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The Lost Kings

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Member Reviews

Good for any English Royal History Buff. I definitely fall into the Royal History Buff category and I enjoyed this book. This time period, rulers, and potential rulers (bloodline members) are ones I have heard in passing but not much about them. I found this book informative, a little wordy sometimes, and overall a good read for those interested in royal history. I’d buy more of Ms. Licence’s works.

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Fascinating look into the royal houses involved in the Wars of the Roses. Summary executions, secret murders, and disappearances - even those having no interest in ruling were not spared. Highly recommended.

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This book is an interesting work. It is a short look at the death of young men who would have been kings in late medieval England. Even the royal families had appalling childhood mortality rates. To that one could also add murder from political foes. While the book is very interesting it has the over all feel of a smaller work that the author then added additional material to in order to pad out this size.

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The Lost Kings is a very interesting book about life and death. I like some parts of this book, others were a bit confusing. Overall is a good book

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Fortune's wheel doth constantly turn, and the turn of the wheel does not guarantee anything...

Ten men, ten fortunes, ten ways that history could have been changed in ways that we can only imagine today. Looking back on the lives of the those who were cut short, the ramifications on the next generation can clearly be seen.
Taking a look at the lives of Edmund, Earl of Rutland, Edward of Middleham, Edward, Earl of Warwick, Arthur Tudor, and more, we see the unraveling of things that could have been. While we can say "could have, should have" now, it was not as cut and dry in those days. The mortality rates were high, and infant loss was normal. But these were not infants cut down before their life started, they were young men on the verge of breaking onto the international scene. Whether by illness or death in battle, we can look back at their lives and picture "what might have been."
Amy Licence does a great job in showing the dynamics of their lives, and of the lives of those around them. She fleshes out every aspect that she can find, while showing the courses that might have been open to them, had they lived. Henry Fitzroy was one of the most speculated characters. His father was setting him up for a bright future. Illegitimate or not, Henry VIII was determined that his son would have a glittering future, whether that be adviser to his future ruling children, or setting him up to be king in his own right. There are so many avenues that could have been taken, but death once again intervened, cutting short yet another life.

I enjoyed this read. It was something that I found to be interesting, but also provokes a lot of thought. The "might have been's" are prevalent, that they really make you think what history would have held if these young men had been able to fulfill their full potential. The one downside to this book was that there are some heavy biases in the text. While I can say as a historian we all have our biases, this book comes out with them extremely heavy in many cases. I would have enjoyed the book a bit more had they been a little more muted.
A huge thank you to Netgalley and the History Press for the opportunity to read this book.

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The Lost Kings is a well researched story about ten men who had the potential to make an impact in English history from 1450 to 1550 as the king of England. While the subject of the book is about loss, the author provides interesting "what if" scenarios of these men had they not met their untimely deaths. Further, interesting bits of information about the clothing, mannerisms, wills, and military history of the time were also provided. I appreciated that this kind of information was provided as it gave me an opportunity to learn more about this era. I especially found the concept of the books of mannerisms and the information regarding wills interesting. There were times when I felt like the details would take away too much focus on the man being featured. I would have to remind myself which would be ruler I was reading about in the middle of some of the sections. Regardless, I appreciated the attention to detail about the men and felt the book was very well researched.

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"This book is about death and its impact but, even more so, it is about life. Life as an opportunity to be seized with both hands, to be fought for amid difficult and overwhelming circumstances, to be celebrated and exploited, valued and revered, in all its brutal brevity. Death is always of significance, in any era, but the concentration of these ten young losses fed into a complex process by which the dynasties of York, Lancaster and Tudor were redefined."

In The Lost Kings, historian Amy Licence examines the lives of ten young royals and the results of their premature loss, while avoiding speculation about what might have been if they had lived.

