The story of the Princes in the Tower is well known: the grim but dramatic events of 1483, when the twelve-year-old Edward Plantagenet was taken into custody by his uncle, Richard of Gloucester, and imprisoned in the Tower of London along with his younger brother, have been told and re-told hundreds of times.
The ways in which the events of that year unfolded remain shrouded in mystery, and the fate of the young princes forms an infamous backdrop to Richard III’s reign and the end of the Wars of the Roses. There have been hundreds of books about this subject published over the years – but mine tells the story in a way that is wholly new: through the places the princes lived in and visited. From Westminster Abbey to the Tower of London, and from the remote castle of Ludlow in the Welsh borders to the quiet Midlands town of Stony Stratford – via major medieval centres such as Northampton and Shrewsbury – the trail through some of England’s most historic places throws a whole new light on this most compelling of historical dramas.The ways in which the events of that year unfolded remain shrouded in mystery, and the fate of the young princes forms an infamous backdrop to Richard III’s reign and the end of the Wars of the Roses. There have been hundreds of books about this subject published over the years – but Following in the Footsteps of the Princes in the Tower tells the story in a way that is wholly new: through the places the princes lived in and visited. From Westminster Abbey to the Tower of London, and from the remote castle of Ludlow in the Welsh borders to the quiet Midlands town of Stony Stratford – via major medieval centres such as Northampton and Shrewsbury – the trail through some of England’s most historic places throws a whole new light on this most compelling of historical dramas.
The book is published by Pen and Sword Books.
It can be purchased from amazon.co.uk and amazon.com.
Unfortunately, for reasons of space, it was not possible to include a full, annotated bibliography and further reading section in the book – instead it can be found here.
A gallery of captioned photographs that I took during the book’s research, including all the photos that were used in the book (along with a number of others for which there was no space) can be accessed by clicking on the links below.
Chapter One: Westminster Abbey
Chapter Two: Ludlow, Shropshire, Little Malvern and Canterbury
Chapter Three: Middleham Castle, Northampton and Stony Stratford
Chapter Four: The Tower of London
Chapter Five: Eastwell (Kent) and Mechelen (Belgium)
Click here to read some sample text from the book.