The New Murrey and Blue blog

I feel very honoured to have been invited to author on this blog – I can’t guarantee being able to contribute much or often, but it feels very good to be here! In the meantime, if any readers would like to know more about me, I’m a dyed-in-the-wool Yorkist, aficionado of the whole Wars of the Roses period, secretary of Towton Battlefield Society’s affiliated re-enactment group, the Frei Compagnie, and author of three books on the battles of Wakefield and Towton (you’ll find more information on my website, helencox-herstorywriting.co.uk). So it probably won’t surprise you to learn that I’m a great fan of Richard III – and although I’d love to have more solid evidence about whether he did or did not order the murder of his nephews, I don’t give much of a monkey’s either way; I still think he was no worse a king than most, and a great deal better than some.

And if I could have my greatest wish granted, it would be to travel down the other ‘trouser-leg of time’ (as I believe Terry Pratchett puts it) and see what would’ve happened if THAT cavalry charge had succeeded and Richard III, not Henry Tudor, had been the victor at Bosworth. What would England look like now? We wouldn’t have had Henrys VII and VIII, Edward VI, Bloody Mary or Good Queen Bess, for a start. We probably wouldn’t have had the Dissolution of the Monasteries – or if religious reform did take place, it probably wouldn’t have been so radical or brought about for the same reasons. Would we still be a predominantly Catholic country? Who might Richard III have married, had he lived – and who would be sitting on the throne now? Any and all speculations on the answers to these questions would be most gratefully received!