House of Treason: The Rise and Fall of a Tudor Dynasty

This new biography works as both a sequel and 'prequel' to Robert Hutchinson's existing books, telling the dramatic story of the Dukes of Norfolk. The richest and most powerful noble family in Britain, after the king himself, they regarded themselves as the power behind the throne and regularly tried to act as 'kingmakers'. Thomas Howard, the second duke, fought for Richard III at Bosworth and was imprisoned in the Tower by Henry VII. A brilliant politician, he negotiated his way out and became a key minister in the new Tudor regime. Late in life he commanded the English army that annihilated the Scots at Flodden in 1513. However, his descendants were a louche lot of plotters and conspirators; Henry VIII and Elizabeth I both beheaded a Norfolk for treason (although another led the Royal Navy against the Spanish Armada).