Wars of the Roses

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For other uses, see Wars of the Roses (disambiguation).

Wars of the Roses

Miniature of the Battle of Tewkesbury, late 15th century
Date22 May 1455 – 16 June 1487
(32 years, 3 weeks and 4 days)
Location
England, Wales, Ireland, Calais
Result
Full results
Belligerents

Supported by:

Supported by:

Commanders and leaders
Casualties and losses
105,000 dead[4]

The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, was a series of

a new royal dynasty
which inherited the Yorkist claim as well, thereby resolving the conflict.

The Wars of the Roses had their roots in the wake of the Hundred Years' War. After fighting a series of armed conflicts with France, the English monarchy's prestige was weakened by emergent socio-economic troubles.[f] This weakened prestige unfolded structural problems with bastard feudalism, a system developed by the powerful duchies created by Edward III.[6] Combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of King Henry VI, these structural problems revived interest in the Yorkist claim to the throne by Richard of York. Historians disagree over which of these factors was the main catalyst for the wars.[7] It was also used as a proxy war between France (on the Lancastrian side) and the Burgundian State (on the Yorkist side).

The wars began in 1455 when Richard of York captured Henry at the

Edward inherited his claim. The Yorkists lost custody of Henry after the Second Battle of St Albans but destroyed the Lancastrian army at the Battle of Towton. Edward was formally crowned three months later in June 1461.[9][10] Resistance to Edward's rule continued but was crushed at the Battle of Hexham
in 1464, and a period of relative peace ensued.

In 1464, Edward married Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of a Lancastrian knight, and showed favour to her family. He also reversed Warwick's policy of seeking closer ties with France. Warwick, offended and sidelined, turned against Edward. In 1469, his supporters defeated a Yorkist army at the Battle of Edgcote. He captured and imprisoned Edward shortly afterwards. However, his attempt to replace Edward with his younger brother George of Clarence met with no support and Edward was allowed to resume his rule, seemingly reconciled with Warwick. Within a year, Edward accused Warwick and Clarence of fresh treachery and forced them to flee. In France, Warwick joined forces with Margaret of Anjou and led an invasion of England. When Warwick's younger brother John Neville deserted Edward, Edward in turn was forced to flee to Flanders. Warwick restored Henry VI as king.

Henry's renewed reign was short-lived however. With aid from Burgundy, Edward mounted a counter-invasion. Henry was returned to prison, and Edward defeated and killed Warwick at the

Edward of Westminster, was killed. Henry himself died or was assassinated on Edward's order shortly afterwards.[11]
Edward ruled unopposed, and England enjoyed a period of relative peace until his death twelve years later in 1483.

Edward's twelve-year-old son reigned for 78 days as

uniting the rival claims
.

John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln then put forward Lambert Simnel as an impostor Edward Plantagenet, a potential claimant to the throne. Lincoln's army was defeated and Lincoln himself killed at Stoke Field in 1487, ending the wars. Henry never faced any further serious internal military threats to his reign. In 1490, Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury, Edward IV's second son and rival claimant to the throne, but was executed before any rebellion could be launched.[13]

The

Roman occupation of Britain.[14]

Nomenclature and symbolism

Tudor Rose of the House of Tudor

The name "Wars of the Roses" refers to the heraldic badges associated with the two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet fighting for control of the English throne; the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster. Embryonic forms of this term were used in 1727 by Bevil Higgons, who described the quarrel between the two roses[15] and by David Hume in The History of England (1754–1761):

The people, divided in their affections, took different symbols of party: the partisans of the house of Lancaster chose the red rose as their mark of distinction; those of York were denominated from the white; and these civil wars were thus known over Europe by the name of the quarrel between the two roses.[16]

The modern term Wars of the Roses came into common use in the early 19th century following the publication of the 1829 novel

Sir Walter Scott.[17] Scott based the name on a scene in William Shakespeare's play Henry VI, Part 1 (Act 2, Scene 4), set in the gardens of the Temple Church, where a number of noblemen and a lawyer pick red or white roses to symbolically display their loyalty to the Lancastrian or Yorkist faction respectively. During Shakespeare's time, the conflict was simply referred to as the "civil wars".[g]

The Yorkist faction used the symbol of the white rose from early in the conflict, but the red rose of Lancaster was introduced only after the victory of

