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Wars of the Roses

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: British History 1500 and
before (including Roman Britain); Military History and War

   Lancaster
   Lancaster
   York
   York

   The Wars of the Roses ( 1455 - 1485) were a series of civil wars fought
   over the throne of England between adherents of the House of Lancaster
   and the House of York. Both houses were branches of the Plantagenet
   royal house, tracing their descent from King Edward III.

   The name "Wars of the Roses" was not used during the time of the wars,
   but has its origins in the badges associated with the two royal houses,
   the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York. The term itself
   came into common usage only in the nineteenth century, after the
   publication of Anne of Geierstein by Sir Walter Scott. Scott based the
   name on a fictional scene in Shakespeare's play Henry VI Part 1, where
   the opposing sides pick different-coloured roses at the Temple Church.

   Although the roses were occasionally used as symbols during the wars
   themselves, most of the participants wore badges associated with their
   immediate feudal lords or protectors. The unofficial system of Livery
   and Maintenance, by which powerful nobles would offer protection to
   followers who would sport their colours and badges (livery) was one of
   the effects of the breakdown of royal authority which preceded and
   partly caused the wars. For example, Henry's forces at Bosworth fought
   under the banner of a red dragon, whilst the Yorkist army used the
   symbol of a white boar.

   The Wars were fought largely by the landed aristocracy and armies of
   feudal retainers; supporters of each house largely depended upon
   dynastic marriages with the nobility, feudal titles, and tenures. The
   Lancastrian patriarch John of Gaunt's first title was Earl of Richmond,
   the same title which Henry VII later held, whilst the Yorkist patriarch
   Edmund of Langley's first title was Earl of Cambridge.
                                 Wars of the Roses
   1st St Albans – Blore Heath – Ludford Bridge – Northampton – Wakefield
   – Mortimer's Cross – 2nd St Albans – Ferrybridge – Towton –
   Hedgeley Moor – Hexham – Edgecote Moor – Lose-coat Field – Barnet –
   Tewkesbury – Bosworth Field – Stoke Field

The disputed succession

   Richard II
   Richard II
   Henry IV
   Henry IV
   Henry V
   Henry V

   The antagonism between the two houses started with the overthrow of
   King Richard II by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, in
   1399. As an issue of Edward III's third son John of Gaunt, Bolingbroke
   had a very poor claim to the throne. According to precedent, the crown
   should have passed to the male descendants of Lionel of Antwerp, Duke
   of Clarence (1338-1368), Edward III's second son, and in fact, Richard
   II had named Lionel's grandson, Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March as
   heir presumptive. However, Bolingbroke was crowned as Henry IV. He was
   tolerated as king since Richard II's government had been highly
   unpopular. Nevertheless, within a few years of taking the throne, Henry
   found himself facing several rebellions in Wales, Cheshire and
   Northumberland, which used the Mortimer claim to the throne both as
   pretext and rallying point. All these revolts were suppressed.

   Henry IV died in 1413. His son and successor, Henry V, was a great
   soldier, and his military success against France in the Hundred Years'
   War bolstered his enormous popularity, enabling him to strengthen the
   Lancastrian hold on the throne.

   Henry V's short reign saw one conspiracy against him, the Southampton
   Plot led by Richard, Earl of Cambridge, a son of Edmund of Langley, the
   fifth son of Edward III. Cambridge was executed in 1415 for treason at
   the start of the campaign leading up to the Battle of Agincourt.
   Cambridge's wife, Anne Mortimer, also had a claim to the throne, being
   the daughter of Roger Mortimer and thus a descendant of Lionel of
   Antwerp. Henry V died in 1422, and Richard, Duke of York, the son of
   Richard, Earl of Cambridge and Anne Mortimer, grew up to challenge his
   successor, the feeble King Henry VI, for the crown.

