Wars of the Roses

The Wars of the Roses, 1455 to 1487, is the name given to an intermitent civil war fought over the throne of England between adherents of the House of Lancaster and the House of York. Both houses were branches of the Plantagenet royal house, tracing their descent from King Edward III. The badges of the two houses: a red rose for Lancaster and a white rose for York, account for the name of the struggle (which was not given to this particular war until many years later).

In Shakespeare, the wars began with the plucking of two roses in the Temple Church gardens in London

The Wars were largely fought by armies of mounted knights and their feudal retainers. The House of Lancaster found most of its support in the north and west of the country, while support for the House of York came mainly from the south and east. The Wars of the Roses, with their heavy casualties among the nobility, were a major factor in the weakening of the feudal power of the nobles, leading to the growth of a strong, centralised monarchy under the Tudors.

The House of York, headed by Edward Plantagenet, Duke of York, challenged the legitimacy of King Henry VI, of the House of Lancaster. This challenge became a threat to the stability of the nation due to the fact of Henry VI's evident weakness. King Henry V's military triumphs in France had been largely reversed, and an unsatisfactory peace had been agreed which entailed the loss of most of the English possessions there. There were consequently many idle and disgruntled nobles in England, unrestrained by any strong control from central government. By the 1450s many considered Henry VI incapable of rule.

When, in 1453 King Henry suffered the first of several bouts of mental illness, a Council of Regency was set up, headed by the powerful Duke of York, in the role of Lord Protector. York soon began to press his claim to the throne with greater and greater boldness. Henry's recovery led to the start of the armed conflict in 1455. The first battle of the civil war was that of St Alban's on May 22, 1455. The Duke of York regained his position as Protector, and was promised the succession by Henry, in place of his own son, much to the disgust of Henry's queen, Margaret of Anjou. From this point on, Queen Margaret became a major proponent in the conflict.

After St Alban's attempts were made by both sides to reconcile the deep-seated grievances which had given rise to violence, and this enjoyed a temporary success. However, the problems which had caused conflict soon re-emerged, particularly the issue of whether the Duke of York, or Henry and Margaret's son, Edward would succeed to the throne. Queen Margaret refused to accept any solution that would disinherit her son. In the years up to 1459 both sides continued to raise armed support, with the Queen introducing conscription for the first time in England.

Queen Margaret, however, managed to escape, and immediately began raising a new army in Wales and the north of England, moving her headquarters to York. She gained a major success at the Battle of Wakefield on December 301460, when the army of the Duke of York and the Earl of Salisbury was destroyed. Margaret ordered the beheading of the Duke of York and the Earl of Salisbury and the placing of their heads on the gates of York. Margaret followed up with a victory at St Albans on 22 February1461, at which she defeated the Yorkist forces of the Earl of Warwick and recaptured her husband.

Warwick's success was short-lived. With assistance from Burgundy, Edward returned and defeated Warwick at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. The remaining Lancastrian forces were destroyed at the Battle of Tewkesbury and Edward of Lancaster, the Lancastrian heir to the throne was killed. Henry VI was murdered shortly afterwards (14 May 1471), to strengthen the Yorkist hold on the throne.

Richard was 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.

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.

The War of the Roses is the popular name for the annual Roses Tournament fought between the Athletic's Unions of Lancaster University and the University of York for the Carter-James Trophy. It takes its name from the war and the rivalry between the two cities.