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Learn about the civil wars fought over the English throne from 1455 to 1487 between the rival branches of the House of Plantagenet. Discover the causes, battles, outcomes and legacy of the Wars of the Roses.
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- Overview
- Competing claims to the throne and the beginning of civil war
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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.
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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.
Learn about the dynastic civil wars in England between the houses of Lancaster and York for the throne, fought from 1455 to 1485. Explore the causes, events, outcomes, and legacy of the Wars of the Roses.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nov 9, 2009 · Learn about the civil wars between the House of York and the House of Lancaster for the English throne from 1455 to 1485. Explore the causes, battles, outcome and legacy of the Wars of the Roses.
- The Yorks and Lancasters were descended from the same family. The Houses of York and Lancaster both traced their lineage to the sons of Edward III of the House of Plantagenet, who ruled as England’s king from 1327 until 1377.
- Fallout from the Hundred Years’ War helped spark the unrest. The Wars of the Roses might never have happened if not for the tenuous state of English politics in the 1450s.
- Neither side used a rose as its sole symbol. The Wars of the Roses take their name from the color of the roses—red for Lancaster and white for York—that each house supposedly used as their emblem.
- Queen Margaret of Anjou was the Lancasters’ most skilled strategist. Although the Lancasters were nominally aligned behind King Henry VI, his ill health ensured that he was never a major player in the Wars of the Roses.
- Mark Cartwright
- The Name of the Rose. The romantic name for the dynastic conflicts which troubled 15th-century England, the 'Wars of the Roses', was first coined by the novelist Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) after the later badges of the two main families involved (neither of which were actually the favoured liveries at the time): a white rose for York and a red rose for Lancaster.
- Causes of the Wars of the Roses. The causes of the Wars of the Roses are many and, as the conflict went on, so new actors and motivations arrived to perpetuate it even further.
- The Dukes of York. The barons of England had been increasing their wealth and power as a consequence of the corresponding demise of the Crown. Historians have noted a phenomenon which they call 'bastard feudalism'.
- Richard III & Henry Tudor. Edward IV's younger brother was Richard, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1452), and he would be the next central character in this deadly game of musical thrones.
Feb 19, 2020 · Learn how the dynastic conflict between the Yorks and Lancasters in 15th century England shaped the political, social, and cultural history of the country. Explore the causes, battles, outcomes, and legacy of the Wars of the Roses.
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.