Vere star, which caused fatal confusion in the fighting.[20]

Many participants wore

personal device of a white boar.[23]

While the names of the rival houses derive from the cities of York and Lancaster, the corresponding duchy and dukedom had little to do with these cities. The lands and offices attached to the Duchy of Lancaster were primarily located in Gloucestershire, North Wales, Cheshire, and, ironically, in Yorkshire, while the estates of the Duke of York were spread throughout England and Wales, with many in the Welsh Marches.[24]

Causes

Historical origins and overview

The

English throne since 1154 (with the accession of Henry II at the end of the Anarchy). The War of the Roses led to the end of Plantagenet control in 1485, with the Tudor accession of Henry VII
.

Under the Plantagenets, England was transformed. The Plantagenet kings had often been forced to negotiate compromises such as Magna Carta, which had served to constrain their royal power in return for financial and military support. The king was no longer considered an absolute monarch in the nation—holding the prerogatives of judgement, feudal tribute, and warfare—but now also had defined duties to the kingdom, underpinned by a sophisticated justice system. A distinct national identity was shaped by their conflict with the French, Scots, Welsh and Irish, as well as by the establishment of the English language as the primary language.

In the 15th century, the Plantagenets were defeated in the Hundred Years' War and beset with social, political and economic problems. Popular revolts were common-place, triggered by the denial of numerous freedoms. English nobles raised private armies, engaged in private feuds and openly defied Henry VI.

The rivalry between the House of Plantagenet's two cadet branches of York and Lancaster brought about the Wars of the Roses, a decades-long fight for the English succession, culminating in the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, when the reign of the Plantagenets and the English Middle Ages both met their end with the death of King Richard III. Henry VII of Lancastrian descent became king of England; five months later, he married Elizabeth of York, thus ending the Wars of the Roses and giving rise to the Tudor dynasty. The Tudors worked to centralise English royal power, which allowed them to avoid some of the problems that had plagued the last Plantagenet rulers. The resulting stability allowed for the English Renaissance and the advent of early modern Britain.

Bastard feudalism

Edward the Black Prince
.

Thomas of Woodstock. Throughout his reign, he created duchies for his sons; Cornwall in 1337 for Edward,[25] and Clarence and Lancaster in 1362 for Lionel[26] and John[27] respectively. Edmund and Thomas became the dukes of York[28] and Gloucester[26] respectively in 1385, during the reign of Richard II. Dukedoms had hitherto never been conferred by any English monarch upon a subject until the creation of the Duchy of Cornwall in 1337,[29] and their genesis spawned a powerful new class of English nobility with claims to the throne and, theoretically, enough power to vie for it, since the new duchies provided Edward's sons and their heirs presumptive with an income independent of the sovereign or the state,[30] thereby allowing them to establish and maintain their own private military retinues.[31]

Over time, these duchies began to exacerbate the structural defects inherent in so-called "

tenurial or feudal relationships that preceded bastard feudalism.[34] Consequently, lords could now raise retinues they could implicitly trust, since the men of the affinity owed their positions to their patron.[35] These affinities were often much larger than the number of men the lord actually knew, since the members of the affinity also knew and supported each other.[36]

Under the reign of

Henry Bolingbroke, did against Richard.[31][33] During the wars, disaffected magnates such as Richard of York and Warwick the Kingmaker were able to rely upon their complex network of servants and retainers to successfully defy the authority of Henry VI.[38]

Claims of the two Houses

Lancastrian claim

The

Philippa.[39] An important branch of the House of Lancaster was the House of Beaufort, whose members were descended from Gaunt by his mistress, Katherine Swynford. Originally illegitimate, they were legitimised by an Act of Parliament when Gaunt and Katherine later married. However, Henry IV excluded them from the line of succession to the throne.[42]

Yorkist claim

The

Marcher Lords, who were also great English nobles, closely related to the English throne."[44]

Initial phase of conflict (1377–1399)

Succession crisis

John of Gaunt, founder of the House of Lancaster
Edmund of Langley, founder of the House of York

The question of succession following the death of

Thomas of Woodstock
.

