George Duke of Clarence

1449-1478

Michael Hicks

Professor of History, University of Winchester

George, Duke of Clarence was the son of Richard, Duke of York and thus brother to two kings, Edward IV and Richard III.  Clarence married Isobel, the elder daughter of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, (Warwick the kingmaker) and had two children, Edward, earl of Warwick, who was imprisoned and executed by Henry VII, and Margaret, Countess of Salisbury who was executed by Henry VIII.

Clarence’s reputation as ‘false, fleeting and perjur’d is described in Shakespeare’s play Richard III. Michael Hicks reveals a ‘conventional magnate, a mixture of virtues and vices but temperamentally unsuited for the role in politics otherwise assigned by his royal blood, political power and personal ambition’

This book was first published by Alan Sutton Publishing thirty years ago. Headstart History published a revised edition in 1992 and now The Davenant Press is proud to publish the second edition in the Spring of 2012.
 

The image on the front cover is Clarence’s stallplate as a member of the Order of the Garter in St. George’s Chapel Windsor, and is reproduced by kind permission of Geoffrey Wheeler, London.