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The Wars of the Roses

(this information was summarised from several pages including these references. If you see a reference not correctly cited, please contact me so that I can put things right!

The Wars of the Roses were an intermittent series of dynastic struggles, lasted from 1455 to 1487 and were the last wars to be fought in England over the issue of who should be king.

Known during the period as the wars between Lancaster and York, it was not until much later that it was remarked upon that the symbol of the House of York was the white rose and that the coat of arms of the House of Lancaster included a red rose. Shakespeare made much of this in his historical plays about the period and it is from this that we take the modern name for the wars.

The Very Brief Summary

Following the usurpation of the throne in 1399 by a junior line of the Plantagenet family, the third of these Lancastrian kings proved to be both incompetent and mentally unstable.

After a few years of gradually escalating warfare, the throne was taken by the Yorkist line of the Plantagenets in 1461.

The Lancastrians, with the help of the Kingmaker, took it back in 1470and lost it again in 1471.

The popular Yorkist King Edward held the throne until his death in 1483.

The king's younger brother, Richard, put the king's sons in the Tower of London and took the crown himself.

In 1485, Henry Tudor, a collateral heir of the Lancastrians, invaded from France and won the Battle of Bosworth killing King Richard. Thus Henry became the first king of the Tudor dynasty.

The Facts in more detail...

The seed of these bitter struggles was planted in 1399 by the forced abdication and execution of Richard II (a grandson of Edward III) by Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster (Richard's cousin and also a grandson of Edward III).

Edward III RichardIIHenry IV

Henry had himself crowned as Henry IV, thus establishing on the throne the Lancastrian line of the House of Plantagenet. The reign of Henry IV was troubled by unrest and occasional rebellion but he did survive long enough to pass the crown to his son, Henry of Monmouth.

Henry V began his reign in 1413 at the age of 26. In spite of a dissolute youth, he established firm and sober government and, moreover, fired the patriotism of medieval England with conquests in France. At the time of his premature death from dysentery in 1422, England held most of western France and had forced the king of France to recognise Henry as his heir.

Henry VHenryVI

Henry V's son, Henry of Windsor, was just one year old when his father died and the infant was proclaimed King Henry VI under a regency committee formed of his uncles. As the boy grew, the regency proved itself incompetent in both governing England and in prosecuting the war in France. The French forces, inspired by Joan of Arc, gradually pushed the English back until, in 1449, they had retaken all of France except for one fortified port city.

Joan of Arc [for more information click here]

Henry VI came of age in 1437 and married a niece of the French king in 1445. Government did not improve, however, as Henry proved to be weak and ineffectual, pious and concerned with court morals, while political factions and court favourites manoeuvred for power, influence, and access to the Treasury. While government faltered, commerce and prosperity declined and French pirates raided the coast with impunity.

The two strongest factions were those headed by Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York (descended from Edward III and with a slightly better claim to the throne than the Lancastrian line) and by the king's wife, Margaret of Anjou ), who had proved to be political, aggressive, and militant (and with William de la Pole, duke of Suffolk & Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, controlled the weak Lancastrian king Henry VI.

[picture from here]

The Yorkists gained popular support as a result of discontent over the failure of English arms in the Hundred Years War and over the corruption of the court and, in 1450 when a peasant rebellion led by Jack Cade with considerable support from the working and merchant classes in London demanded stable and responsible government. Although the rebellion was put down after several months, it weakened the Queen's party, who had mostly been in control, and strengthened the party of the Duke of York, who there after became Henry VI's chief minister and the effective head of government. In that same year, Suffolk was murdered, and the duke of York forced the king to recognise his claim as heir to the throne.

In 1453, in this unstable political situation, Henry VI went mad, entering a state that moderns would call catatonic schizophrenia. Richard, Duke of York, declared himself Lord Protector and administered the kingdom while continuing to limit the power of the queen. In 1453 the birth of a son to Margaret of Anjou displaced York as heir. The duke was appointed protector. After 15 months, the king regained his sanity and, under the influence of his wife Margaret, dismissed Richard from all offices and replaced the queen and her party in a position of power. Angered by Richard's treatment of her during the king's madness, Queen Margaret (now sometimes called Captain Margaret) moved to reduce Richard's lands and wealth and gradually gathered an alliance of the landed lords against him. In 1454, York was excluded from the royal council, he resorted to arms.