Henry VI

   Henry VI
   Henry VI

   The Lancastrian King Henry VI of England was surrounded by unpopular
   regents and advisors. The most notable of these were Edmund Beaufort,
   2nd Duke of Somerset and William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who
   were blamed for mismanaging the government and poorly executing the
   continuing Hundred Years' War with France. Under Henry VI, virtually
   all English holdings in France, including the land won by Henry V, were
   lost. Henry VI was seen as a weak, ineffectual king. In addition, he
   suffered from episodes of mental illness which he had possibly
   inherited from his grandfather Charles VI of France. By the 1450s, many
   considered Henry incapable. The Lancastrian kings had been plagued by
   questions of legitimacy, and the House of York believed that it had a
   stronger claim to the throne.

   The increasing discord at court was mirrored in the country as a whole,
   where noble families engaged in private feuds and showed increasing
   disrespect for the royal authority and for the courts. The
   Percy-Neville feud was the best-known of these private wars, but others
   were being conducted freely. In many cases they were fought between
   old-established families, and formerly minor nobility raised in power
   and influence by Henry IV in the aftermath of the rebellions against
   him. The quarrel between the Percies, for long the Dukes of
   Northumberland, and the comparatively upstart Nevilles was one which
   followed this pattern; another was the feud between the Courtenays and
   Bonvilles in Cornwall.

   A factor in these feuds was apparently the presence of large numbers of
   soldiers discharged from the English armies in France. Nobles engaged
   many of these to mount raids, or to pack courts of justice with their
   supporters, intimidating suitors, witnesses and judges.

   This growing civil discontent, the abundance of feuding nobles with
   private armies, and corruption in Henry VI's court formed a political
   climate ripe for civil war.

   In 1453, Henry suffered the first of several bouts of mental illness,
   so a Council of Regency was set up, headed by the powerful and popular
   Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York and head of the House of York as Lord
   Protector. Richard soon asserted his power with ever-greater boldness
   (although there is no proof that he had aspirations to the throne at
   this early stage). He imprisoned Somerset; and backed his allies,
   Salisbury and Warwick, in a series of minor conflicts with powerful
   supporters of Henry, such as the Dukes of Northumberland. Henry's
   recovery in 1455 thwarted Richard's ambitions, and the Duke of York was
   forced out of the royal court by Henry's queen, Margaret of Anjou.
   Since Henry was an ineffectual leader, the powerful and aggressive
   Queen Margaret emerged as the de facto leader of the Lancastrians.
   Margaret built up an alliance against Richard and conspired with other
   nobles to reduce his influence. An increasingly thwarted Richard
   finally resorted to armed hostilities in 1455 at the First Battle of St
   Albans.

The initial phase 1455–60

   15th-century clock tower of St Albans
   15th-century clock tower of St Albans

   Although armed clashes had occurred previously between supporters of
   Henry and Richard, the principal period of armed conflict in the Wars
   of the Roses took place between 1455 and 1489.

   Richard, Duke of York led a small force toward London and was met by
   Henry's forces at St Albans, north of London, on May 22, 1455. The
   relatively small First Battle of St Albans was the first open conflict
   of the civil war. Richard's aim was ostensibly to remove "poor
   advisors" from King Henry's side. The result was a Lancastrian defeat.
   Several prominent Lancastrian leaders, including Somerset, were lost.
   York and his allies regained their position of influence, and for a
   while both sides seemed shocked that an actual battle had been fought
   and did their best to reconcile their differences. When Henry suffered
   another bout of mental illness, York was again appointed Protector, and
   Margaret was shunted aside, charged with the king's care.

   After the first Battle of St Albans, the compromise of 1455 enjoyed
   some success, with York remaining the dominant voice on the Council
   even after Henry's recovery. The problems which had caused conflict
   soon re-emerged, particularly the issue of whether the Duke of York, or
   Henry and Margaret's infant son, Edward, would succeed to the throne.
   Margaret refused to accept any solution that would disinherit her son,
   and it became clear that she would only tolerate the situation for as
   long as the Duke of York and his allies retained the military
   ascendancy. Henry went on royal progress in the Midlands in 1456, and
   Margaret did not allow him to return to London — the king and queen
   were popular in the Midlands but becoming ever more unpopular in London
   where merchants were angry at the decline in trade and widespread
   disorder. The king's court set up at Coventry. By then, the new Duke of
   Somerset was emerging as a favourite of the royal court, filling his
   father's shoes. Margaret also persuaded Henry to dismiss the
   appointments York had made as Protector, while York himself was made to
   return to his post in Ireland. Disorder in the capital and piracy on
   the south coast were growing, but the king and queen remained intent on
   protecting their own positions, with the queen introducing conscription
   for the first time in England. Meanwhile, York's ally, Richard Neville,
   Earl of Warwick (later dubbed "The Kingmaker"), was growing in
   popularity in London as the champion of the merchant grounds.
   Ludlow Castle, South Shropshire
   Ludlow Castle, South Shropshire