It's difficult to write a biography, even a very short one, about people of whom so little is known. When medieval princes died in childhood or adolescence before they'd taken up the reigns of government or served their king successfully in battle, they didn't leave much behind. (The exception being Edward VI, the son of Henry VIII, whose childhood and brief reign are fairly well documented.) The author tries to create portraits of these young men using biographical information about their parents, and other relations, and discusses how their characters may have been formed by their religious beliefs and the culture of the time. Licence also provides a wealth of recent political history as background to childhood's taking place in a tumultuous era. She then goes on to describe the effect each death had on future events.

What I enjoyed most about this book was the history and purpose of Chantry chapels, explanations of Catholic beliefs pertaining to the afterlife and the information about royal burials and tombs. Particularly fascinating were the Cadaver tombs. I happily spent a couple of hours Googling photographs of royal tombs and memorials from the period. With the changes brought by the reformation, it's easy to understand why people feared for the souls of departed family members since they were no longer receiving the prayers needed to get out of purgatory. No wonder there were rebellions.

I do question the inclusion of Richard III's son Edward, Prince of Wales. In my opinion his death had no bearing on the events that followed. When Richard made the decision to take the throne from his young nephews and imprison them in the Tower, more violence was inevitable. Even if Edward had still been alive when his father was killed at the Battle of Bosworth, I don't think he would have stayed that way for long.

The information within each chapter could have been better organized and some tighter editing to improve the focus of each chapter would make for more interesting reading. At times it felt like a bit of an info dump.

I received this a copy of this book through NetGalley.

Edited 12-21-17

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3 and 1 / 2 stars

This book examines the loss of ten would-be kings of the Houses of York and Tudor from 1450 to 1550. They were ten young men who died either in battle, by illness or in one case under mysterious circumstances while he was being held in the Tower. An amazing story of “what if” is outlined in detail.

I must take exception to Ms. Licence’s take on Catherine of Aragon’s dispute over her virginity at the time of Prince Arthur’s death. That fact was at debate yes, but the split with the Catholic Church was all Henry. It wouldn’t have mattered to Henry – really – if she were a virgin at the time of her marriage to him or not. He was upset at his failure to produce a living son after nearly twenty years of marriage to Catherine, and he wanted to marry Anne Boelyn. That was the reason for the split with Rome, not the argument over Catherine’s virginity. Perhaps Ms. Licence just did not go far enough in her explanation.

The book is rich in detail about funerals, the attendants and the clothing of both the living and the dead. I found the inclusion of the nobility’s wills very interesting.

The book is very well written and rich in historical data, facts and figures. It is written in linear fashion from 1450 or so through 1550. It is easily accessible for any reader whether a devotee of history or just someone who loves to read about this period in time. It was well footnoted.

I would like to thank NetGalley and Trafalgar Square Publishing/The History Press for forwarding to me a copy of this book to read and enjoy.

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Book: The Lost Kings: Lancaster, York, and Tudor
Author: Amy Licenoe
Rating: 1 Out of 5 Stars

I would like to thank Netgalley and the History Press for providing me with this ARC.

I am very interested in this time period and have read a number of books on the English medieval monarchy this year. However, this one, was really lacking for me. I don’t know what it was. I mean the topic itself is very interesting, the idea of if rulers had their chance and what England would have been like is really good. It was just poorly done.

Like the other book, I read from History Press, a paragraph takes up to a page or more. It’s way too long for a paragraph and has a lot of unnecessary information in it. It just makes it really hard to follow the book and makes it seem poorly edited. I don’t think it’s really the author’s fault-like I said the other books by this publisher have followed the same pattern and other readers have said the same thing. I really do think and hope that History Press listens to its readers. Otherwise, their books may not end up selling.

The actual historical information is really good, but the poor editing doesn’t really let the good writing come out. Okay, I’m going to do some comparing here. Dan Jones also writes about the medieval English monarchy. His books are well written and well done. The difference? He has smooth writing and just enough information to engage the reader. Now, Amy does actually have all the blueprints for a great book, but it just doesn’t come across the page.

Again, History Press needs to listen to its readers. They need to cut down the paragraphs and let the actual story come out. People do not want to read nonfiction that reads like a textbook.

This book comes out on January 1, 2017.

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