Sir William Stanley is depicted as a dissembling, pompous man who takes over the occupancy of Skipton Castle after the Lancastrian defeat at the Battle of Towton. He does not measure up to the Cliffords in the eyes of his new Yorkshire retainers and is soon duped by one of them, becoming the laughing stock of the area. Keen to curry favour with Edward IV, he sends two of his best men scouring across the land, to hunt young Henry Clifford down, but they meet a grisly end. He re-appears towards the end of the novel as the duplicitous Lord that betrays his sovereign liege Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, defecting to Henry VII’s banner at the crucial moment. We cannot wait to see what befalls him when Henry Clifford is restored to his lands.