History of The War of the Roses

Wars of the Roses: Civil war between 1450 and 1485 between two branches of the Plantagenets claiming the crown, York (with a white rose as their emblem) and Lancaster (whose emblem was a red rose).

The usurpation of Henry IV in 1399 had taken place in disregard of the rights of the Mortimer family , passed by marriage to the House of York. The triumphs of Henry V had made him forget and had conferred great prestige on the Lancastrian dynasty. The too long minority of Henry VI , his incompetence and his illness, the English impotence in the face of the French reconquest gradually destroyed this prestige.

In 1450, the situation was so explosive that the Duke of York, Richard, tried to exploit it for his benefit. Hesitating between rebellion and negotiation, he took up arms on several occasions and achieved initial success by defeating and killing the Lancastrian leader Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset (1st Battle of ^saint Albans , 1455).

But, from 1459, the Lancastrians, under the leadership of Queen Margaret of Anjou , regained their influence and prepared their revenge; in September, the Yorkists fought back and, after several twists of fate, their decisive victory at Towton (March 1461) gave the crown to Richard’s son, Edward IV .

But the new king fell out with his former ally, Richard Neville , Earl of Warwick. He revolted, first seeking to use the Duke of Clarence against his brother, then rallying the Lancastrian party. But he only succeeded in leading it to new disasters (battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury , April-May 1471).

Energetic and skillful, Edward IV knew how to be accepted; but his brother and successor, Richard III , lost the Yorkist cause through his absolutism, and, when the last Lancastrian heir, Henry Tudor, Duke of Richmond (who would reign under the name of Henry VII ), arrived in August 1485, Richard is abandoned by his supporters. His defeat and death at Bosworth replaced the Plantagenet dynasty with the Tudor dynasty , which restored peace and power to England.

The roses of war Summary

War of Roses Data

• Date     1455 – 1487.
• Place    England, Wales and Calais (France).
• Belligerents      House of York vs. Lancaster House.
• Result   Victory for the Tudors, allies of the Lancasters.

The two roses, by whose name a long war that took place in England in the second half of the 15th century is known, were the emblems of the two rival families that were vying for the throne. They were the Dukes of Lancaster and the Dukes of York , cousins ​​to each other, belonging to different branches of the Plantagenet dynasty, the same one that had seen the birth of Richard the Lionheart three centuries ago.

The two emblematic roses were distinguished by color. The one that corresponded to the Dukes of York was white. That of the Dukes of Lancaster, red. Members of the latter family had occupied the throne during the first half of the 15th century. There were three kings (grandfather, son and grandson) with the same name: Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI .

What was the War of the Roses?

The War of the Roses was a civil war that between 1455 and 1487 pitted the House of Lancaster against the House of York . Both families claimed the throne of England because they were related to the Plantagenet dynasty, which ruled the country between 1154 and 1399.

The conflict involved the entire English feudal nobility , who supported each house based on their relationships and marital alliances.

The name War of the Two Roses alludes to the emblems of both families, the white rose of the Yorks and the red rose of the Lancasters, and became widespread in times of Romanticism, at the beginning of the 19th century .

In England, the Wars of the Roses marked the passage from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age , represented by the rise to the throne of the Tudor dynasty.

Development of the Wars of the Roses

To facilitate its understanding, the War of the Roses can be divided into the following stages:

