Who's Who in Britain's Bloody Crown

The period of the Wars of the Roses was one of the most bloody in English history. The rival royal families of Lancaster and York and their noble followers fought for over thirty years for dominance of crown and country.The history is brilliantly retold in Dan Jones’ ‘The Hollow Crown’ published by Faber & Faber in April 2015. (The US title is 'The Wars of the Roses')

The book was adapted by UK’s Channel 5 in a mini-series that has been widely enjoyed. However, the huge numbers of protagonists involved, the similarity of names across generation and the frequency with which the nobles changed sides, often motivated by revenge or profit, make identifying everyone difficult.

This article lists all of the individuals mentioned by Jones in his book, and gives summary facts about them, for easy reference to the book, the series, or any other material on the Wars of the Roses.

What is terrifying is the sheer quantity of individuals killed in battle or immediately after; executed, assassinated or lynched!

Entries

The entries give some key facts about the individuals who played a part, whether large or small, in the period known as the Wars of the Roses. In his book and the Channel 5 programme, Jones mentions an enormous range of individuals, many of whom have the same names and titles. The list below summarises the key facts about each one. Although some of the protagonists always supported either Lancaster or York, many changed allegiance over the period, so it is not possible to give a definitive attribution to either party.

Monarchs and other people with no known surname are listed alphabetically under their first names.

Women are listed under the name used by Jones, with their maiden names in brackets.

All dates are in the new style, dating the year as beginning on 1 January.

.This article is available for Kindle, for purchase from Amazon