow up as rapidly as possible.

#21

The Battle of Verneuil was the largest and most dangerous cavalry charge ever made. It was a fearsome sight. The English and Norman army was prepared to face the danger that the cavalry posed, by erecting sharp wooden stakes.

#22

The Battle of Verneuil was a victory for the English. It was a desperate fight, waged with intense violence on both sides. The English standard fell to the ground, a sign that the army was defeated, but a Norman knight retrieved it.

#23

The battle of Verneuil was the high point of English fortunes in France, and it was a triumph for duke John. But the years that followed were a slow and painful descent from glory, victory, and supremacy.

#24

The English kingdom of France was the fullest occupation of its kind in Europe for nearly four hundred years. The Anglo-Burgundian alliance controlled nearly half the landmass of the realm, from the county of Flanders in the north to the duchy of Gascony in the south, and from the borders of Brittany in the west to the banks of the River Meuse in the east.

#25

While English authority was dominant, it could not be described as universal. There was a Norman resistance movement, led by brigands, who combined a basic self-help ethic and criminal instinct with the timeless resentment of a conquered people.

#26

In 1425, a canon from Reims was forced to seek a pardon from the English regime for vandalizing a large bill-poster that had been hung on the wall by Bedford’s orders. The image he had damaged was a family tree illustrating King Henry VI’s descent from the ancient kings of both England and France.

#27

The poem accompanying the poster praised Henry VI, and made reference to his genealogy. It then declared that he was the heir of peace by just succession.

#28

The poem, which was written by Calot, was a total lie. It claimed that Harry was born to void all variance and be king of England and France. In reality, the crown could never pass through a female.

#29

The siege of Orléans was a disaster for the English. The only commander they had was killed, and they were left with a young man who was not as capable as Salisbury had been. The English attempted to rally under Suffolk, but they were unable to storm the city’s heavily defended walls.

#30

Joan of Arc, a seventeen-year-old peasant girl from Domrémy in southeast France, arrived at the dauphin’s court at Chinon in late April 1429. She had been driven by divine voices to raise an army, relieve the siege of Orléans, and escort the dauphin to Reims to be crowned king of France.

#31

The Battle of Patay was the beginning of the end for the English in France. The French vanguard killed more than two thousand men, and every captain except for Fastolf was captured. In a matter of months, French fortunes had been reversed.

#32

The coronation of Henry V was the most important event in English political life, and it had become more elaborate over the years since the Norman conquest. It took place over several days, and the young king was formally entered into London by the mayor and the aldermen.

#33

The coronation of a king was a very elaborate process that took hours to complete. The most sacred part of kingship was the anointing, which was a ritual in which the king was made to lie down, stand up, and be undressed and dressed again.

#34

The second coronation of Henry took place in Paris in December 1431. It was a hurried affair, and the Parisians felt cheated that Cardinal Beaufort performed the ceremony rather than a native bishop. The court spent Christmas in Paris, but Henry was whisked back to Rouen by the first week of the new year.