Power-Brokers and the Yorkist State, 1461–1485 by Alexander R. Brondarbit (review)

This book is focused on the identification and examination of the most influential figures during the reigns of the Yorkist kings, Edward IV (r. 1461–83), Edward V (r. 1483), and Richard III (r. 1483–85). As Alexander Brondarbit asserts, such individuals operated as 'power-brokers', and his study addresses such crucial questions as who attained such heights of power and influence, how they were able to do so, and how they exercised their power. The author's research builds on recent work on particular individuals and noble families of the period by scholars such as Michael Hicks, Carole Rawcliffe, and James Ross, but seeks to characterize such figures as a group. As such, this study sits comfortably within the historiography of political culture studies of the late medieval period in England, a field encompassing outstanding work from the likes of K. B. McFarlane and Christine Carpenter.

The introduction and first chapter set out the criteria by which the author judges an individual to be a 'power-broker', and explain the processes of clientelism and brokerage, which he considers to be vital to understanding how a particular individual operated as a power-broker. Brondarbit follows this with a chapter that explores the connections of the power-brokers with the royal familia, that is, the household and affinity of the kings and queens. In the third chapter, he examines how the power-brokers were perceived by domestic and foreign audiences, and, in the final two chapters, he focuses on two particular subsets of power-brokers, namely, women and clergymen.

There is much to admire in this book. There is a lot of intricate detail, many substantial examples are used to demonstrate his arguments, and it is obvious that a great deal of archival work has gone into this study. Furthermore, an examination of this sort entails significant social network analysis; the painstaking tracing of connections through the webs of relationships not only between the showcased individuals and their royal masters and mistresses but also among themselves and their own families and affinities. In addition, the third chapter best demonstrates the interdisciplinary approach of the author (p. 13), since the primary sources that form the core of the discussion here, namely, literary texts and such, must be analysed in a different way from archival material. Generally, the prose is wellwritten and there are very few editing or grammatical mistakes to be found.

However, this reader remains somewhat unconvinced that the criteria used to identify power-brokers is much more than a subjective judgement based on whether the individual(s) in question can be detected in the primary sources in such a way as to demonstrate their 'good lord/ladyship'. This is perhaps an entirely valid way of concluding that an individual is influential enough to be labelled a power-broker, but the author seems to be quite sure that he has identified them all (p. 8). He makes little acknowledgement that the possible incompleteness of the evidence might have resulted in the omission of some or other individuals, albeit he admits the incompleteness of sources such as the privy seal archives and the complete absence of royal chamber accounts.

There are also questions to be asked of the last two chapters on women and clerical power-brokers. Chapter 4 deals with female power-brokers, but this reader questions whether Brondarbit has used his own criteria to properly identify such individuals. For example, while he is on sure ground in recognizing Cecily Neville and Elizabeth Wydeville as power-brokers, the inclusion of Margaret of York, a sister of Edward IV, is less justifiable. He states that the Yorkist power-broker 'operated between the Crown and the majority of the king's subjects' (p. 5). On that criterion alone, Margaret of York does not warrant being included as a Yorkist power-broker, given her marriage to Charles, duke of Burgundy, albeit she wielded significant...