A comment on Margaret’s Facebook page (thanks, Marilyn!) reminded me that I’ve never posted in detail about Margaret’s captivity following her defeat at Tewkesbury. So now I’m going to remedy this situation.
Tag archieven: William de la Pole Duke of Suffolk
The Wars of the Roses/[Susan Higginbotham]/Margaret of Anjou
(The following is a slightly revised blog post I did on Margaret of Anjou, the subject of my novel in progress,
The Queen of Last Hopes. For more pieces about her and a picture gallery, see the links at the bottom of the page.)
Margaret of Anjou, queen to the unfortunate Henry VI, has surely been one of the most maligned English queens. She’s regularly portrayed as an adulteress and a vengeful harpy. One historical novel even has her repeatedly trying to murder her daughter-in-law, Anne Neville, though I never quite figured out why. (I’m not sure the author knew either.)
A set piece in many a Wars of the Roses novel, even some recent ones where the authors should have known better, involves cruel Margaret ordering immediately after the Battle of Wakefield that the severed heads of the Duke of York and his teenage son, the Earl of Rutland, be displayed and the Duke’s head be garnished with a
paper crown. In fact, Margaret was not at the Battle of Wakefield; she was in Scotland at the time. There’s even been considerable doubt cast as to the extent of the atrocities supposedly committed by her troops.
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Wars of the Roses/Margaret of Anjou/Letter to Susan Higginbotham about her book ´´Queen of Last Hopes
RICHARD OF YORK, CLAIMANT TO THE ENGLISH THRONE
AND ONE OF THE MAIN LEADERS OF THE WAR OF ROSES
[WAR BETWEEN THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK,
BOTH DESCENDANTS OF KING EDWARD III]
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]
WAR OF THE ROSES
SCENE AT THE TEMPLE GARDEN
RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK, WEARING A
WHITE ROSE, TO CONFRONT
HIS POLITICAL RIVAL AND ENEMY,
EDMUND, BEAUFORT, 2ND DUKE OF
SOMERSET, FORCING HIM TO
CHOOSE A RED ROSE
THE NOBLE LORDS TAKING SIDES
THIS IS A SHAKESPEARE SCENE [HENRY VI]
AND NOT BASED ON ANY HISTORICAL
EVIDENCE
The White Rose of theHouse of York
The Red Rose of theHouse of Lancaster
.jpg)
KING HENRY VI OF ENGLAND
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]
MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]
TWO IMAGES OF MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
[FICTION]
WARS OF THE ROSES/MARGARET OF ANJOU/LETTER
TO SUSAN HIGGINBOTHAM ABOUT HER
BOOK ´´QUEEN OF .LAST HOPES´´
PORTRAYAL OF MARGARET OF ANJOU AND
RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK
Dear Readers
´´Queen of Last Hopes´´, fictional historical novel of writer Susan Higginbotham,
about the life of Margaret of Anjou, wife of the medieval English
King Henry VI, was one of the books, which fascinated me last year
2014.
Red theme in the life of Margaret of Anjou were the Wars of Roses,
the fight to the death for the English throne between the Houses of
It´s such a passionate period of history, that one nearly can´t avoid to
raise sympathy either for the Lancasters or the Yorks.
However, of importance is to take a historically balanced stand,
acknowledging that on both sides there were cruelties and injustice,
and that human beings are mostly a mixture of light and dark sides.
In her book and articles, Susan Higginbotham struggles against
the villfication of Margaret of Anjou through history and I think that´s
an important contribution.
However, in ´´Queen of Last Hopes´´, Higginbotham accomplishes that by
on the contrary, picturing her great enemy the Duke of York as a cardboard
villain, who was after the throne from the beginning and even
wanted to kill King Henry VI and Queen Margaret for that.
I think, that is not historically right.
That´s why I wrote a letter to Mrs Higginbotham.
See for that letter below.
But first will I take you to a journey to history, by telling
something about the Wars of Roses, the major players
and the causes.
I warn you
It is a long piece of reading
But realize, that it is a journey of 500
years ago and that takes time.
Go with me on the journey.
ENTER THE WORLD
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