   Following York's return from Ireland, hostilities resumed on September
   23, 1459, at the Battle of Blore Heath in Staffordshire, when a large
   Lancastrian army failed to prevent a Yorkist force under Lord Salisbury
   from marching from Middleham Castle in Yorkshire and linking up with
   York at Ludlow Castle. After a Lancastrian victory at the Battle of
   Ludford Bridge, Edward, Earl of March (York's eldest son, later Edward
   IV of England), Salisbury, and Warwick fled to Calais. The Lancastrians
   were now back in total control, and Somerset was sent off to be
   Governor of Calais. His attempts to evict Warwick were easily repulsed,
   and the Yorkists even began to launch raids on the English coast from
   Calais in 1459–60, adding to the sense of chaos and disorder.

   In 1460, Warwick and the others launched an invasion of England, and
   rapidly established themselves in Kent and London, where they enjoyed
   wide support. Backed by a papal emissary who had taken their side, they
   marched north. Henry led an army south to meet them while Margaret
   remained in the north with Prince Edward. The Battle of Northampton, on
   July 10, 1460, proved disastrous for the Lancastrians. The Yorkist army
   under the Earl of Warwick, aided by treachery in the Lancastrian ranks,
   was able to capture King Henry and take him prisoner to London.

The Act of Accord

   In the light of this military success, York now moved to press his
   claim to the throne based on the illegitimacy of the Lancastrian line.
   Landing in north Wales, he and his wife Cecily entered London with all
   the ceremony usually reserved for a monarch. Parliament was assembled,
   and when York entered he made straight for the throne, which he may
   have been expecting the Lords to encourage him to take for himself as
   they had Henry IV in 1399. Instead, there was stunned silence. He
   announced his claim to the throne, but the Lords, even Warwick and
   Salisbury, were shocked by his presumption; they had no desire at this
   stage to overthrow King Henry. Their ambition was still limited to the
   removal of his bad councillors.

   The next day, York produced detailed genealogies to support his claim
   based on his descent from Lionel of Antwerp and was met with more
   understanding. Parliament agreed to consider the matter and accepted
   that York's claim was better; but, by a majority of five, they voted
   that Henry should remain as king. A compromise was struck in October
   1460 with the Act of Accord, which recognised York as Henry's
   successor, disinheriting Henry's six year old son, Edward. York
   accepted this compromise as the best on offer; it gave him much of what
   he wanted, particularly since he was also made Protector of the Realm
   and was able to govern in Henry's name. Margaret was ordered out of
   London with Prince Edward. The Act of Accord proved unacceptable to the
   Lancastrians, who rallied to Margaret, forming a large army in the
   north.

Lancastrian counter-attack

   Ruins of Sandal Castle, nr Wakefield, West Yorkshire
   Ruins of Sandal Castle, nr Wakefield, West Yorkshire
   Margaret of Anjou (fantasy)
   Margaret of Anjou (fantasy)

   The Duke of York left London later that year with Lord Salisbury to
   consolidate his position in the north against Margaret's army, reported
   to be massing near the city of York. Richard took up a defensive
   position at Sandal Castle near Wakefield at Christmas 1460. Although
   Margaret's army outnumbered Richard's by more than two to one, on
   December 30 York ordered his forces to leave the castle and mount an
   attack. His army was dealt a devastating defeat at the Battle of
   Wakefield. Richard was slain in the battle, and Salisbury and Richard's
   17-year-old son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, were captured and beheaded.
   Margaret ordered the heads of all three placed on the gates of York.
   This event, or the later defeat of Richard III, later inspired the
   mnemonic "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain" for the seven colours of
   the rainbow.

