British historian Robert Hutchinson’s House of Treason concentrates on the noble Howard family of England during the reign of the Tudors.

This high-ranking family’s royal bloodlines got some members into trouble. The early dukes at times became too proud of their lineage and were viewed as competitors to the Tudor kings and queens, who were jealous of their prerogatives: the Howards might have had a better claim to the throne than did the Tudors since they had Plantagenet connections. Some of the Dukes of Norfolk ran afoul of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, coming to early ends by being executed for treason.

Hutchinson comprehensively describes the intrigues and excitement within and surrounding the family. Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel, died in the Tower of London after becoming a Catholic; he was canonized a saint in 1970 by Pope Paul VI. The Howard family’s continued Catholic leanings, which led to further trouble with the government. This is where the book ends: with the advent of the reign of the Stuarts and the Howard family surviving the Tudors.