The topic of this booklet does not really merit an Osprey Warrior title. This is not about "history's fighting men". The era of the knights ended in the War of the Roses. The German Emperor Maximilian who was called "the last knight" died in 1519. The Tudor era is not famous for its knights and even experts would be hard pressed to name a single famous one. The blurb says "the Tudor knight was the first line of defence employed by monarchs from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I", an honor more justly due to the wooden walls. Thanks to the voluptuous Henry VIII, England managed to stay out of most of the religious civil wars that plagued the 16th century.

Thus, the author mostly showcases the Tower of London collection of courtly display armor. These suits of armor, however, had no use in actual warfare: Like tuned sports cars hardly show up in regular traffic, the primary purpose of these (highly impractical) suits was to impress the ladies and peers. The author seems at times to be aware of this, e.g. when he notes that one set of horse armor is designed for a regular horse instead of a warhorse - without mentioning that in an actual battle situation, the regular horse would collapse under the armor's weight in no time. Unfortunately, many museums and collections fool their audiences and present these display pieces as examples of warfare. (The same is the case with most samurai armor.)

The text is fine as long as art objects are referred to. As soon as he touches military history, mistakes slip in. One example. He wonders why one gentleman chose to hold a pistol in a painting, when he never would have held a crossbow. The answer is easy, if one knows anything about that period's warfare. The pistol was the main weapon of the Reiter, armored cavalry, used in the Caracole. Furthermore, the crossbow was a specialist's weapon, requiring intensive training. Because Osprey eschews the safety net of citations, crashes tend to be especially painful. Overall, a weaker title in the Osprey series. Readers interested in the subject are better off looking for an exhibition catalogue of say the Tower of London with more sumptuous illustrations. ( )

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