The tumultuous reign of Henry VI and its climax in the carnage of Towton—the bloodiest battle fought on English soil. The battle of Towton in 1461 was unique in its ferocity and brutality, as the armies of two kings of England engaged with murderous weaponry and in appalling conditions to conclude the first War of the Roses. Variously described as the largest, longest, and bloodiest battle on English soil, Towton was fought with little chance of escape and none of surrender. Yet, as if too ghastly to contemplate, the battle itself and the turbulent reign of Henry VI were neglected for centuries. Combining medieval sources and modern scholarship, George Goodwin colorfully re-creates the atmosphere of fifteenth-century England. From the death of the great Henry V and his baby son’s inheritance first of England and then of France, Goodwin chronicles the vicious infighting at home in response to the vicissitudes of the Hundred Years War abroad. He vividly describes the pivotal year of 1450 and a decade of breakdown for both king and kingdom, as increasingly embittered factions struggle for a supremacy that could be secured only after the carnage of Towton. Fatal Colours includes a cast of strong and compelling characters: a warrior queen, a ruthless king-making earl, even a papal legate who excommunicates an entire army. And at its center is the first full explanation for the crippling incapacity of the enduringly childlike Henry VI—founder of Eton and King’s College, Cambridge. With a substantive and sparkling introduction by David Starkey, Fatal Colours brings to life a vibrant and violent age.

Violence is a steadily increasing feature of modern When a doctor is called to a scene of death wounds society caused by devices such as motor vehicles, indus may readily be visible on the corpse. His careful exam trial equipment and aircraft, which are fabricated by ination and interpretation of the injuries can provide man, or caused by man himself. There are few practi valuable assistance to the police in the early stages of tioners of medicine who will not encounter wounding any investigation that may follow. He may be able to in some form in the course of a lifetime of practice. say that the wound was self-inflicted, or he may think Most wounds will require his skills in treatment; others that the wound had been inflicted homicidally. The demand interpretation because the appearance of the events that follow such interpretations are clearly very wound itself and the pattern in which wounds may be different so far as the police are concerned. For this, arranged can provide much information about the ways and other reasons, a detailed knowledge of wounds and in which they have been caused. For example, the wounding is an essential part of medical training. grouping and position of wounds can suggest whether Scientific investigation of the whole subject of trauma the injuries were inflicted accidentally, suicidally or in has been advancing very slowly over the years.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1877.

Reprint of the original, first published in 1877.