The Black Arrow: A Tale of the Two Roses and calling card is a black arrow, cause Dick to suspect that his guardian Sir Daniel Brackley and his retainers are responsible for his father's murder. Dick's suspicions are enough to turn Sir Daniel against him, so he has no recourse but to escape from Sir Daniel and join the outlaws of the Black Arrow against him. This struggle sweeps him up into the greater conflict surrounding them all. The novel is set in the reign of "old King Henry VI" (1422–1461, 1470–1471) and during the Wars of the Roses (1455–1487). The story begins with the Tunstall Moat House alarm
Gervase Clifton (died 1471) Earl of Salisbury, slain in 1460 at the Battle of Wakefield. Maud Stanhope was the daughter of Sir Richard Stanhope (died 1436) of Rampton, Nottinghamshire by his second wife, Maud Cromwell (died 30 August 1497), daughter of Ralph Cromwell, 2nd Baron Cromwell (died c. 2 May 1417). Maud Stanhope was the niece and coheiress of Ralph de Cromwell, 3rd Baron Cromwell (d. 4 January 1456), and the heiress of her sister, Joan Stanhope (died 10 March 1490), who had married firstly Sir Humphrey Bourchier (died 1471), slain at the Battle of Barnet on 14 April 1471, and secondly Sir Robert