#(also claiming Henry Tudor landed with 'a small band of Lancastrian exiles' - yeah no. the majority of the 'exiles' who supported him were

[wonder-worker]

J.L. Laynesmith taking the 'Buckingham Did It™' route for the murder of the Princes in the Tower AND the rumors of Edward IV's bastardy ... I have to laugh

#my post #history media #this was in her book 'Cecily Duchess of York' which I have ... Thoughts on #I really liked it overall - it was meticulously researched and gave me information that I hadn't previously known about Cecily #However this often contrasts with Laynesmith's own very evident biases assumptions and conjecture #and the effect is very jarring #This becomes slightly more pronounced after 1464 and actually ridiculous after 1483. #She also suggests that Henry VI may have genuinely died of a melancholy-induced stroke like Edward IV claimed which is just...lmfao #I don't know what to say at this point lol #To be fair she does specifically note that he died shortly after Edward arrived in London and that most contemporaries believed #it was far too convenient #which is far more acknowledgement and culpability than she gives Richard III whose culpability for the 'disappearance' of his nephews is #literally never touched upon - the blame is conveniently dumped on Buckingham #honestly the whole Deal with Buckingham is so odd. dude was a political neophyte; was given a primarily ceremonial role by Edward IV #throughout his reign and was younger than Richard (who was a seasoned politician). What makes you think Buckingham of all people #was some kind of political genius and making decisions over RICHARD of all people lol? #anyway #This book was pretty decent with Margaret of Anjou which was great #it was less decent with Elizabeth Woodville which was not so great :/ #some of the assumptions it made (for Cecily's benefit naturally) were so weird #and the way she 'reassessed' Elizabeth's role in 1483 was very distasteful #I might make a separate post on that because it was very annoying #(also claiming Henry Tudor landed with 'a small band of Lancastrian exiles' - yeah no. the majority of the 'exiles' who supported him were #Yorkist aka Edward IV's supporters who opposed Richard. because this was very much an internal civil war between the dynasty #and Henry became a claimant only after being chosen by Yorkists after the October risings made clear the Princes were dead #the claim that challenged Richard's was Elizabeth of York not Henry's. let's not twist words here) #(ALSO I'm sorry but William Stanley certainly did not choose to commit his troops to Henry Tudor because Henry was 'his brother's stepson' #he did that out of loyalty to Edward IV and his children as Henry was the chosen claimant of the Yorkist faction #hence why he may have betrayed Henry VII in the 1490s for Perkin Warbeck who pretended to be Edward's second son. so jot that down) #you really see these small minor details which are very much chosen purposefully and paint a very different picture lol