The New Murrey and Blue blog

Perhaps this is just a matter of ambiguity rather than inaccuracy and that the book itself is clearer, however the jacket information really isn’t promising. Bamburg (sic), being by the east coast, had nothing to do with Tudors, real or imagined, until after Henry VII‘s accession, so it definitely wasn’t a “stronghold” of theirs during the Roses era. We don’t yet know whether these are errata by the author or the publishers.

Part of this preview reads “These are compared with the scant remains of Fotheringhay Castle, the birthplace of Richard III – the man whose remains were so dramatically uncovered in Leicester – and Micklegate Bar, York, was where Richard’s head was placed on a spike“. Obviously, the latter refers to Richard, Duke of York, referred to in the author’s previous sentence but Richard III is definitely the subject of this one, implying that his head was placed on Micklegate Bar, which would only be possible if:
1) He had been at Wakefield aged eight and died with his father, which we know to be untrue. After all, Shakespeare places him at the first battle of St. Alban’s when he was only two.
2) He lived for about twenty-five years without a head, but nobody noticed, even when he fathered three children.
3) Bosworth is actually very close to York, not Leicester.
4) His head was taken to York on the day of the battle and returned to Leicester Greyfriars in time for his burial three days later, which assumes rather too much of late mediaeval transport logistics.
5) He was buried without a head, even though his exhumed skeleton featured a skull which was his own as the teeth were part of the identification evidence.