num_pages: 382
description: The worst of the Wars of the Roses can seem remote, with the throne changing hands between Lancastrian Henry VI and Yorkist Edward IV several times, and courtiers coming and going in rapid and violent succession. This remarkable book asks whether Sir John Tiptoft deserved the title of "Butcher of England" which contemporaries gave him. The aristocratically born Tiptoft entered Oxford at the age of 13 and gained a reputation as a scholar in an atmosphere of reverence for the new Humanistic learning. He married a duchess at the age of 21, the first of his three wives, (who died the following year), and he was related by marriage to Sir John Fastolf, the prototype of Shakespeare's Falstaff. Tiptoft was appointed earl of Worcester at the age of 22 in 1449, following heavy losses among the aristocracy in the French wars. In 1451, following Jack Cade's Kentish rebellion, Tiptoft was appointed a commissioner of justice. Appointed treasurer in 1452, Tiptoft was expected to get a grip on the nation's finances to counteract the periods of madness exhibited by Henry VI. From 1458 he travelled extensively in Europe and on his return Edward IV was on the throne. Tiptoft became a Yorkist but on the restitution of Henry VI in 1470 he was captured and executed, accused of illegal beheading and unnecessary cruelty in the use of hanging, drawing and quartering and impalement.
language: English
title: Sir John Tiptoft: Butcher of England
publisher: Pen and Sword Military