   The Act of Accord and the events of Wakefield left the 18-year-old
   Edward, Earl of March, York's eldest son, as Duke of York and heir to
   the throne. Salisbury's death left Warwick, his heir, as the biggest
   landowner in England. Margaret travelled to Scotland to negotiate for
   Scottish assistance. Mary of Gueldres, Queen of Scotland agreed to give
   Margaret an army on condition that she cede the town of Berwick to
   Scotland and her daughter be betrothed to Prince Edward. Margaret
   agreed, although she had no funds to pay her army and could only
   promise booty from the riches of southern England, as long as no
   looting took place north of the river Trent. She took her army to Hull,
   recruiting more men as she went.
   Parhelion at sunset
   Parhelion at sunset

   Edward of York, meanwhile, met Pembroke's army, arriving from Wales,
   and defeated them soundly at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross in
   Herefordshire. He inspired his men with a "vision" of three suns at
   dawn (a phenomenon known as " parhelion"), telling them that it was a
   portent of victory and represented the three surviving York sons —
   himself, George and Richard. This led to Edward's later adoption of the
   sign of the sunne in splendour as his personal emblem.

   Margaret was now moving south, wreaking havoc as she progressed, her
   army supporting itself by looting as it passed through the prosperous
   south of England. In London, Warwick used this as propaganda to
   reinforce Yorkist support throughout the south — the town of Coventry
   switching allegiance to the Yorkists. Warwick failed to start raising
   an army soon enough and, without Edward's army to reinforce him, was
   caught off-guard by the Lancastrians' early arrival at St Albans. At
   the Second Battle of St Albans the queen won the Lancastrians' most
   decisive victory yet, and as the Yorkist forces fled they left behind
   King Henry, who was found unharmed under a tree. Henry knighted thirty
   Lancastrian soldiers immediately after the battle. As the Lancastrian
   army advanced southwards, a wave of dread swept London, where rumours
   were rife about savage Northerners intent on plundering the city. The
   people of London shut the city gates and refused to supply food to the
   queen's army, which was looting the surrounding counties of
   Hertfordshire and Middlesex.

Yorkist triumph

   Edward IV
   Edward IV

   Meanwhile, Edward was advancing towards London from the west where he
   had joined forces with Warwick. This coincided with the northward
   retreat by the queen to Dunstable, allowing Edward and Warwick to enter
   London with their army. They were welcomed with enthusiasm, money and
   supplies by the largely Yorkist-supporting city. Edward could no longer
   claim simply to be trying to wrest the king from bad councillors. With
   his father and brother having been killed at Wakefield, this had become
   a battle for the crown itself. Edward now needed authority, and this
   seemed forthcoming when the Bishop of London asked the people of London
   their opinion and they replied with shouts of "King Edward". This was
   quickly confirmed by Parliament and Edward was unofficially crowned in
   a hastily arranged ceremony at Westminster Abbey amidst much
   jubilation. Edward and Warwick thus captured London, although Edward
   vowed he would not have a formal coronation until Henry and Margaret
   were executed or exiled. He also announced that Henry had forfeited his
   right to the crown by allowing his queen to take up arms against his
   rightful heirs under the Act of Accord; though it was by now becoming
   widely argued that Edward's victory was simply a restoration of the
   rightful heir to the throne, which neither Henry nor his Lancastrian
   predecessors had been. It was this argument which Parliament had
   accepted the year before.

   Edward and Warwick marched north, gathering a large army as they went,
   and met an equally impressive Lancastrian army at Towton. The Battle of
   Towton, near York, was the biggest battle of the Wars of the Roses thus
   far. Both sides agreed beforehand that the issue was to be settled that
   day, with no quarter asked or given. An estimated 40-80,000 men took
   part with over 20,000 men being killed during (and after) the battle,
   an enormous number for the time and the greatest recorded single day's
   loss of life on English soil. Edward and his army won a decisive
   victory, the Lancastrians were routed, with most of their leaders
   slain. Henry and Margaret, who were waiting in York with their son
   Edward, fled north when they heard of the outcome. Many of the
   surviving Lancastrian nobles now switched allegiance to King Edward,
   and those who did not were driven back to the northern border areas and
   a few castles in Wales. Edward advanced to take York where he was
   confronted with the rotting heads of his father, his brother and
   Salisbury, which were soon replaced with those of defeated Lancastrian
   lords like the notorious John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford of
   Skipton-Craven, who was blamed for the execution of Edward's brother
   Edmund, Earl of Rutland, after the Battle of Wakefield.

