Following in the Footsteps of the Princes in the Tower

by Andrew Beattie

Overview

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 retold hundreds of times.

The true events of that year remain shrouded in mystery, and the end of the young princes’ lives are an infamous part of the War of the Roses and Richard III’s reign. Yet little about their lives is commonly known. Following the Footsteps of the Princes of the Tower tells the story in a way that is wholly new: through the places where the events actually unfolded. It reveals the lives of the princes through the places they lived and visited. From Westminster Abbey to the Tower of London itself, and from the remote English castles of Ludlow and Middleham to the quiet Midlands town of Stony Stratford, the trail through some of England's most historic places throws a whole new light on this most compelling of historical dramas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781526727855
Publisher:	Pen and Sword
Publication date:	06/27/2019
Series:	Following in the Footsteps Series
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Andrew Beattie is the author of several cultural-historical titles, including books on Prague and Cairo in Signal Books’ Cities of the Imagination series and on the Scottish Highlands and the River Danube for their Landscapes of the Imagination series; he has also written for the travel series Rough Guides.

Having written Following in the Footsteps of the Princes in the Tower, this is his second book for Pen and Sword. He is also an established children’s playwright and his play Arthur: Boy-King of Britain has been performed by schools and youth theatre groups in the UK, the United States and Australia. He is a graduate of Oxford University and lives in London.

Table of Contents

Introduction viii

Chapter 1 Westminster: Sanctuary, Palace and Abbey 1

Chapter 2 Ludlow, Shrewsbury and the Marches 37

Chapter 3 A Coup on Watling Street - Northampton and Stony Stratford 95

Chapter 4 Palace and Prison: The Tower of London 114

Chapter 5 The Aftermath - Ghosts and Tombs, Impostors and Battlefields 141

Bibliography and Further Reading 171

Index 173