• End of the first reign of Henry VI of Lancaster (1455-1461): from 1453 Richard, Duke of York, was regent for King Henry VI of Lancaster, who had mental problems that made him temporarily unable to govern. Richard plotted to keep the crown, but was expelled from court by Margaret of Anjou, the king’s wife. To regain his position of power, in 1455 Richard faced and defeated the royal troops at the Battle of St. Alban’s. He was thus again appointed as regent, but in 1456 the king sent him to Ireland. In 1459 Richard invaded England, but his forces were defeated and he was exiled to Calais, France. In 1460 the forces of the Duke of York crossed the English Channel and took the king prisoner. The Act of Agreement was then signed, which recognized the right of the Yorks to succeed Henry VI to the throne. However, this pact was rejected by Queen Margaret, who gathered an army and won at the Battle of Wakefield on December 30, 1460. Richard died in the battle, while his son Edmund was taken prisoner and beheaded.
• First reign of Edward IV of York (1461-1470): After the death of Richard of York, his eldest son Edward raised an army and entered London, where he was proclaimed king. With money and supplies from local merchants, he defeated the Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Towton, on March 29, 1461. Despite his victory and his official coronation, he had to fight for several years to take fortresses that were in the hands of of Lancastrian supporters. In 1465 he managed to capture the deposed Henry VI, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London. His position of power seemed assured, but in 1470 the Earl of Warwick, upset at having lost influence at court, allied himself with the exiled Margaret of Anjou and rebelled against the king. Margaret and Warwick’s troops defeated the royal forces, so Edward IV took refuge in Burgundy.
• Second reign of Henry VI of Lancaster (1470-71): after Edward IV’s departure into exile, Henry VI was freed and regained the throne, but had to rule under the influence of the Earl of Warwick. The restoration of the Lancastrians displeased George of York, brother of the deposed king. When George heard that Edward had returned to England, he went to meet him and together they defeated Warwick and the Lancastrians at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. A few days later, King Henry VI was assassinated and his wife Margaret imprisoned in the Tower of London.
• Second reign of Edward IV of York (1471-1483): Edward IV, restored to the throne in 1471, was able to rule in peace until his death in 1483, when he was succeeded by his son Edward V, who was 12 years old.
• Reign of Edward V of York (1483): the accession of Edward V to the throne marked the beginning of new political disorders due to the young age of the monarch and the ambitions of the Duke of Gloucester, younger brother of Edward IV. Gloucester, appointed regent to Edward V, took advantage of his position of power to imprison the young king and his younger brother, Prince Richard.
• Reign of Richard III of York (1483-85): Parliament agreed to crown the Duke of Gloucester, who took the name Richard III. Shortly afterwards, his nephews Edward and Richard mysteriously disappeared from the Tower of London. The Lancasters took advantage of accusations of tyranny against Richard to ally themselves with a powerful relative, Henry Tudor. He gathered an army with which he defeated Richard III at Bosworth, who was killed in battle.
• Beginning of the reign of Henry VII Tudor (1485-1487): After his coronation as king of England in 1485, Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV. He thus reunited in his person the two royal houses that had fought for so many years. Some historians consider this event as the end point of the civil war. Others maintain that the conflict ended in 1487, when an impostor posing as a Yorkist took up arms against the king, but was defeated. From then on, Henry VII was able to rule in peace and began the Tudor dynasty.

Causes and consequences of the War of the Roses

Causes battle of roses

The main causes of the War of the Roses were the following:

• The rivalry between the House of York and the House of Lancaster, which had begun in 1399 when Henry, Duke of Lancaster, overthrew King Richard II of the Plantagenet dynasty and assumed the crown under the name Henry IV. On his death, in 1413, he was succeeded by his son, Henry V, and then by his grandson Henry VI.
• The defeat of England in the 100 Years’ Warand the loss of almost all the English territories that were disputed, for which Henry VI and his advisors were blamed.
• Henry VI’s illnesstemporarily incapacitated him from governing and forced him to create a Regency Council headed by Richard of York as Lord Protector.
• The ambitions of Richard of Yorkwho claimed the crown of England for himself. In his favor, he alleged his kinship with the Plantagenet, the king’s inability to rule, and the fact that the Lancastrians had usurped the throne in 1399.

Consequences battle of roses

Wars of the roses Among the main consequences of the War of the Roses are:

• The extinction of the Plantagenet dynastyand that of the male branch of the House of York.
• The weakening of the English feudal nobility, which lost thousands of lords on the battlefields. When the war ended, the lands they owned became the domain of the Crown, which increased their power and wealth.
• The growth of the influence of London merchants, who financed first the Yorks and then Henry VII.
• The establishment of a centralized monarchyby the Tudor dynasty, inaugurated by Henry VII.
• The end of English influence in Western Europe, which had been notable between the mid- 14th centuryand the beginning of the 15th century .

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