   Henry and Margaret fled to Scotland where they stayed with the court of
   James III, implementing their earlier promise to cede Berwick to
   Scotland and leading an invasion of Carlisle later in the year. But
   lacking money, they were easily repulsed by Edward's men who were
   rooting out the remaining Lancastrian forces in the northern counties.

   Edward IV's official coronation took place in June 1461 in London where
   he received a rapturous welcome from his supporters as the new king of
   England. Edward was able to rule in relative peace for ten years.
   Harlech Castle, Gwynedd, Wales Harlech Castle, Gwynedd, Wales

   In the North, Edward could never really claim to have complete control
   until 1464, as apart from rebellions, several castles with their
   Lancastrian commanders held out for years. Dunstanburgh, Alnwick (the
   Percy family seat) and Bamburgh were some of the last to fall. Last to
   surrender was the mighty fortress of Harlech (Wales) in 1468 after a
   seven-year-long siege. The deposed King Henry was captured in 1465 and
   held prisoner at the Tower of London where, for the time being, he was
   reasonably well treated.

   There were two further Lancastrian revolts in 1464. The first clash was
   at the Battle of Hedgeley Moor on April 25 and the second at the Battle
   of Hexham on May 15. Both revolts were put down by Warwick's brother,
   John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu.

Resumption of hostilities 1469–71

   The period 1467–70 saw a marked and rapid deterioration in the
   relationship between King Edward and his former mentor, the powerful
   Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick — "the Kingmaker". This had several
   causes, but stemmed originally from Edward's decision to marry
   Elizabeth Woodville in secret in 1464. Edward later announced that, the
   news of his marriage as fait accompli, to the considerable
   embarrassment of Warwick, who had been negotiating a match between
   Edward and a French bride, convinced as he was of the need for an
   alliance with France. This embarrassment turned to bitterness when the
   Woodvilles came to be favoured over the Nevilles at court. Other
   factors compounded Warwick's disillusionment: Edward's preference for
   an alliance with Burgundy (over France), and Edward's reluctance to
   allow his brothers George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of
   Gloucester, to marry Warwick's daughters, Isabel Neville and Anne
   Neville, respectively. Furthermore, Edward's general popularity was
   also on the wane in this period with higher taxes and persistent
   disruptions of law and order.
   Middleham Castle
   Middleham Castle

   By 1469 Warwick had formed an alliance with Edward's jealous and
   treacherous brother George. They raised an army which defeated the King
   at the Battle of Edgecote Moor, and held Edward at Middleham Castle in
   Yorkshire. Warwick had the queen's father, Richard Woodville, 1st Earl
   Rivers, executed. He forced Edward to summon a parliament at York at
   which it was planned that Edward would be declared illegitimate and the
   crown would thus pass to George, Duke of Clarence as Edward's heir
   apparent. However, the country was in turmoil, and Edward was able to
   call on the loyalty of his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the
   majority of the nobles. Richard arrived at the head of a large force
   and liberated the king.
   Louis XI
   Louis XI

   Warwick and Clarence were declared traitors and forced to flee to
   France, where in 1470 Louis XI of France was coming under pressure from
   the exiled Margaret of Anjou to help her invade England and regain her
   captive husband's throne. It was King Louis who suggested the idea of
   an alliance between Warwick and Margaret, a notion which neither of the
   old enemies would at first entertain but eventually came round to,
   realising the potential benefits. However, both were undoubtedly hoping
   for different outcomes: Warwick for a puppet king in the form of Henry
   or his young son; Margaret to be able to reclaim her family's realm. In
   any case, a marriage was arranged between Warwick's daughter Anne
   Neville and Margaret's son, the former Prince of Wales, Edward of
   Westminster, and Warwick invaded England in the autumn of 1470.
   Battle of Tewkesbury
   Battle of Tewkesbury

