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Monday 29 April 2019

The Battle of Edgcote 1469: Re-evaluating the evidence

Before I begin my review of THE BATTLE OF EDGCOTE 1469: RE-EVALUATING THE EVIDENCE, I need to make the following things clear:
  • Firstly, that before reading this book I knew very, very little about the Wars of the Roses other than the basically Victorian view that I was taught as a child ... and absolutely nothing about the Battle of Edgcote
  • Secondly, that I would probably not have bought this book if I had not known the author for many years

The book is divided into the following sections:
  • Introduction
  • Chapter 1 – A Tale of Two Historians
  • Chapter 2 – A Lack of Sources?
  • Chapter 3 – The Numbers Game
  • Chapter 4 – Location, Location, Location
  • Chapter 5 – Naming the Day
  • Chapter 6 – "I am Robin of Redesdale"
  • Chapter 7 – The Most Mighty Battlefield
  • Chapter 8 – Retribution and Reckoning
  • Chapter 9 – Aftermath and Afterthoughts
  • Appendix – Primary Sources
  • Bibliography
  • The Battlefield Today
  • Northamptonshire Battlefields Society
Now I am a great fan of detective fiction and real-life crime stories … and in some ways this is a very similar to books of that genre. It sets out the evidence (much of which is included in the very detailed and useful Appendix) that is available to tell the truth about the battle. Where it really scored points with me was the fact that Graham Evans managed to make it both very informative and very readable … and that is not something that I could say about a lot of similar academic books. Make no mistake, this is a book for academics as well as enthusiasts, and only the most curmudgeonly reader could find fault with it.

It has not turned me into an enthusiast for wargaming the Wars of the Roses (although I can certainly say that I can now understand why people find it such a fascinating period of English history) but it has made me want to see more of Graham’s stuff in print. He is a very talented wargamer designer – as a quick Google search will show – as well as a blogger of high repute, and I look forward to seeing some of his excellent rules on sale in book form in the very near future.

PS. So, who is Robin of Redesdale? Having read Graham's book, I have my own ideas who it might be ... and I'm sure that other readers may well have their particular candidates for the role. I recommend that anyone with even the vaguest interest in the Wars of the Roses to read this book, if only to come to their own conclusions as to who he is.

THE BATTLE OF EDGCOTE 1469: RE-EVALUATING THE EVIDENCE was written by Graham Evans and published in 2019 by the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society (ISBN 978 1 794 61107 8). It is currently on sale in paperback for £9.99 from the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society or via Amazon.

23 comments:

  1. If you liked this book (which I've not read), you might like the Michael K. Jones books titled 'Bosworth'. They offer a rather different view of Richard III from the polarising portraits of Shakespeare on the one hand and Richard's defenders on the other. The approach, too, is forensic. A hint to whet the curiosity: it seems Richard's elder brother, Edward, might have been not quite the legitimate heir to the Duchy of York after all...
    Cheers,
    Ion

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    Replies
    1. Archduke Piccolo (Ion),

      Thanks for the suggestion. I'm always looking for books that I can take with me on cruises. Years ago, I read Josephine Tey's book about Richard III, and thoroughly enjoyed it, so I'm open to persuasion that he was not the villain he is often portrayed as. I also have sympathy for him because I was born with a curved spine and other skeletal problems, including inward pointing feet and slightly deformed hands. My problems were dealt with when I was a child using surgery and traction ... but as I've aged, I've developed arthritis in some of the joints in my hands and feet.

      All the best,

      Bob

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    2. Richard III is a blight on the study of the late 15th century. Everything has to come back to his miserable usurpation and desperate 2 years on the throne. It is difficult to say or write anything objective about him without the Ricardians calling foul. And don't even start on whether he had a curved spine or not. Despite the hard evidence from the excavation, the Ricardians would have you believe that it was hardly noticeable at all, and completely concealed under his clothing.

      See, done it again. Here's a post about a battle that has nothing to do with him, and he's the subject of the first comment you get.

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    3. The RIII society is an interesting study in the application of propaganda and misinformation in the interpretation of history.The hatchet job they carried out on Henry VII has proved to be very effective.

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    4. Trebian,

      Ah! The power of propaganda! If you want to justify your own seizure by force of the crown, it's a good idea to make your opponent look and sound as evil as possible. I'm no Ricardian, but I'm not sure the Henry Tudor was the sainted saviour some writers would want one to believe.

      As to the curvature of the spine ... well its impact depends upon the extent and direction of the curve. Mine isn't great, and goes left to right and isn't that noticeable. My right shoulder is slightly higher that the left, but that isn't very unusual.

