The Wars of the Roses: The Medieval Art of Graham Turner
Graham Turner is a leading historical artist, well-known for his illustration of the medieval era and his work for Osprey Publishing. As the title suggests, this latest Osprey volume is a compendium of his paintings of the Wars of the Roses. It is also a narrative history of the era, written by Turner himself, starting from the reign of Henry V and ending with Henry VII’s victory at the Battle of Stoke in 1487. Turner’s art illustrates every battle and siege of this traumatic time in English history, with accompanying text and mini-biographies of individuals such as Warwick ‘the Kingmaker’, Margaret of Anjou, Henry VI and so on.
If this sounds like an ambitious project, so it is. Fortunately Turner pulls it off with aplomb. His battle scenes are excellent, capturing the raw terror and confusion of a medieval battlefield, but also with a superb eye for detail. He takes great care at getting the technical details correct, from the liveries of the various noble houses and the styles of armour of the time, to the precise crown worn by Edward I at the battle of Towton. Turner takes the time to explain his research, as well as providing detailed maps of battlefields and quotes from contemporary letters and chronicles. As Turner states, he wants the reader to ‘hear’ the voices of the era; this is commendable, although at times I had to pause to unravel the 15th century English – “but thei loffyd togedere aftere”, etc. Until your eye gets used to it, this can break up the flow of reading.
The sheer level of detail is one of the great strengths of the book. As well as covering the major battles and players of the era, Turner also presents the lesser-known conflicts and private wars that raged up and down the kingdom. These include the Paston family’s feud with the Duke of Norfolk over Caister Castle, or the little-known battle of Nibley Green. This gives the reader a wider view of events and concerns at local level, beyond events at court.
The overall impression is of a kingdom falling to pieces, with wars raging up and down the land and very little effective central authority. As history, this may be questionable: despite the outbreaks of violence and vicious rivalry between magnates, the English state continued to function. However, that is a minor quibble: the book is essentially a showpiece for Turner’s art, and a very fine one. It comes in a large hardback volume, a perfect fit for anyone’s coffee table.
The Wars of the Roses: The Medieval Art of Graham Turner is out now and published by Osprey. David Pilling is a historian of the period and the author of Edward Longshanks’ Forgotten Conflict.