   This time it was Edward IV who was forced to flee the country when John
   Neville changed loyalties to support his brother Warwick. Edward was
   unprepared for the arrival of Neville's large force from the north and
   had to order his army to scatter. Edward and Gloucester fled from
   Doncaster to the coast and thence to Holland and exile in Burgundy.
   Warwick had already invaded from France, and his plans to liberate and
   restore Henry VI to the throne came quickly to fruition. Henry VI was
   paraded through the streets of London as the restored king in October
   and Edward and Richard were proclaimed traitors. Warwick's success was
   short-lived, however. He overreached himself with his plan to invade
   Burgundy with the king of France, tempted by King Louis' promise of
   territory in the Netherlands as a reward. This led Charles the Bold of
   Burgundy to assist Edward. He provided funds and an army to launch an
   invasion of England in 1471. Edward defeated Warwick at the Battle of
   Barnet in 1471. The remaining Lancastrian forces were destroyed at the
   Battle of Tewkesbury, and Prince Edward of Westminster, the Lancastrian
   heir to the throne, was killed. Henry VI was murdered shortly
   afterwards ( May 14, 1471), to strengthen the Yorkist hold on the
   throne.

Richard III

   Richard III
   Richard III

   The restoration of Edward IV in 1471 is sometimes seen as marking the
   end of the Wars of the Roses. Peace was restored for the remainder of
   Edward's reign, but when he died suddenly in 1483, political and
   dynastic turmoil erupted again. Under Edward IV, factions had developed
   between the Queen's Woodville relatives ( Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl
   Rivers and Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset) and others who resented
   the Woodvilles' new-found status at court and saw them as power-hungry
   upstarts and parvenus. At the time of Edward's premature death, his
   heir, Edward V, was only 12 years old. The Woodvilles were in a
   position to influence the young king's future government, since Edward
   V had been brought up under the stewardship of Earl Rivers in Ludlow.
   This was too much for many of the anti-Woodville faction to stomach,
   and in the struggle for the protectorship of the young king and control
   of the council, Edward's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who had
   been named by Edward IV on his deathbed as Protector of England, came
   to be de facto leader of the anti-Woodville faction.
   Princes in the Tower
   Princes in the Tower

   With the help of William Hastings and Henry Stafford, Gloucester
   captured the young king from the Woodvilles at Stony Stratford in
   Buckinghamshire. Thereafter Edward V was kept under Gloucester's
   custody in the Tower of London, where he was later joined by his
   younger brother, the 9-year-old Richard, Duke of York. Having secured
   the boys, Richard then alleged that Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth
   Woodville had been illegal, and that the two boys were therefore
   illegitimate. Parliament agreed and enacted the Titulus Regius, which
   officially named Gloucester as King Richard III. The two imprisoned
   boys, known as the " Princes in the Tower", disappeared and were
   possibly murdered; by whom and under whose orders remains one of the
   most controversial subjects in English history.

   Since Richard was the finest general on the Yorkist side, many accepted
   him as a ruler better able to keep the Yorkists in power than a boy who
   would have had to rule through a committee of regents. Lancastrian
   hopes, on the other hand, now centred on Henry Tudor, whose father,
   Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, had been a half-brother of Henry
   VI. However, Henry's claim to the throne was through his mother,
   Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of Edward III, derived from John
   Beaufort, a grandson of Edward III's as the illegitimate son of John of
   Gaunt (at birth though later legitimated on the marriage of his
   parents).

Henry Tudor

   Henry VII
   Henry VII
   Elizabeth of York
   Elizabeth of York
   Tudor Rose
   Tudor Rose

   Henry Tudor's forces defeated Richard's at the Battle of Bosworth Field
   in 1485 and Henry Tudor became King Henry VII of England. Henry then
   strengthened his position by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of
   Edward IV and the best surviving Yorkist claimant. He thus reunited the
   two royal houses, merging the rival symbols of the red and white roses
   into the new emblem of the red and white Tudor Rose. Henry shored up
   his position by executing all other possible claimants whenever he
   could lay hands on them, a policy his son, Henry VIII, continued.

