The Wars of the Roses were a series of battles over the throne
of England between adherents of the House of Lancaster and House of York,
two different branches of the family descended from King Edward III. The
badges of the two houses were a red rose for Lancaster and a white rose
for York, hence the name (which was not given to this particular war until
many years later).
Opinions may vary as to when the Wars of the Roses began and ended,
but the armed conflict was concentrated in the period 1455-1485. The antagonism
between the two houses, however, originated with the overthrow of King
Richard II of England by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster,
in 1399. Henry IV of England had a poor claim on the throne and was tolerated
as king only because Richard had been unpopular. Henry's heir, Henry V
of England, was a great soldier and gained a firm hold on the reins of
power but was not without enemies. One of these was Richard, Earl of Cambridge,
a son of Edmund of Langley and thus grandson of King Edward III of England.
Cambridge was executed 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
descended from Lionel of Antwerp, an older son of Edward III. Their son,
Richard, Duke of York, grew up to challenge the feeble King Henry VI of
England for the crown. At first appointed Protector, he grew more ambitious
and was at loggerheads with Henry's queen, Margaret of Anjou, especially
after the birth of her son, Edward of Westminster. The first battle of
the civil war was that of St Alban's in 1455. York regained his position
as protector, and was promised the succession by Henry, much to Margaret's
disgust.
When York was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, his claim was
taken forward by his eldest son, an outstanding warrior who prevailed over
the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton in 1461 to become King Edward
IV of England. Edward's mentor Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick - "the
Kingmaker" - later changed sides after being slighted by the young king,
and transferred his allegiance to Henry VI's queen, Margaret of Anjou,
triumphing over Edward and restoring Henry briefly to the throne in 1470.
Warwick's success was short-lived. With assistance from Burgundy, Edward
returned and Warwick was defeated and killed at the Battle of Barnet in
1471. The remaining Lancastrian forces were destroyed at the Battle of
Tewkesbury and the Lancastrian heir to the throne was killed. Henry VI
was murdered shortly afterwards, to strengthen the Yorkist hold on the
throne.
Peace was restored for the remainder of Edward's reign, but he died
suddenly, in 1483, when his heir was a mere 12-year-old boy, Edward V.
It then came out that Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville had been
illegal, so Parliament gave the throne to Edward IV's brother Richard III,
the finest general on the Yorkist side at the time and so better able to
keep the Yorkists in power than a boy who would have to rule through a
committee of regents. Lancastrian hopes now centered on Henry Tudor, whose
father, Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, had been an illegitimate half-brother
of Henry VI. It was through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, a descendant
of Edward III, that Henry's claim to the throne rested, however, and it
was derived from a grandson of Edward III's who was illegitimate. Henry'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, who was the best surviving Yorkist
claimant (thus uniting the two houses), and then executing the rest of
the possible claimants whenever he could lay hands on them, a policy his
son Henry VIII continued.
Some would 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 had been selected for his
close physical resemblance to the young Earl of Warwick, York's best surviving
male claimant. (The 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 an imposter.) It was at this Battle of Stoke that 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.
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