The Black Prince had a son, Richard, who had a claim to the throne based upon the principle that the son of an elder brother (Edward, in this case) had priority in the line of succession over his uncles. However, as Richard was a minor, had no siblings (on his father's side), and had three living uncles at the time of Edward III's death, there was considerable uncertainty within the realm over who should inherit the throne.[46] Ultimately, Edward was succeeded by his grandson who was crowned Richard II at just 10 years old.[47]

Under the laws of primogeniture, if Richard died without a legitimate heir, his successors would be the descendants of Lionel of Antwerp the Duke of Clarence, Edward III's second eldest son. Clarence's only child, his daughter Philippa, married into the Mortimer family and had a son, Roger Mortimer, who technically would have the best legal claim of succession. However, a legal decree issued by Edward III in 1376 introduced complexity into the question of succession, since the letters patent he issued limited the right of succession to his male line, which placed his third son, John of Gaunt, ahead of Clarence's descendants, since the latter were descended through the female line.[39]

Richard II's Reign

King Edward III
; upon the latter's death, the 10-year-old Richard succeeded to the throne.

During Richard's first years as king, government was in the hands of a series of

Thomas of Woodstock. England then faced various problems, most notably the Hundred Years' War. A major challenge of the reign was the Peasants' Revolt in 1381, and the young king played a central part in the successful suppression of this crisis. Less warlike than either his father or grandfather, he sought to bring an end to the Hundred Years' War. A firm believer in the royal prerogative, Richard restrained the power of the aristocracy and relied on a private retinue
for military protection instead. In contrast to his grandfather, Richard cultivated a refined atmosphere centred on art and culture at court, in which the king was an elevated figure.

Richard's reign as

Peasant's Revolt in 1381,[50] and Parliament's refusal to cooperate with the king's unpopular Lord Chancellor, Michael de la Pole, created a political crisis that seriously threatened to dethrone Richard.[51] Richard had repeatedly switched his choice of heir throughout his reign to keep his political enemies at bay.[52]

The king's dependence on a small number of courtiers caused discontent among the influential, and in 1387 control of government was taken over by a group of aristocrats known as the Lords Appellant. By 1389 Richard had regained control, and for the next eight years governed in relative harmony with his former opponents.

In France, much of the territory conquered by Edward III had been lost,[citation needed] leading Richard to negotiate a peace treaty known as Truce of Leulinghem with Charles VI in July 1389. The peace proposal, which would effectively have made England a client kingdom of France, was derided and rejected by Parliament, which was predominately controlled by the knights fighting the war.[citation needed] Richard decided to negotiate a de facto peace directly with Charles without seeking Parliament's approval and agreed to marry his six-year-old daughter, Isabella of Valois. Richard used the interim peace to punish his political rivals. In 1397, he took his revenge on the Appellants, many of whom were executed or exiled. The next two years have been described by historians as Richard's "tyranny".

Richard II Deposed by Henry IV

When John of Gaunt died in 1399, Richard confiscated the

Henry Bolingbroke whom he had exiled to France in 1398.[citation needed] In May 1399, Richard left England for a military expedition in Ireland,[53] giving Bolingbroke the opportunity to return to England.[54] Henry invaded England in June 1399 with a small force that quickly grew in numbers, meeting little resistance. With the support of much of the disaffected nobility, Bolingbroke deposed Richard and was crowned as Henry IV, the first Lancastrian monarch.[55]
Richard is thought to have been starved to death in captivity, although questions remain regarding his final fate.

Richard's posthumous reputation has been shaped to a large extent by William Shakespeare, whose play Richard II portrayed Richard's misrule and his deposition as responsible for the Wars of the Roses. Modern historians do not accept this interpretation, while not exonerating Richard from responsibility for his own deposition. While probably not insane, as many historians of the 19th and 20th centuries believed, he may have had a personality disorder, particularly manifesting itself towards the end of his reign. Most authorities agree that his policies were not unrealistic or even entirely unprecedented, but that the way in which he carried them out was unacceptable to the political establishment, leading to his downfall.[citation needed]

Lancastrian dynasty (1399–1455)

Henry IV and Henry V

Henry IV of England
Henry V of England

Almost immediately after assuming the throne, Henry IV faced an attempted deposition known as the "

House of Percy, led by Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland and Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester, to rebel multiple times against Henry. The first challenge was defeated at Shrewsbury in 1403 and Worcester was executed,[59] while a second attempt failed at Bramham Moor in 1408, at which Northumberland was killed.[60] Henry himself died in 1413, and was succeeded by his son, Henry of Monmouth, who was crowned Henry V.[61]