      Considering how long the War of the Roses lasted, it is amazing how much the last few years of the conflict seem to dominate the historical coverage.

      All the best,

      Bob

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    5. Barry Carter,

      I suspect that the most well-known portrayal of Richard III - Olivier's version of Shakespeare's Richard - may well have been responsible for reaction that led to the creation of the Richard III Society ... and in order to justify their contention that Richard was not the villain, they have had to vilify Henry Tudor.

      My own personal opinion is that neither was blameless, and both had blood on their hands; it's whose blood is on whose hands that is the interesting - and unanswered - question.

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    6. Really best not to get into this here....

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    7. Trebian,

      I have vague memories of a certain Matrix Game when the outcome of the Battle of Bosworth was not historical, and certain players were heard afterwards to be chanting something about Henry the Hunchback.

      All the best,

      Bob

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    8. Guilty as charged, Bob. Poor old Henry didn't even get out of Milford Haven, if memory serves.

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    9. Trebian,

      I went to Milford Haven once; I haven't been back.

      All the best,

      Bob

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  2. Thanks for the review. This book is on my reading pile.

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    Replies
    1. Jonathan Freitag,

      I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I have.

      All the best,

      Bob

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  3. Bob,

    Thanks for the very kind review. Good word of mouth is really important for self published books, so hopefully this will help. Sales support the Northamptonshire Battlefields Society, so its all in a good cause.

    Also thanks for the self-publishing workshop at the last COW. There will be another history book in the next 12 months at the most, but that one will be more ECW, and more obscure than Edgcote.

    Trebian

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    Replies
    1. Trebian,

      Credit where credit is due; it was a very good read and it deserves to sell well.

      The self-publishing workshop seems to inspired quite a few of the attendees, and if it does lead to more books being published, I'll be very pleased indeed.

      All the best,

      Bob

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    2. Interesting.Can we tease more details out of you as to the subject of the book?

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    3. Barry Carter,

      Basically the book looks at the available sources in order to cut through the often conflicting accounts of the battle to propose a narrative that makes sense.

      All the best,

      Bob

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    4. The Battle of Edgcote, fought in 1469, marks the point of no return for Warwick the Kingmaker, on his journey from Yorkist to Lancastrian. The story has everything, - treachery, indolence, betrayal and an argument over a girl in a pub.

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    5. Trebian,

      That sums up the plot very nicely indeed!

      All the best,

      Bob

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    6. Trebian.
      My query about the ECW book was aimed at you.I am currently engaged in a skirmish with my tablet over control of the keyboard - the tablet is winning!
      I have a copy of your book. It is an excellent summation of the battle.I would be interested in your thoughts on Mortimers Cross. Now there is a battle to ponder over. So little in the way of surviving contemporary sources and yet so many modern versions of how the battle was fought.

      Bob.
      Thanks for the summary. Sorry to have caused you extra Labour.

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    7. Barry Carter,

      Funnily enough, I'm having a similar problem with my iPad, which keeps deciding that it doesn't like what I am doing and switches itself off or just plain freezes.

      I'm sure that Trebian would be willing to give you his opinions of the Battle of Mortimers Cross by email if you care to contact him.

      All the best,

      Bob

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    8. Barry Carter,

      The ECW book will be very niche Northamptonshire. As for Mortimer's Cross there are other people looking at that, and arranging archaeology and so on. Edgcote is the only battle I have gone into the sources and ground in that level of detail, and it was a piece of work for the Northamptonshire battlefields Society. Mortimer's Cross is a bit off pour patch.

      I don't seen any reason why anyone couldn't do what I did, - read the sources, look at the land and then try to make sense of it all by testing what is said against reality. You'll note the time and movement tables I put together, - what they tell us is important and I don't get why medieval historians haven't done that sort of thing more.

      Trebian

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    9. Trebian,

      Walking the ground and comparing what you see with what you have read in books or seen on a map can make things that did not make sense suddenly very clear.

      Years ago I visited Pourville (Green Beach) near Dieppe. Until I did, I could not understand why the Canadians had so much trouble getting up the beach or across the stream that separated the landing beach from the main objective.

      The beach is made up of stones, and is difficult to walk on, let alone run up. The stream is actually canalised (with vertical sides), and can thus only be crossed by a single bridge ... which the Germans had covered by machine guns. Seeing the ground, the difficulties faced by the Canadians suddenly made sense.

      Good luck with the next book,

      All the best,

      Bob

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    10. Trebian.

      The time and movement tables are very interesting and valuable work.The boots on the ground approach is an essential approach to studying a battle, especially when the location of a battlefield is in doubt.
      As to your ECW book niche is good.I look forward to reading it.

      Delete

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