The Wars of the Roses: The Soldiers' Experience

by Anthony Goodman

Overview

Historians have researched extensively the motives and fortunes of kings, nobles and gentlemen in the Wars of the Roses, that bewildering sequence of rebellions fought between 1455 and 1485. The shadows cast by the awesome puppet masters of the Wars, like Richard of York, Warwick the Kingmaker or Richard III, add to the mist which swirls around the mass of participants - Englishmen, Welshmen, women, children and even prostitutes. Mostly commoners, these were the fifteenth-century equivalent of the 'Poor Bloody Infantry'.

But what sort of people were they? Why did they repeatedly buckle and saddle up for combat? What hopes and fears kept them awake at night? And what experiences did they have along the way that made them relish the excitement of the campaigns? In the sixteenth century, history would depict the Wars luridly as the theatres of blood reflected in Shakespeare's history plays. Here, for the first time, Anthony Goodman asks if such views really reflect the reality of the Wars of the Roses, and looks at fresh material from the participants themselves.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780752437316
Publisher:	Tempus Publishing, Limited
Publication date:	03/28/2005
Series:	Revealing History Series
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	4.80(w) x 7.70(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

	Preface	6
	List of Abbreviations	8
1	Introduction: The Wars of the Roses Today	10
2	Attitudes to War	26
3	Soldiers	78
4	Campaigning	126
5	Hopes and Fears	173
6	Memories	201
7	The Legacy of the Wars	236
	Notes	251
	Map	274
	Genealogical Tables	275
	Illustration List	277
	Select Bibliography	279
	Index	285