Concerned that he was about to be eliminated physically as well as politically, the Duke of York raised a small force and moved south from his lands in the North of England to press his rights. He was met by a force of the Queen's supporters at St. Albans on May 22, 1455. Although only a small skirmish, this First Battle of St. Albans is considered the start of the Wars of the Roses. Somerset was killed, leaving Queen Margaret at the head of the defeated royal party, and York again served as protector for a short period (1455-56). What had been dirty political infighting was now open warfare, with the king a mere pawn lending legitimacy to whichever side had possession of him.

For the next four years, the kingdom was mostly ungoverned while the two factions gathered adherents and prepared for major warfare. Riots took place in the streets of London and trade--especially the valuable trade in wool with Holland--came to a virtual standstill because of French fleets ravaging the Channel shipping and plundering English towns on the coast. In late summer of 1459, Queen Margaret finally moved her army North and the Yorkists, finding sudden treachery in their ranks, were forced to flee overseas. The citizens of London, favouring the Yorkists, refused to contribute soldiers or money to the cause of defending against an invasion.

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick

In June of the following year, the Duke of York's strongest supporter, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, and the duke's second son, Edward, Earl of March, brought a small force ashore at Sandwich and were immediately welcomed and joined by most of Kent, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the city of London. Marching north, the Yorks. army routed the queen's army at Northampton (July 10, 1460) and captured King Henry. The duke of York hurried to London to assert his claims to the throne, which were, by laws of strict inheritance, perhaps better than those of the king himself. A compromise was effected by which Henry remained king and York and his heirs were declared successors. After the queen fled to Wales, the Yorkists set up a government and called a parliament.

In October, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, demanded of Parliament that they depose the Lancastrian line and make him King of England. Although the startled Parliament did refuse this, they eventually agreed to make Richard the heir of King Henry, thus disinheriting Henry's son, Prince Edward. In the meantime, Queen Margaret, with her son, had been raising an army in the West and the Duke of York brought his forces out to meet it. The three month period from late December 1460 through late March 1461was one of almost continual warfare, including the largest, bloodiest battle fought on English soil up to that time. Queen Margaret, whose son was thus disinherited, raised an army and defeated (1460) the Yorkists at Wakefield(December 30). York, his eldest son, Edmund, and several other important adherents were killed in this battle, and his claims devolved upon his son Edward, but Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, became the real leader of the Yorkist party.

The queen then moved eastward while burning and pillaging the countryside that had supported the Yorkists.

The Earl of Warwick, with hastily-gathered forces, fought and lost a holding action (the Second Battle of St. Albans, February 17) but managed to get away with some of his army intact. Margaret's army rescued King Henry, whom Warwick had forced to take a place in the battle line, but Edward meanwhile secured a Yorkist victory at Mortimer's Cross, marched into London unopposed, and assumed the throne as Edward IV, London was panic-stricken but Queen Margaret, instead of driving forward to take the city, hesitated. Warwick and Edward, Earl of March, the Duke of York's eldest surviving son and now his heir, entered the city instead.

Edward IVElizabethWoodville

On March 4, 1461, Edward of York at the age of 19 was proclaimed King Edward IV. He was enthusiastically supported by London and most lords in the South of England because of Queen Margaret's savagery and rumors that she intended to pillage all of England if she could. Raising an army quickly, the new King Edward marched north in pursuit of the Lancastrian army.

The two armies, with a combined number of about 35,000 soldiers, met near Towton on March 29 and proceeded to hack at each other savagely. Although somewhat outnumbered, the young King Edward fought brilliantly and fiercely, eventually breaking the Lancastrian line. Thousands died in the rout which followed; perhaps 10,000 men died on both sides during the battle and aftermath. The queen, her helpless husband and their son fled to Scotland.

The Lancastrians, after their defeat at Towton (March, 1461), continued(with Scottish aid) to raise resistance in the north until 1464. The deposed Henry was captured (1465) and put into the Tower of London. Although the Lancastrian cause now seemed hopeless, a quarrel broke out between Warwick and Edward IV after the latter's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in 1464.Warwick and the king's brother George, duke of Clarence, allied against Edward, fled to France (1470), and there became reconciled with Margaret of Anjou. Supported by Louis XI of France, they crossed to England and restored Henry VI to the throne.

