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Meanwhile, the main Lancastrian army, predominantly northern, was marching southwards to meet a force raised by the Earl of Warwick in London and Kent. Though defeated, Warwick was able to join with Edward’s force, and to occupy London.
- A Dynastic Conflict
- A Fragmented Kingdom
- The Politics of Violence
- Nobles & Battles
- The Resurgence of The Crown
- The Creation of The Tudors
- Cultural Legacy
The Wars of the Roses was a series of dynastic conflicts between the monarchy and the nobility of England in the second half of the 15th century CE. The 'wars' were really a series of intermittent, often small-scale battles, executions, murders, and failed plots as the political class of England fractured into two groups which formed around two bra...
The instability caused by the Wars of the Roses allowed nobles to take advantage and promote their own position at the expense of others. This was because the 15th century CE witnessed the phenomenon of 'bastard feudalism' which involved the partial degradation of medieval feudalism. Rich landowners were able to possess private armies of retainers,...
The Wars of the Roses displayed an ever-increasing tendency to use violence to achieve political aims. The strategy of murdering a king and even their young heirs was begun by Henry Bolingbroke in 1399 CE when he became Henry IV of England (r. 1399-1413 CE). The first Lancaster king usurped the throne and murdered his predecessor Richard II of Engl...
Tudor historians perhaps exaggerated the destruction and disruption caused by the Wars of the Roses in order to show that Henry Tudor and his successors were responsible for steadying the floundering ship of state but there were certainly dire consequences for some. It is true that the wars were largely fought between nobles and their private armie...
At the end of the wars, Henry VII benefitted from this situation of a much-reduced nobility because the Crown became richer via confiscated lands or those acquired from deceased families. The king notably acquired the estates of the Yorkist families of Warwick, Clarence, and Gloucester. In addition, Henry ensured that only the Crown had any authori...
Henry VII, a descendant of the Lancastrian John of Gaunt, a son of Edward III, reunited the two rival houses by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV in 1486 CE, thus creating the new house of Tudor. There was even a new symbol for this new dynasty: the Tudor Rose which combined the roses of the Lancasters and Yorks. Henry still had a f...
The Wars of the Roses might not have seemed anything like a coherent series of conflicts to the people who lived through them but they have certainly caught the imagination of later writers and historians as a fascinating if brutal period of English history. Indeed, the very name for the conflict was first coined by a novelist, Sir Walter Scott (17...
- Mark Cartwright
Apr 14, 2021 · The Wars of the Roses were the civil wars fought between the Yorkist and Lancastrian dynasties in the 15th century. Explore the conflict in full – from its root causes and who's who, through to the realities of civil war in the Middle Ages and 12 unbelievable incidents that occurred during the wars.
Warwick’s power was insecure, however, for the Lancastrians found it difficult to trust one who had so lately been their scourge, while many of the earl’s Yorkist followers found the change more than they could bear.
On the Lancastrian side, Somerset and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, held the gate at Shropshire Lane that led into the center of town, while Lord Clifford of Craven blocked the southern entrance to town at Sopwell Lane.
Why were Warwick and the Lancastrian forces divided (i.e. why weren't Margaret's forces present at Barnet)? - Because she didn't trust Warwick with custody of her son, so she delayed leaving France to gather support and observe his actions.
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What happened to the Lancastrians?
What did the Lancastrians do in Warwick?
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Why was the Lancastrian army so dangerous?
The causes were the king’s marriage to a Lancastrian widow, Elizabeth Woodville, the subsequent rise of her prodigious family and the marriage of the king’s sister to the Duke of Burgundy whilst Warwick had favoured a French match.
