Avid reader that I am, I was delighted to find a budget copy of The House of Beaufort (subtitle: the b*st*rd line that captured the crown) by Nathen Amin.
For those not aware, the Beauforts were the illegitimate children of John of Gaunt and his mistress Katherine Swinford and were the half-brothers and half-sister of Henry of Bolingbroke, later Henry IV.
Unusually John of Gaunt married his mistress after the death of his second wife and then petitioned Richard II and the Pope to legitimise them so that they could inherit. One price, however, was that they were barred from inheriting the throne. This last item was quietly forgotten when Henry Tudor, son of Margaret Beaufort, made his play at Bosworth more than 80 years later.
The book charts the rise and rise of the Beauforts, both in England and France, and the role of successive Beauforts in the later 100 Years War and then the so-called Wars of the Roses. As Dukes of Somerset, Beauforts fought in most of the major battles – two were killed, one at St.Albans and one after Tewkesbury.
For UK members, the book is available via High Street branches of The Works at the knockdown price of just £3.00 GBP in paperback, which is not bad for a £9.99 GBP book! I have bought previous WOTR books from The Works and I have always been pleased with the price of the book, if not the contents.
The Works also sell excellent paint brushes in their Boldmere range. I have not used it but I think The Works also sells online as well.
Barry
begins his series on how to paint a 15mm DBA army well, in a reasonable time frame.