During the following eight years, peace and some prosperity returned to the country as King Edward IV consolidated his strength, formed returned to the country as King Edward IV consolidated his strength, formed a stable government, conciliated many Lancastrian supporters, and repulsed the French naval forces in the Channel. King Henry, elderly and almost mindless, was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London. In 1464, Queen Margaret lost her last minor battles and retired from the fray to relatives in France. In the same year, King Edward married a beautiful English widow, Elizabeth Wydville, and began fathering heirs to his throne.

The Wars of the Roses were not over yet, however. Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, and his brothers had been among the strongest, most fervent, and most successful of the Yorkist adherents but, now that the fighting was past, found themselves being pushed out of government and influence by King Edward's preference for the ambitious relatives of his wife. Unsatisfied by this situation, Warwick made an alliance with the King's gullible younger brother, George, Duke of Clarence and, in the summer of 1469, rose against the king.

Warwick succeeded in capturing the king and called for a parliament with the purpose of deposing King Edward and placing on the throne the king's easily-led younger brother or, perhaps even, himself. While Warwick waited for Parliament to assemble, the remaining Lancastrian sympathisers decided to take advantage of the confusion with an uprising on the Scottish border. Warwick attempted to raise an army to lead against the Lancastrians but could get no support from the lords and populace until they were assured that the popular King Edward was safe and his own master. Warwick was forced to capitulate and King Edward was back in command.

Edward pardoned his brother George and the Duke of Warwick for their actions and then moved to clean up the Lancastrian rebellion. Crushing his opponents at the Battle of Lose-Coat Field (March 12, 1470), Edward then discovered evidence that the rebellion had actually been instigated by Warwick and George, Duke of Clarence, for the purpose of showing that Edward could not control the kingdom. Warwick tried to raise an army quickly once this became known but was forced to flee, with the king's brother, to France.

In France, Warwick decided that his best chance for ruling England was to reinstate the Lancastrian King Henry and rule through him. Supported by Queen Margaret and her French connections, supported by the die-hard Lancastrians in England, supported by his own powerful and extensive family, Warwick made a landing in the West Country in September 1470. Caught entirely by surprise and without a standing army, King Edward and his loyal youngest brother Richard were almost captured before fleeing to Ghent in the Low Countries. Warwick marched into London and, releasing a confused Henry VI from his secure residence in the Tower of releasing a confused Henry VI from his secure residence in the Tower of London, placed him back on the throne with, of course, himself as the chief minister of government.

Almost without a blow being struck, Warwick had succeeded in reversing the outcome of the previous wars and the Lancastrian line was again on the throne of England. For this feat, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick acquired the nickname 'The Kingmaker.'

King Edward, though in exile, was not without resources and supporters. With a sizeable loan from the Duke of Burgundy, Edward was able to put together a substantial force and make a landing in Yorkshire in mid-March of the following year, 1471. Although Warwick and his supporters managed to bring large forces against him, Edward out-generaled his opponents. By sudden movements and feints, Edward's small army managed to scatter and confuse Warwick's Lancastrians and open the way to London.

Edward returned to England in 1471, regained London, and recaptured Henry. In the ensuing battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury (1471), Warwick and Henry's son, Edward, were killed. Margaret was imprisoned. Soon there after Henry VI died, probably slain at the orders of Edward IV. After 12 relatively peaceful years, Edward IV was succeeded (1483) by his young son Edward V, but soon the boy's uncle Richard, duke of Gloucester, usurped the throne as Richard III. Opposition to Richard advanced the fortunes of Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, now the Lancastrian claimant. In 1485, Henry landed from France, defeated and killed Richard at Bosworth Field, and ascended the throne as Henry VII.

Edward's disloyal brother George, seeing the error of his ways now that he seemed to be losing, brought his troops over to Edward and asked for forgiveness. King Edward entered London on April 11 to the rejoicing of the citizens. After returning King Henry to the Tower, Edward hurried to Westminster to greet his wife and children who had lived in sanctuary for the past several months. His army now considerably strengthened, Edward moved back north to meet Warwick.

The two armies met and fought in a dense fog near Barnet on Easter Sunday, April 14, 1471. In the confusion of the fog, separate divisions of each army fought independently and, at one point, one Lancastrian force attacked another Lancastrian force. Taking advantage of this confusion and fighting valiantly to inspire the troops, King Edward and his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester (still only 21), pushed back their opponents and the battle became a rout. Warwick the Kingmaker was slain on the field.

