The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain (26 page)

Death’s grim harvest: the horror of the Black Death is illustrated in this French illuminated manuscript
c
. 1503.

The death of Wat Tyler. Illustration from
Froissart’s Chronicles
. King Richard is shown twice, witnessing Tyler’s death, and addressing the rebels.

Richard II giving the crown to Henry Bolingbroke. Illustration from
Froissart’s Chronicles
.

The Battle of Agincourt, 25th October 1415. Illustration from the 15th-century
St Alban’s Chronicle
.

Edward IV and his brother-in-law, Earl Rivers. The book Rivers is presenting to the king is probably the first English book to come from the printing press of William Caxton.

Margaret of Anjou (1430–82) protecting her son, Prince Edward. This commemorative statue can be found near the cathedral of her native town of Angers, where she is buried.

In 1480 William Caxton issued
The Chronicles of England
, an account of the history of England, from the earliest times to 1471. This later edition, retitled
Brut
, (
c
. 1491) was from the press of Wynkyn de Worde (d. 1534), who took over Caxton’s workshop.