“Jasper Tudor was a rebel and a warrior, the man who created the greatest dynasty England has ever known… The Tudors.” Dr Sara Elin Roberts, author of Jasper – The Tudor Kingmaker
Following the best-selling historical fiction novel OWEN – Book One of The Tudor Trilogy, this is the incredible story, based on actual events, of Owen’s son Jasper Tudor, who changes the history of England forever.
the history of England forever.
England 1461: The young King Edward of York has taken the country by force from King Henry VI of Lancaster. Sir Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, flees the massacre of his Welsh army at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross and plans a rebellion to return his half-brother King Henry to the throne.
When King Henry is imprisoned by Edward in the Tower of London and murdered, Jasper escapes to Brittany with his young nephew, Henry Tudor. Then after the sudden death of King Edward and the mysterious disappearance of his sons, a new king, Edward’s brother Richard III takes the English Throne. With nothing but his wits and charm, Jasper sees his chance to make young Henry Tudor king with a daring and reckless invasion of England.
Set in the often brutal world of fifteenth century England, Wales, Scotland, France, Burgundy and Brittany, during the Wars of the Roses, this fast-paced story is one of courage and adventure, love and belief in the destiny of the Tudors.
Without the heroic Jasper Tudor there could have been no Tudor dynasty. Terry Breverton, author, historian and Television Presenter.
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All I knew about Jasper Tudor prior to reading this book was that he was the uncle of Henry VII and helped him in his victory over Richard III to become King. This book brought the story of this determined, brave man to light. In exile for much of his adult life, I had no idea about his struggles to put Henry on the throne. A thoroughly absorbing read.
Jasper Tudor was the guy I always bumped into whose job it was to watch over young Henry Tudor, unlikely heir to the throne. This was about all I knew in reference to this elusive character. For that matter, most of my reading concerning the Wars of the Roses focused on the Yorkists, so I was intrigued to explore what happened on the other side. I like the Yorkists, so it was a bit of a jolt to see my favorite family called evil and wicked and all sorts of disreputable names. But, as there are two sides to every story, I continued on, albeit a little unhappily. But I kind of felt that the depiction of the Lancastrians went a bit too far the other way. I have a working knowledge of the Wars of the Roses, and I seem to remember that Margaret had a reputation for aggression and ruthlessness, and her army had no problem pillaging their way across England. I would say she wasn’t lily-white, but in this book she came across as a bit of a victim.
But back to Jasper, he was loyal to his nephew Henry and tried his best to protect the boy, though he rarely came out successful; in fact, he spent much of his time in prison—or as an honorable hostage. When he did regain his freedom, some of his exploits were ill-conceived and he found himself fleeing time and again. Since his activities were outside the range of events which defined this period, it was a little hard to follow the progress of the civil war. Battles were mentioned almost in passing, and we heard that so-and-so was killed, but not much else. If I hadn’t had a basic knowledge of events, I really don’t think I could have identified what drove Queen Margaret’s changes of fortune. I found the transitions awkward at times, and confusing. For instance, in Chapter 15, September 1470, “Queen Margaret had decided to remain in France with her son and his new bride…”, then, thirteen pages later, Jasper was seated at a banquet table with Prince Edward and the Queen in Westminster (the king was absent), and in the next chapter, December 1470, he was writing to the queen, encouraging her to “return to England with Prince Edward without further delay.” I think this was a mistake, but if not, it didn’t make sense to me. After all, Jasper did a lot of back-and-forth between England and the Continent.
Regardless, I did get a good sense of Henry Tudor’s difficulties and the apparent hopelessness of his situation. The book moved along very well; the prose was agreeable and easy to read. It certainly helped explain how this “youth in exile” was able to gather the resources necessary to make his bid for the crown. It will be interesting to see how Henry transitions to the clever and exploitative king he is often portrayed as.