On the same day and unaware of the Lancastrian defeat, Queen Margaret and her son Edward landed in England from France. Learning of the disaster, she quickly began to raise yet another army and met the forces of King Edward at Tewkesbury on May 4. Completely unequal to the Yorkist king, Queen Margaret and her forces were quickly defeated. Prince Edward, the Lancastrian heir, was slain either during the battle or immediately afterward. Several chief Lancastrian lords were captured and executed. Queen Margaret herself was captured.

Immediately following King Edward's return to London on May 21, King Henry himself was executed, thus bringing to an end the direct line of the House of Lancaster. Queen Margaret was ransomed by the French king and died in obscurity a few years later. The collateral heirs of Lancaster lived in poverty on the Continent. The Wars of the Roses again seemed to be over.

The following dozen years of peace saw a strengthening of government and courts, a reorganising of finances, and an end to the war with France. As King Edward was much-loved and had two fine sons, the House of York sat securely on the throne. There were only two sounds of dissension: One was some dissatisfaction with Edward's preferment of his Queen's relatives, who quickly rose in government office, lands, and wealth. The second was George, Duke of Clarence's dissatisfaction with King Edward's preferment of his youngest brother, Richard, who had followed Edward through all the upheavals of his reign.

Richard, Duke of Gloucester, had quickly become the most powerful lord in the kingdom. Competent, sensible, an able soldier and general, and utterly loyal to his brother the King, Richard was Chamberlain of England, Warden of the West Marches, the Middle Marches, and the North Marches (giving him absolute authority over the borders with Scotland and Wales), recipient of many of the estates of dead Lancastrians and steward of the estates of many others. George felt slighted that he himself was passed over for many of these honours, grumbled continuously, and meddled in the affairs of the King's government. His attitude came to a head in 1477 when he interfered with King Edward's plans for a family marriage alliance in Europe and, at the same time, accused Edward's wife, Queen Elizabeth Wydville of witchcraft. Exasperated beyond limit and sensitive to his wife's complaints, King Edward had his brother George arrested and, after a trial in Parliament, executed for treason on February 18, 1478.

Edward IV died suddenly, unexpectedly on April 9, 1483 after naming his brother Richard as Lord Protector of the kingdom and of Edward's two young sons. The eldest boy, age 12, was quickly proclaimed King Edward V. However, Richard discovered (or perhaps manufactured) evidence thathis brother's marriage to Elizabeth Wydville had not been legal and thattherefore the two boys were illegitimate and could not inherit the throne.

Richard III

Supported by a Parliament fearful of a contested succession and of new rumours of Lancastrian stirrings in the West Country and on the Continent, Richard had the two boys disinherited, placed in a secure royal residence within the Tower of London, and took the kingship himself. Richard Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, became Richard III, King of England on June 26, 1483.The two boys, Edward and Richard, never left the Tower again. [for some theories on the death of the princes click here]

[The Princes in the Tower: Paul Delaroche The Wallace Collection; London, UK. Postcard from the Wallace Collection gift shop. from here]

Richard III was forced to put down a rebellion in October of that year. It is not totally clear whether the rebellion was in reaction to his usurpation of the throne or because the Duke of Buckingham, heretofore a strong supporter of Richard, was dissatisfied with his rewards. In spite of this short-lived rebellion, Richard's hold on the throne seemed secure as he continued to enforce the strong, sober government of his brother.

By mid-1485, however, one of the few remaining collateral heirs of Lancaster living on the Continent, one Henry Tudor, claimant to the Earldom of Richmond, formed a secret alliance with Elizabeth Wydville, now the ex-Queen, and proclaimed himself `the very heir of Lancaster.' With support from the French king, the disaffected Wydville lords, and whatever Lancastrian sympathisers might still be found, Henry Tudor landed with a small force on August 7,1485 at Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, a stronghold of anti-Richard feelings. Quickly gathering an army, Henry Tudor advanced to meet Richard's forces.

The two armies met at Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485. Richard fought valiantly and might well have won the battle had not one of the lords suddenly and treacherously defected to the Lancastrian side. Refusing to retreat, Richard III was killed in the battle, becoming both the last Yorkist king and the last king of the line of Plantagenets that had ruled England for331 years.

Henry Tudor quickly moved to London and was acknowledged King Henry VII, thus establishing the Tudor dynasty of Kings and Queens. In January of the following year, Henry married Elizabeth Plantagenet, the sister of the two disinherited boy heirs of York, hoping to have finally brought the wars to an end.