To cement his position as king both domestically and abroad, Henry revived

Sir Thomas Grey, Henry, Baron Scrope, and Richard of Conisburgh, the latter of whom was the second son of Edmund of Langley the 1st Duke of York. They intended to replace Henry with the young Edmund Mortimer, Richard of Conisburgh's maternal uncle, who was a great-great-grandson of Edward III and at one time the heir presumptive to Richard II.[63] Mortimer remained loyal and informed Henry of the plot, who had all three ringleaders executed.[64]

Henry captured Harfleur on 22 September[citation needed] and inflicted a decisive defeat on the French at Agincourt on 25 October which wiped out a significant part of the French nobility.[citation needed] Agincourt and Henry's subsequent campaigns firmly entrenched the legitimacy of the Lancastrian monarchy and Henry's pursuit of his claims on the French throne.[65] In 1420, Henry and Charles VI of France signed the Treaty of Troyes. The treaty disinherited the French Dauphin Charles from the line of succession, married Charles' daughter Catherine of Valois to Henry, and acknowledged their future sons as legitimate successors to the French throne.[66]

Richard of York, the son of Richard of Conisburgh, was four years old when his father was executed. As his paternal uncle, Edward, 2nd Duke of York, had died at Agincourt without issue,[67] Henry permitted Richard of York to inherit the title and lands of the Duchy of York
. When Edmund Mortimer died childless in 1425, Richard of York also inherited the Earldom of March and Mortimer's claim to the throne through his late mother, Edmund Mortimer's sister.

Henry, who himself had three younger brothers and had recently married Catherine, did not doubt that the Lancastrian claim on the crown was secure.[43] On 6 December 1421, Catherine gave birth to a son, Henry. The following year, Henry V died of dysentery, and his son ascended to the throne at just nine months old.[68] Henry V's younger brothers produced no surviving legitimate heirs, leaving only the Beaufort family as alternative Lancastrian successors. As Richard of York grew into maturity and Henry VI's rule deteriorated, York's claim to the throne became more attractive. The revenue from his estates also made him the wealthiest magnate in the kingdom.[24]

Reign of Henry VI

Henry VI of England

From early childhood,

John, Duke of Bedford, Gloucester's older brother and nominal regent to Henry, to return from his post as the king's commander in France, either to mediate or defend him against Gloucester's accusations of treason.[70] Overseas, the French had rallied around Joan of Arc and had inflicted major defeats on the English at Orléans,[71] and Patay,[citation needed] reversing many of the gains made by Henry V and leading to the coronation of the Dauphin as Charles VII in Reims on 17 July 1429.[citation needed] Henry was formally crowned as Henry VI, aged 7, shortly thereafter on 6 November in response to the coronation of Charles.[72] Around this time, Henry's mother Catherine of Valois had remarried to Owen Tudor[73] and bore two surviving sons; Edmund Tudor and Jasper Tudor, both of whom would play key roles in the concluding stages of the coming wars.[74]

Henry came of age in 1437 at age sixteen.[

Richard of York, both of whom favoured a continued prosecution of a military solution against France. Suffolk and the Beaufort family frequently received large grants of money, land, and important government and military positions from the king, who preferred their less hawkish inclinations, redirecting much-needed resources away from Richard and Gloucester's campaigns in France, leading to Richard developing a bitter resentment for the Beauforts.[77]

Suffolk continued to increase his influence at court as the principal architect of the Treaty of Tours in 1444 to broker peace between England and France. Suffolk successfully negotiated the marriage to Henry of Margaret of Anjou, only a distant relation of Charles VII through marriage rather than blood, in exchange for the strategically important lands of Maine and Anjou.[78] Though Suffolk earned a promotion from Earl to Marquess (and would be made a Duke in 1448) for his efforts, the clauses of the treaty that required cession of lands to France were kept secret from the English public due to fears of a significant backlash, but Henry insisted on the treaty.[79] Two years later in 1447, Suffolk succeeded in having Gloucester arrested for treason. Gloucester died while awaiting trial, with some at the time suspecting that Suffolk had had him poisoned.[80] Richard of York was stripped of his prestigious command in France and sent to govern the relatively distant Lordship of Ireland with a ten-year term of office, where he could not interfere with affairs at court.[citation needed]

