A Rose for the Crown

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2006 by Anne Easter Smith All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

T
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Easter Smith, Anne.

A rose for the crown / Anne Easter Smith.

    p. cm.

“A Touchstone Book.”
ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-7687-0
eISBN-13: 9-781-43914-4-497
ISBN-10:        0-7432-7687-6

1. Richard III, King of England, 1452–1485—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—History—Richard III, 1483–1485—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3605.A84R67   2006
813’.6—dc22                   2005052300

For my daughters, Joanna and Kate,
my editor and my muse respectively

Acknowledgments

T
his book could not have been attempted without the love, encouragement and support of my husband, Scott Smith. Thank you for bringing home the lion’s share of the bacon while I indulged in my fifteenth century fantasy. It also could not have been finished without the help of many, including: my sister, Jill Phillips; my oldest friend and medieval and renaissance musician, Roxana Gundry; my elder daughter, Joanna Currier, who edited the first two versions; my godmother, Pauline Evans, who lives in the Ightham/Tonbridge area; Joann Buccigrosso; and my good friends and midwifery experts Claire Denenberg and Maryann Long.

Others who helped with research, hospitality and specialized knowledge are: Paul Harris of Toronto; Pat Gondris of Ipswich, Suffolk; Patty Judge at Ightham Mote; John Wallace at Stoke by Nayland; the late Geoffrey Richardson; Maria Torres of Brooklyn; Amber Baylis at the Tonbridge Library; Lorraine Pickering; Kathy Gore; Carol Bishop; Pamela Mills; Richard III Society Listserv; Richard III Society Library; Late Medieval Britain Listserv; the New York Public Library.

Thanks to Edith Heyck of Newburyport for the map and genealogy chart. And last but not least, I would like to thank my patient agent, Kirsten Manges, who babied me through three edits before allowing my editor, the discerning Trish Todd, the chance to look at and publish the book.

Contents

Genealogy of the Plantagenet Houses of York and Lancaster

Dramatis Personae

Map of England

Prologue

Part One:
Confort et Liesse

Part Two:
Tant le desirée

Part Three:
A vous me lie

Part Four:
Loyaulté me lie

Epilogue

Author’s Note

Glossary

Bibliography

Genealogy of the Plantagenet Houses of York and Lancaster

Dramatis Personae

*Historical Persons

IN KENT

John Bywood,
farmer

Martha Bywood,
John’s first wife

Kate Bywood

Joanna,
John’s second wife

Joan,
John’s niece