One last spark remained to flare up, however. In 1487, a young man named Lambert Simnel but claiming to be the son of George, Duke of Clarence, managed to gather enough supporters in Ireland, which had favoured the Yorkists, to land in the West Country. Henry VII crushed the Yorkists at the Battle of Stoke on June 16, 1487. Most of these final adherents to at the Battle of Stoke on June 16, 1487. Most of these final adherents to the Yorkist cause were executed. Henry, with a dry sense of humour, made Lambert Simnel a servant in his household.

A decade later, a young man named Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Richard, the younger of Edward IV's two sons, but he never achieved enough support to be a serious threat. The Wars of The Roses had finally come to an end.

References

Richard III Society Homepage TheLongbow by Robert E. Kaiser, M.A. Wars of the Roses Britannia and TheMonarchs of England Directory of Royal Genealogical Data Nationality/Time Frame Index <>Special Collections Resources on the Web http://info.lib.uh.edu/specoweb.html- reported as bad link GAIL DEDRICK'S GUIDETO THE MONARCHS OF ENGLAND AND GREAT BRITAIN PASSWORD REQUIRED! (last reported as 'access denied') Bibliography: See E. F.Jacob, The Fifteenth Century (1961); P. M. Kendall, The Yorkist Age (1962,repr. 1965); S. B. Chrimes, Lancastrians, Yorkists, and Henry VII (1964);J. R. Lander, The Wars of the Roses (1965). Other sites concentrating on the History of the Wars of the Roses http://www.r3.org/bookcase/shaksper/rossnote.html http://connexus.net.au/~trollus/r3roses.htm Thissite covers location of important heritage sites - worth visiting! these aren't in any order - please feel free to suggest on! Footwear of the Middle Ages < >Resources for Medieval Studies http://www.3wis.nl/paul/medsource.html - no response from host WWW Medieval Resources ORB--Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Medieval Sourcebook WWWVIRTUAL LIBRARY for MEDIEVAL STUDIES MedievalStudies NetSERF UKArchaeology on the Internet Canterbury Archaeological Trust < >Medieval Studies: Main Index - reported as 'file not found' http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/academic/I-M/is/studwork/medieval/index.html MedievalStudies Resources LAW WWWVIRTUAL LIBRARY for MEDIEVAL STUDIES WWW Medieval Resources ORB--Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies Resources for Medieval Studies MedievalStudies Medieval Sourcebook < >What's New In ORB http://orb.rhodes.edu/ann.html - reported as bad link MedievalWomen NetSERF MedievalEurope <>History of archery http://www.stud.his.no/~morten-b/a_hist.html -reported as bad link < >The Arador Armour Library http://darkstar.swsc.k12.ar.us/~davidc/- reported as bad link Arms& Armour Glossary of Terms GroverFurr's Medieval History and Literature Page Manuscriptslist DScriptorium Home Page Bodleian Library WWW Server- Towards an Image Catalogue Hill Monastic Manuscript Library Resources UniversityArchery Club: Sagittarius Twente <>TheVan Kampen Collection http://www.scriptorium.org/VanKampen/Home.html- reported as bad link Sheffield Uni Medieval Re-enactment < >Book Of Links http://www.bluesky-prod.com/links.html - reported as down Medieval Reenactment Page PatternDrafting The PSC Medieval SocietyOfficial Medieval Links List Regia Anglorum - Anglo-Saxon, Viking,Norman and British Living History 950-1066AD - Home Page Rialto Archive Footwear ofthe Middle Ages Medieval Home Blackwork EmbroideryArchives Milieux: The CostumeSite Medieval Reenactment Page Costuming PatternDrafting Regia Anglorum - Anglo-Saxon, Viking,Norman and British Living History 950-1066AD - Home Page Rialto Archive <>Vikings and Stuff http://www.n-vision.com/spoon/vikes/index.html -reported as bad link Cariadoc'sMiscellany: The Perfect Armor < >Index of /users/fredag/ikoner http://www.ludd.luth.se/users/fredag/ikoner/- reported as bad link Nationality/Time Frame Index COLLECTION:Medieval and Anglo Saxon Recipes MedievalEuropean Recipes : COLLECTION Cariadoc'sMiscellany Medieval/Renaissance FoodHomepage < >Texas.net Museum of Art Archive Mirror in HTML http://www.cat.nyu.edu/fox/art/- reported as bad link Bodleian Library WWW Server- Towards an Image Catalogue These pages were created by Liz Laycock, March 1999. Last updated april 2004 These pages were created by Liz Laycock, March 1999. Last updated april 2004


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