During this time, England continued to suffer reversals in France. Suffolk, who was now the principal power behind the throne, could not avoid taking the blame for these losses. Additionally, the blame of the unfavourable request to cede Maine and Anjou to the French was laid at Suffolk's feet, though he continued to insist he made no promises during negotiations to such a demand.[81] In 1450, Suffolk was arrested, imprisoned in the Tower of London, and impeached in the Commons. Henry intervened and instead exiled Suffolk for five years, but en route to Calais, Suffolk was captured and executed on 2 May 1450.[82] Suffolk was succeeded by Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, nephew of Henry Beaufort, as the leader of the faction pursuing peace with France, who had been appointed as Richard's replacement as commander in France in 1448. Somerset's political position was somewhat fragile, as English military failures in 1449 following a resumption of hostilities left him vulnerable to criticism from Richard's allies at court.[83] Somerset had by this time become a close ally of Henry's wife, Margaret of Anjou.[84] Margaret herself wielded almost complete control over the pliable king Henry,[citation needed] and her close friendship with Somerset led many to suspect the two were having an affair; indeed, upon the birth of Henry and Margaret's son, Edward of Westminster in 1453, there were widespread rumours that Somerset was the father.[85]

Richard of York

On 15 April 1450, the English suffered a major reversal in France at Formigny, which paved the way for the French reconquest of Normandy.[86] That same year, there was a violent popular uprising in Kent, which is often seen as a precursor to the Wars of the Roses.[87] The rebel manifesto, The Complaint of the Poor Commons of Kent, written under the stewardship of rebel leader Jack Cade, accused the crown of extortion, perversion of justice, and election fraud. The rebels occupied parts of London, and executed James Fiennes, the unpopular Lord High Treasurer.[88] They dispersed after they were supposedly pardoned but several ringleaders, including Cade, were later executed.[89] After the rebellion, the grievances of Cade and his followers formed the basis of Richard of York's opposition to a royal government from which he felt unduly excluded.[87] Richard of York used the opportunity to return from Ireland and went to London. Angling himself as a reformer to demand better government, he was eventually imprisoned for much of 1452 and 1453.[90] By the summer of the latter year, Richard seemed to have lost the power struggle.[citation needed]

Throughout these quarrels, Henry himself had taken little part in proceedings. He displayed several symptoms of mental illness, possibly inherited from his maternal grandfather, Charles VI of France.[91] His near-total lack of leadership in military matters had left the English forces in France scattered and weak, which left them ripe for defeat at Formigny in 1450.[92] Henry was described as more interested in matters of religion and learning, which, coupled with his timid and passive nature and, if not well-intentioned, aversion to warfare, made him an ineffectual king for the time.[93] On 17 July 1453, the English forces in southern France suffered a catastrophic defeat at Castillon, and England lost all her possessions in France except for the Pale of Calais, shifting the balance of power in Europe, and ending the Hundred Years' War.[citation needed] Perhaps in reaction to the news, Henry suffered a complete mental breakdown, during which he failed to recognise his newborn son, Edward.[94] On 22 March 1454, Cardinal John Kemp, the Lord Chancellor, died, and Henry could not be induced to nominate a successor, thus making government in the king's name constitutionally impossible.[95]

The lack of central authority led to a continued deterioration of the unstable political situation, which polarised around long-standing feuds between the more powerful noble families, in particular the

Bonville-Courtenay feud, creating a volatile political climate ripe for civil war.[96] To ensure the country could be governed, a Regency Council was established and, despite the protests of Margaret, was led by Richard of York, who was appointed Lord Protector and Chief Councillor on 27 March 1454. York appointed his brother-in-law, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury to the post of Chancellor, backing the Nevilles against their chief adversary, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. In backing the Nevilles, York gained a key ally, Salisbury's son Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, one of the wealthiest and most powerful magnates in the kingdom. York removed Somerset from his position and imprisoned him in the Tower of London.[97]

