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The Wars of the Roses were rooted in English socio-economic troubles caused by the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) with France, as well as the quasi-military bastard feudalism resulting from the powerful duchies created by King Edward III.
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- Overview
- Competing claims to the throne and the beginning of civil war
The Wars of the Roses were fought between the houses of Lancaster and York for the English throne. The wars were named many years afterward from the supposed badges of the contending parties: the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. Both houses claimed the throne through descent from the sons of Edward III.
What caused the Wars of the Roses?
In the mid-15th century great magnates with private armies dominated the English countryside. Lawlessness was rife and taxation burdensome. Henry VI experienced spells of madness and was dominated by his queen, Margaret of Anjou. In 1453, when Henry lapsed into insanity, a powerful baronial clique installed Richard, duke of York, as protector of the realm. Henry recovered in 1455, reestablishing the authority of Margaret’s party. York took up arms, starting the Wars of the Roses.
How were the Wars of the Roses finally resolved?
Henry Tudor (later Henry VII) defeated and killed Richard III at Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485, bringing the Wars of the Roses to a close. By his marriage to Edward IV’s daughter Elizabeth of York in 1486, Henry united the Yorkist and Lancastrian claims. Henry defeated a Yorkist rising supporting the pretender Lambert Simnel on June 16, 1487, a date that some historians prefer over the traditional 1485 for the termination of the wars.
Wars of the Roses, (1455–85), in English history, the series of dynastic civil wars whose violence and civil strife preceded the strong government of the Tudors. Fought between the houses of Lancaster and York for the English throne, the wars were named many years afterward from the supposed badges of the contending parties: the white rose of York and the red rose 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 but 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. That arrangement, which probably did not accord with Henry V’s last wishes, was not maintained without difficulty. Like Richard II before him, Henry VI had powerful relatives eager to grasp after power and to place themselves at the head of factions in the state. The council soon became their battleground.
Great magnates with private armies dominated the countryside. 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.
Between 1450 and 1460 Richard, 3rd duke of York, had become the head of a great baronial league, of which the foremost members were his kinsmen, the Nevilles, the Mowbrays, and the Bourchiers. Among his principal lieutenants was his nephew Richard Neville, the earl of Warwick, a powerful man in his own right, who had hundreds of adherents among the gentry scattered over 20 counties. In 1453, when Henry lapsed into insanity, a powerful baronial clique, backed by Warwick, installed York, as protector of the realm. When Henry recovered in 1455, he reestablished the authority of Margaret’s party, forcing York to take up arms for self-protection. The first battle of the wars, at St. Albans (May 22, 1455), resulted in a Yorkist victory and four years of uneasy truce.
Britannica Quiz
A History of War
A new phase of the civil war began in 1459 when York, goaded by the queen’s undisguised preparations to attack him, rebelled for the last time. The Yorkists were successful at Blore Heath (September 23) but were scattered after a skirmish at Ludford Bridge (October 12). 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 Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nov 9, 2009 · The Wars of the Roses were a series of bloody civil wars for the throne of England between two competing royal families: the House of York and the House of Lancaster,...
The Wars of the Roses were a series of conflicts during the fifteenth century which involved most of the English nobility. There were many issues at stake, sometimes including who should be king. Writers during the Tudor period simplified the story of events into a battle for the throne between the Houses of York and Lancaster.
Feb 19, 2020 · The Wars of the Roses (1455-1487 CE) was a dynastic conflict where the nobility and monarchs of England intermittently battled for supremacy over a period of four decades.
- Mark Cartwright
Feb 24, 2020 · The Wars of the Roses (1455-1487) was a dynastic conflict between the English nobility and monarchy which led to four decades of intermittent battles, executions, and murder plots.
Feb 12, 2020 · The multiple initial causes of the Wars of the Roses, and the reasons why they continued, may be briefly summarised as: the increasing tendency to murder kings and their young heirs, a strategy begun by Henry Bolingbroke in 1399 CE. the incapacity to rule and then illness of Henry VI of England.