   Many historians consider the accession of Henry VII to mark the end of
   the Wars of the Roses. Others argue that the Wars of the Roses
   concluded only with the Battle of Stoke in 1487, which arose from the
   appearance of a pretender to the throne, a boy named Lambert Simnel who
   bore a close physical resemblance to the young Earl of Warwick, the
   best surviving male claimant of the House of York. The pretender's plan
   was doomed from the start, because the young earl was still alive and
   in King Henry's custody, so no one could seriously doubt Simnel was
   anything but an imposter. At Stoke, Henry defeated forces led by John
   de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln — who had been named by Richard III as his
   heir, but had been reconciled with Henry after Bosworth — thus
   effectively removing the remaining Yorkist opposition. Simnel was
   pardoned for his part in the rebellion and sent to work in the royal
   kitchens. Henry's throne was again challenged with the appearance of
   the pretender Perkin Warbeck who, in 1491 claimed to be Richard, Duke
   of York. Henry consolidated his power in 1499 with the capture and
   execution of Warbeck.

Aftermath

   Although historians still debate the true extent of the conflict's
   impact on medieval English life, there is little doubt that the Wars of
   the Roses resulted in massive political upheaval and huge changes to
   the established balance of power. The most obvious effect was the
   collapse of the Plantagenet dynasty and its replacement with the new
   Tudor rulers who were to change England dramatically over the following
   years. In the following Henrician and post-Henrician times the remnant
   Plantagenet factions with no direct line to the throne were disabused
   of their independent positions, as monarchs continually played them off
   against each other.

   With their heavy casualties among the nobility, the wars are thought to
   have ushered in a period of great social upheaval in feudal England,
   including a weakening of the feudal power of the nobles and a
   corresponding strengthening of the merchant classes, and the growth of
   a strong, centralized monarchy under the Tudors. It heralded the end of
   the medieval period in England and the movement towards the
   Renaissance.

   On the other hand, it has also been suggested that traumatic impact of
   the wars was exaggerated by Henry VII, to magnify his achievement in
   quelling them and bringing peace. Certainly, the effect of the wars on
   the merchant and labouring classes was far less than in the long
   drawn-out wars of siege and pillage in France and elsewhere in Europe,
   carried out by mercenaries who profited from the prolongation of the
   war. Although there were some lengthy sieges, such as at Harlech Castle
   and Bamburgh Castle, these were in remote and sparsely-inhabited
   regions. In the populated areas, both factions had much to lose by the
   ruin of the country, and sought quick resolution of the conflict by
   pitched battle.

   The war was disastrous for England's already declining influence in
   France, and by the end of the struggle few of the gains made over the
   course of the Hundred Years' War remained, apart from Calais which
   eventually fell during the reign of Queen Mary. Although later English
   rulers would continue to campaign on the continent, England's
   territories were never reclaimed. Indeed, various duchies and kingdoms
   in Europe played a pivotal role in the outcome of the war; in
   particular the kings of France and the dukes of Burgundy played the two
   factions off each other, pledging military and financial aid and
   offering asylum to defeated nobles to prevent a strong and unified
   England making war on them.

   The post-war period was also the death knell for the large standing
   baronial armies, which had helped fuel the conflict. Henry, wary of any
   further fighting, kept the barons on a very tight leash, removing their
   right to raise, arm, and supply armies of retainers so that they could
   not make war on each other or the king. England would not see another
   standing army until Cromwell's New Model Army. As a result the military
   power of individual barons declined, and the Tudor court became a place
   where baronial squabbles were decided with the influence of the
   monarch.

