{"id":167,"date":"2015-06-17T12:07:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-17T11:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/georgegoodwin.wordpress.com\/?page_id=167"},"modified":"2026-04-21T00:02:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T23:02:54","slug":"fatal-colours","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/?page_id=167","title":{"rendered":"Fatal Colours"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"fatal-colours-rook\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Fatal Colours<\/h2>\n

\u2018The story has never been told so well or so excitingly\u2019 \u2013 Desmond Seward, BBC History Magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Battle of Towton in 1461 was unique in its ferocity and brutality, as the armies of two kings of England engaged with murderous weaponry and in appalling conditions to conclude the first War of the Roses.<\/p>\n

Variously described as the largest, longest and bloodiest battle on English soil, Towton was fought with little chance of escape and none of surrender. Yet, as if too ghastly\u00a0to contemplate, the battle itself and the turbulent reign of Henry VI were neglected for centuries.<\/p>\n

Combining medieval sources and modern scholarship, George Goodwin colourfully recreates the atmosphere of fifteenth-century England.\u00a0 From the death of the great Henry V and his baby son\u2019s inheritance first of England, then of France, he chronicles the vicious in-fighting at home in response to the vicissitudes of the 100 Years War abroad.\u00a0 He\u00a0 vividly describes the pivotal year of 1450 and a decade of breakdown for\u00a0 both king and kingdom, as increasingly embittered factions struggle for a supremacy that could only be secured after the carnage of Towton.<\/p>\n

Fatal Colours<\/i> includes a cast of strong and compelling characters: a warrior Queen, a ruthless king-making Earl, even a Papal Legate who excommunicates an entire army. And at its centre is the first full explanation for the crippling incapacity of the enduringly child-like\u00a0 Henry VI \u2013 founder of Eton and King\u2019s College, Cambridge.<\/p>\n

With a substantive and sparkling introduction by David Starkey, Fatal Colours<\/i> brings to life a vibrant and violent age.<\/p>\n

\"Fatal<\/p>\n

Out now in UK Paperback and
\nE-book and US Hardback.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fatal Colours \u2018The story has never been told so well or so excitingly\u2019 \u2013 Desmond Seward, BBC History Magazine The Battle of Towton in 1461 was unique in its ferocity and brutality, as the armies of two kings of England … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-167","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgegoodwin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}