Wars of the Roses

Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) in English history were the series of bloody dynastic civil wars
whose violence and civil strife preceded the strong government of the Tudors. Fought between the
two Houses of the age-old royal Plantagenet family, house of Lancaster and house of York for the
throne and of local government, the wars’ name was from the contending parties: the white rose of
York and the red of Lancaster.
Both houses claimed the throne through descent from the sons of Edward III. Since the
Lancastrians had occupied the throne from 1399, the Yorkists might never have pressed a claim only
for the near anarchy prevailing in the mid-15th century. After the death of Henry V in 1422 the
country was subject to the long and factious minority of Henry VI (August 1422–November 1437),
during which the English kingdom was managed by the king’s council, a predominantly aristocratic
body. Lawlessness was rife and taxation burdensome. Henry later proved to be feckless and
simpleminded, subject to spells of madness, and dominated by his ambitious queen, Margaret of
Anjou, whose party had allowed the English position in France to deteriorate. In 1453, when Henry
lapsed into insanity, a powerful baronial group installed. In 1460 Richard, third duke of York was
declared as protector of the realm. When Henry recovered in 1455, he re-established the authority of
Margaret’s party, forcing York to take up arms for self-protection. Although armed clashes had
occurred previously, the first battle of the wars, at St. Albans (May 22, 1455), resulted in a Yorkist
victory and four years of uneasy truce. Although several Lancastrians died, their heirs continued to
fight with Richard.
A new phase of the civil war began in 1459 after which York fled to Ireland, and the Lancastrians,
in a packed parliament at Coventry (November 1459), obtained a judicial condemnation of their
opponents and executed those on whom they could lay hands. The Lancastrians nobles gathered their
forces in the north of England and when York tried to occupy the north, he and his son Edmund were
killed at the battle of Wakefield in December 1460.
From then on the struggle was bitter. Both parties laid aside their scruples and struck down their
opponents without mercy. The coldblooded and calculated ferocity that now entered English political
life certainly owed something to the political ideas of the Italian Renaissance, but, arguably, it was
also in part a legacy of the lawless habits acquired by the nobility during the Hundred Years’ War.
In France the Yorkist forces were regrouped and returned to England in June 1460, decisively
defeating the Lancastrian forces at Northampton (July 10). York tried to claim the throne but settled
for the right to succeed upon the death of Henry. That effectively disinherited Henry’s son, Prince
Edward, and caused Queen Margaret to continue her opposition.

In the bloodiest battle of the war, the Yorkists won a complete victory. Henry, Margaret, and their
son fled to Scotland. The wholesale executions that followed the battle of Hexham (May1464)
practically destroyed what was left of the Lancastrian party, and the work seemed complete when, a
year later, Edward V and and Richard, the only two surviving sons of Edward IV were captured and
put in the Tower of London which weakened Richard’s claim to the throne.

The Tudors
As Richard’s right to the throne became tenuous as he was accused of the disappearance of “the
Princes in the Tower”, the Lancastrian Henry Tudor—with the help of France and many nobles—
staked his claim to the crown when he met Richard on the battlefield and beheaded him. Henry was
declared King Henry VII. After his official coronation, Henry married Elizabeth of York to reconcile
the long-feuding Lancaster and York houses. This union ended the Wars of the Roses and gave rise to
the Tudor Dynasty. After 30 years of political manipulation, horrific carnage and brief periods of
peace, the wars ended and a new royal dynasty emerged.

The Battles:

First Battle of St Albans (22 May 1455)

Battle of Blore Heath (23 September 1459)
Battle of Ludford Bridge (12 October 1459)
Battle of Sandwich (1460) (January 1460)
Battle of Northampton (1460) (10 July 1460)
Battle of Worksop (16 December 1460)
Battle of Wakefield (30 December 1460)
Battle of Mortimer's Cross (2 February 1461)
Second Battle of St Albans (17 February 1461)
Battle of Ferrybridge (28 March 1461)
Battle of Towton (29 March 1461)
Battle of Hedgeley Moor (25 April 1464)
Battle of Hexham (15 May 1464)
Battle of Edgecote Moor (26 July 1469)
Battle of Losecoat Field (12 March 1470)
Battle of Barnet (14 April 1471)
Battle of Tewkesbury (4 May 1471)
Battle of Bosworth Field (22 August 1485)
Battle of Stoke Field (16 June 1487)