Tome Thursday: Trinity

Hello everyone!

So lo and behold! I've finally taken my own advice and I'm now going to be chewing through the books that I've sort of begun reading and/or haven't finished yet, because I want to have a semi-clean slate before I head to the seaside for my vacation. Or, that's the plan at least, who knows if it's going to go the way I want it to haha? Probably not, but one can always hope!

The very first on my VERY long reading list was Trinity, by author Conn Iggulden, because that poor thing has been sitting there for a while about halfway done, and I couldn't bring myself to read it for some reason or other. Maybe it had to do with the fact that, this book in particular, seems to show that Iggulden is pro-Lancastrian and I'm prety much pro-York when it comes to taking sides in the War of the Roses, or the Cousins' War as it was also called. Or maybe that's just my feeling and I didn't quite get the memo right, but I'm fairly sure his commentary in the author's note section of the book point towards the whole Lancaster thing more than York.

If anyone remembers, I did a review on Stormbird, the first book in this series, way back when, but you can find it here. By the end of the first book, Richard of York has been declared Protector of the realm and Henry VI is in his sleeping stage. The poor king had something going for him back then, he tended to drift in and out of a sort of daze/coma for a while, I think it was eighteen months at the worst part? And he had never been very strong or determined to begin with.

The second book covers the time period in two segments, around the year 1455 in the first, and then 1459 in the second, but it generally ends around 1461, roughly, so this is pretty much the gearing up part of the War, because the houses are definitely at each other's throats by this point.

Henry wakes up from his sleep and makes the first major mistake as a ruler he could make, which is that instead of thanking York for keeping the kingdom in one piece (and actually rather well-run to be honest, no one complained much, the trade routes were open and secure, people got paid, and they had food) and then returning it to him once he was awake again, the king is angry for some reason or another. Maybe because no one invited him to the party? Oh wait, he was asleep. Duh.

So then what Henry does, in what he thinks is a brilliant move and his French wife Margaret of Anjou applauds him for, is kicks York, Salisbury and Warwick back to their castles and domains instead of keeping them within his own council as well to represent all the nobility in England.

Ergo, he just insulted pretty much the most powerful northern lords. You have to remember that the Warvick heritage encompassed basically the full northern England and Richard Neville, who would later be known as the Kingmaker, had massive forces at his disposal.

This all leads to the first battle at St. Albans where York forces meet the Lancastrians and the duke makes a final bid to have Henry hear him out so there wouldn't have to be war.

Does it happen? Of course not.

Henry gets himself shot by an arrow and slips into his dazed state again while York returns to London in triumph. It will now take four years for Lancaster to gather enough forces again, with the deaths of its great lords back at St. Albans. There's a lot of little skirmishes going on, and then of course there's voluntary exile for York, Salisbury, Warwick and March (Edward, son of York, famous for marrying the 'White Queen', commoner Elizabeth Woodwille) so they don't end up dead. By the end of the book, however, after Margaret has gone into Scotland and brought England's ancient enemy into its heart to retrieve her king, Lancaster seems to triumph as Richard, his second son Edmund and the Earl of Salisbury all end up dead. Richard's head is famously adorned with a paper crown in mockery of what was actually a legitimate bid for the throne, seeing as he is cousin to the current king.

But all Margaret has done is alienate the people of England further, and Edward of York is out baying for her blood to avenge his father - and to become king himself.

This book read like you wouldn't believe slow whenever Lancaster was on the move. Maybe it's because I really can't stand them, or maybe it's the book itself, but as soon as York came into play it all read much better. I do recommend it if you're a fan of this time period however, although you might get confused by the amount of main characters jumping all around. Still, it's an intriguing read to see it from a different point of view than, say Philippa Gregory writes, and I'm eager to see what Iggulden does with the next book.

It might have taken me a while, and it might have been slow, but it was still worth the trouble.

(also, 'trinity' refers to the three men in the field: York, Salisbury and Warwick, but also the three suns in splendour that Edward of York is supposed to have seen before heading into battle)

xx

*image not mine