Bøker av John Ashdown-Hill

Colchester is proud of being the ''Britain''s oldest recorded town''. Its Roman past is well publicised, and so too is its more recent history. However, until now medieval Colchester had been sadly neglected - until now.

When did the term 'Princes in the Tower' come into usage, who invented it, and to whom did it refer? To the general public the term is synonymous with the supposedly murdered boy King Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, sons of Edward IV. But were those boys genuinely held against their will in the Tower? Would their mother, Elizabeth Widville, have released her son Richard from sanctuary with her if she believed she would be putting his life in danger? The children of Edward IV were declared bastards in 1483 and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was offered the throne. But after Bosworth, in order to marry their sister Elizabeth of York, Henry VII needed to make her legitimate again. If the boys were alive at that time then Edward V would once again have become the rightful king. Following the discovery of some bones in the Tower in 1674 they were interred in a marble urn in Westminster Abbey as the remains of the two sons of Edward IV. What evidence exists, or existed at the time, to prove these indeed were the remains of two 15th-century male children? What did the 1933 urn opening reveal?John Ashdown-Hill is uniquely placed to answer these questions. By working with geneticists and scientists, and exploring the mtDNA haplogroup of the living all-female-line collateral descendant of the brothers, he questions the orthodoxy and strips away the myths.

Dr. John Ashdown-Hill is best known as an eminent historian, a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, the author of twelve history books and numerous historical research articles. His work for the Looking for Richard Project was instrumental in the rediscovery of Richard III's burial place in 2012, for which he was awarded an MBE in the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours list. He has also throughout his life rendered thought, reflection, experience and emotion, in his careful and classical poetry.

Allegedly born in the year of Agincourt and still alive for the birth of Henry VIII, Cecily Neville's life spanned most of the tumultuous fifteenth century. In this original work, renowned historian John Ashdown-Hill takes previously overlooked contemporary sources to correct mis-held beliefs of her life.

From the moment it became public news, the validity of Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Widville, the beautiful widow of a Lancastrian knight, was repeatedly called into question. This alarmed Elizabeth Widville and led her into political killings. She was terrified that she would lose her crown and that her children by the king would never succeed to the throne. But after Edward's death a bishop publicly announced that he had previously married the king to Lady Eleanor Talbot. As a result, Edward's children by Elizabeth, including his eldest son and heir to the throne, Edward, were then declared illegitimate, making Edward's brother Richard the legitimate heir to the throne. Later, claims were put forward that Edward had numerous mistresses and left behind many illegitimate children. Dr John Ashdown-Hill, a central figure in the Looking for Richard Project and a renowned Richard III historian with a special talent for getting behind the mythology of history, now turns his attention to Richard's eldest brother, Edward IV. He unravels the complex web of stories around Edward's private life, discussing the truth behind Edward's reputation. Did Edward have numerous mistresses? Did he produce many bastards? Who was his legal wife? And what caused the early death of Eleanor Talbot?

A fully revised paperback edition which puts forward groundbreaking new evidence that questions the identity of the 'bones in the urn'.

The Dublin King

Through his service to the House of York, and in particular to Richard III during the setting aside of Edward V, John Ashdown-Hill examines why he chose to support Richard, even at the cost of his life;

Richard III. The name will conjure an image for any reader: Shakespeare's hunchback tyrant who killed his own nephews or a long-denigrated, misunderstood king. This one man's character and actions have divided historians and the controversy has always kept interest in Richard alive. However, curiosity surrounding his life and death has reached unprecedented heights in the aftermath of the discovery of his skeleton under a Leicester car park. The myths that have always swirled around Richard III have risen and multiplied and it is time to set the record straight. John Ashdown-Hill, whose research was instrumental in the discovery of Richard III's remains, explores and unravels the web of myths in this fascinating book.

Less well-known than his brothers, Edward IV and Richard III, little has been written about George, Duke of Clarence, leaving us with a series of unanswered questions: What was he really like?

The Wars of the Roses call to mind bloody battles, treachery and deceit, and a cast of characters known to us through fact and fiction: Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Richard III, Warwick the Kingmaker, the Princes in the Tower, Henry Tudor. But the whole era also creates a level of bewilderment among even keen readers. John Ashdown-Hill gets right to the heart of this 'thorny' subject, dispelling the myths and bringing clarity to a topic often shrouded in confusion. Between 1455 and 1487, a series of dynastic wars for the throne of England were fought. These have become known as the Wars of the Roses. But there never was a red rose of Lancaster This book sets the record straight on this and many other points, getting behind the traditional mythology and reaching right back into the origins of the conflict to cut an admirably clear path through the thicket.