Overview

The first comprehensive biography in three decades on Margaret Beaufort, the mother of the Tudor Dynasty. During the bloody and uncertain days of the Wars of the Roses, Margaret Beaufort was married to the half brother of the Lancastrian king Henry VI. A year later she endured a traumatic birth that brought her and her son close to death. She was just thirteen years old. As the battle for royal supremacy raged between the houses of Lancaster and York, Margaret, who was descended from Edward III and thus a critical threat, was forced to give up her son – she would be separated from him for fourteen years. But few could match Margaret for her boundless determination and steely courage. Surrounded by enemies and conspiracies in the enemy Yorkist court, Margaret remained steadfast, only just escaping the headman’s axes as she plotted to overthrow Richard III in her efforts to secure her son the throne. Against all odds, in 1485 Henry Tudor was victorious on the battlefield at Bosworth. Through Margaret’s royal blood Henry was crowned Henry VII, King of England, and Margaret became the most powerful woman in England – Queen in all but name. Nicola Tallis’s gripping account of Margaret’s life, one that saw the final passing of the Middle Ages, is a true thriller, revealing the life of an extraordinarily ambitious and devoted woman who risked everything to ultimately found the Tudor dynasty.

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9781789291711

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Reviews

Nicola Tallis, one of our great popular historians. * Alison Weir * A pacy narrative, written with a clear love for and detailed knowledge of her subject * The Spectator * Stunning. * The Spectator * Solid gold! * Tracey Borman * A wonderful investigation...enlightening and gripping, full of superb research and beautifully written. * Kate Williams * Poignant. * New York Times * Tallis deploys an extraordinary eye for detail...through this superb revisionist biography * The Times * Nicola Tallis's biography of Margaret is a welcome and forthright riposte...[and] forms part of an important and growing area of scholarship on the significant involvement of women in fifteenth-century politics...A well-evidenced analysis of a fascinating woman...compelling. * The Times Literary Supplement *

Author Information

Nicola Tallis is a British historian and researcher. Her debut book, Crown of Blood: The Deadly Inheritance of Lady Jane Grey, was published to wide praise. She has previously lectured at the University of Winchester and worked with Historic Royal Palaces and the National Trust.

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