The New Murrey and Blue blog

I received a link (https://tinyurl.com/3ske573a) to an article in The Spectator, concerning a review of Henry VII: Treason and Trust, by Sean Cunningham (Allen Lane, pp. 160, £15.99) Unfortunately I couldn’t read the review because I’d have to subscribe to The Spectator (although I could have one month free). Getting caught up in this one-month-free thing has never appealed to me, especially for an isolated article. 🙄

But I found another review (of the original 2008 Routledge edition) here: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=13993. While thorough, it manages to omit all mention of Richard III, whose reign and demise through treachery was, I’d have thought, essential to anything about the reign of Henry VII!

As a confirmed supporter of Richard III, my opinion of Henry VII isn’t going to please those who for some odd reason think the Tudors were the be-all and end-all of our history. But I concede that there are two sides to every argument. The Tudors damned Richard III in order to justify themselves, and this was Henry V II’s doing. He was a clever man who knew he wasn’t on the throne by true right, and who knew that he was surrounded by others who thought the same. If he suffered ever after, I’m afraid he brought it on himself. I have no sympathy whatsoever.

A new hardcover edition of the title in the Penguin Monarchs series was published on 5th March 2026 and is the reason for the revival of interest. See https://tinyurl.com/3dbwycm9.

by viscountessw