In fiction

   Shakespeare's plays on Henry VI, parts 1, 2, and 3, and his Richard III
   cover the period of the wars. Henry VI, part 1 includes a scene in the
   Temple church where the dispute between the two houses begins, giving
   the conflict its modern name:

             “

                   "And here I prophesy: this brawl today,
                 Grown to this faction in the Temple garden,
               Shall send, between the Red Rose and the White,
                A thousand souls to death and deadly night."
                        — Warwick, Henry VI, Part One
                                                              ”

     * Sir Walter Scott's Anne of Geierstein concerns exiled English
       Lancastrians in 15th century Burgundy and Switzerland
     * Robert Louis Stevenson's The Black Arrow is set during the war; the
       hero is a young Yorkist nobleman
     * Historical-romantic novel 'The Sunne in Splendour', by Sharon Kay
       Penman. This book of more than 900 pages gives a detailed account
       of the whole war in a historically and chronologically accurate
       way. The author has made additions and minor adjustments to enrich
       the story, however.
     * A rich and highly praised account of the Wars of the Roses appears
       in a recently published multiple-award-winning novel, 'The Rose of
       York: Love & War' by Sandra Worth. The book has been noted for its
       meticulous research by the Richard III Society
     * In "The Warrior Heir" by Cinda WIlliams Chima the main character,
       Jack, is brought into a battle between modern day Roses: guilds of
       wizards pitting the lives of Magical Warriors (of which Jack is
       one) in battle to claim a throne of leader ship over the other
       Roses
     * In the PS2 game " Yu-Gi-Oh! The Duelists of the Roses" the
       characters of the popular Yu-Gi-Oh! series embark on either sides
       of the red or white roses in a historically accurate quest
     * The dynastic feuding in The Deep, the first novel by John Crowley,
       is modeled on the Wars of the Roses.
     * George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, particularly its first
       book, is loosely based on the War of the Roses. Martin's Lannister
       family represents the Lancastrians while the Starks represent the
       Yorkists
     * In the Playstation game Final Fantasy Tactics the plot revolves
       around the Lion War, a war of succession modelled after the Wars of
       the Roses
     * In "Alice In Wonderland", the Queen's cards are painting white
       roses with red paint while singing "We're painting the roses red…"
       (This is an allusion to the Lancastrian victory over the Yorks)
     * In James Joyce's A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the
       character Stephen Dedalus competes with a fellow student, Jack
       Lawton, in working sums. Stephen wears a white rose and Lawton a
       red, and their prefect shouts, "Now then, who will win? Go ahead,
       York! Go ahead, Lancaster!"

Key figures

   The following is a simplified family tree including members of the
   English royal family.
   Image:WarRosesFamilyTree.png

Articles

     * Kings of England
          + Henry VI (Lancastrian)
          + Edward IV (Yorkist)
          + Edward V (Yorkist)
          + Richard III (Yorkist)
          + Henry VII (Tudor)

     * Prominent antagonists 1455–87
          + Yorkist
               o Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York
               o Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick ('The Kingmaker')
               o Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury
               o John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu
               o William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent
               o Bastard of Fauconberg
          + Lancastrian
               o Margaret of Anjou Queen to Henry VI
               o Sir Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland
               o Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland
               o Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick ('The Kingmaker')
               o Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset
               o Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset

     * Earl of Pembroke
          + Lord Clifford

Battles

     * First Battle of St Albans - May 22, 1455 (Yorkist victory)
     * Battle of Blore Heath - September 23, 1459 (Yorkist victory)
     * Battle of Ludford Bridge - October 12, 1459 (Lancastrian victory)
     * Battle of Northampton (1460) - July 10, 1460 (Yorkist victory)
     * Battle of Wakefield - December 30, 1460 (Lancastrian victory)
     * Battle of Mortimer's Cross - February 2, 1461 (Yorkist victory)
     * Second Battle of St Albans - February 22, 1461 (Lancastrian
       victory)
     * Battle of Ferrybridge - March 28, 1461 (Indecisive)
     * Battle of Towton - March 29, 1461 (Yorkist victory)
     * Battle of Hedgeley Moor - April 25, 1464 (Yorkist victory)
     * Battle of Hexham - May 15, 1464 (Yorkist victory)
     * Battle of Edgecote Moor - July 26, 1469 (Lancastrian victory)
     * Battle of Lose-coat Field - March 12, 1470 (Yorkist victory)
     * Battle of Barnet - April 14, 1471 (Yorkist victory)
     * Battle of Tewkesbury - May 4, 1471 (Yorkist victory)
     * Battle of Bosworth Field - August 22, 1485 (Lancastrian victory)
     * Battle of Stoke Field - June 16, 1487 (Lancastrian victory)

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