In 1455, Henry made a surprise recovery from his mental instability, and reversed much of Richard of York's progress. Somerset was released and restored to favour, and York was forced out of court into exile.[98] However, disaffected nobles, chiefly the Earl of Warwick and his father the Earl of Salisbury, backed the claims of the rival House of York to control of the government.[99] Henry, Somerset, and a select council of nobles elected to hold a Great Council at Leicester on 22 May, away from Somerset's enemies in London. Fearing that charges of treason would be brought against them, York and his allies gathered an army to intercept the royal party at St Albans, before they could reach the Council.[100]

York's Revolt (1455–1460)

St. Albans

Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron de Clifford.[103] With the king in his custody and many of his key rivals dead, York was again appointed Lord Protector by Parliament, and the Yorkist faction regained their position of influence.[8]

York's allies were soon in ascendancy thanks to the temporarily stabilised situation, particularly the young

public display of reconciliation between the two sides at St. Paul's Cathedral on 25 March 1458, however, no sooner had the procession dispersed than the plotting resumed.[110]

York's attempt to take the throne

Richard of York's stronghold; Ludlow Castle
, South Shropshire

Meanwhile, as Henry attempted in vain to secure peace in England, Warwick, in disregard of royal authority, had conducted attacks against the Castilian fleet in May 1458, and against a fleet of the Hanseatic League a few weeks later.[111] His position in Calais also enabled him to establish relations with Charles VII of France, and Philip the Good of Burgundy, international connections that would serve him in the future.[112] In response to the attacks, Warwick was summoned to London to face inquiries along with York and Salisbury. However, fearing arrest once they were isolated from their allies, they refused.[113] York instead summoned the Nevilles to rendezvous at his stronghold of Ludlow Castle in the Welsh Marches; Warwick departed Calais with a portion of the garrison there to join the main Yorkist forces.[114]

Margaret had not been idle during this time and had been actively recruiting armed support for Henry, distributing a livery emblem of a silver swan to knights and squires enlisted by her personally.

Ludford Bridge, the Yorkist forces were scattered due to the defection of Warwick's Calais troops under Andrew Trollope.[120]

Forced to flee, York, who was still Lieutenant of Ireland, left for

Edward, Earl of March.[121] The Lancastrian faction appointed the new Duke of Somerset, Henry Beaufort to replace Warwick in Calais, however, the Yorkists managed to retain the loyalty of the garrison.[119] Fresh from their victory at Ludford Bridge, the Lancastrian faction assembled a "Parliament of Devils" at Coventry with the sole purpose of attainting York, his sons, Salisbury, and Warwick,[122] however, the actions of this assembly caused many uncommitted lords to fear for their titles and property.[123] In March 1460, Warwick sailed to Ireland under the protection of the Gascon Lord of Duras[124] to concert plans with York, evading the royal fleet commanded by Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter,[125] before they returned to Calais.[126]

In late June 1460, Warwick, Salisbury, and Edward of March crossed the Channel and rode north to London, where they enjoyed widespread support.[127] Salisbury was left with a force to besiege the Tower of London,[128] while Warwick and March pursued Henry northward.[129]

The Yorkists caught up with the Lancastrians and defeated them at Northampton on 10 July 1460.[130] Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury, John Beaumont, 1st Viscount Beaumont, and Thomas Percy, 1st Baron Egremont were all killed defending their king.[131] For a second time, Henry was taken prisoner by the Yorkists, who escorted him to London, compelling the surrender of the Tower garrison.[132]

That September, York returned from Ireland, and, at the Parliament of October that year, he made a symbolic gesture of his intention to claim the English crown by placing his hand upon the throne,

Edward would be disinherited, and the throne would pass to York.[137] However, the compromise was quickly found to be unpalatable, and hostilities resumed.[138]

Death of Richard of York

Queen Margaret and her son had fled to Lancastrian-held

Thomas Courtenay, 6th/14th Earl of Devon.[140] York, his son the Earl of Rutland, and Salisbury left London to contain the Lancastrian threat in the north.[141]

On 16 December 1460, York's vanguard clashed with Somerset's forces from the West Country at the Battle of Worksop, and was defeated.[citation needed] On 21 December, York reached his fortress of Sandal Castle near the town of Wakefield, with the Lancastrians encamped just 9 mi (14 km). For reasons unclear, York sortied from the castle on 30 December,[142] and in the ensuing Battle of Wakefield, York, Rutland, and Warwick's younger brother Thomas Neville were all killed.[143][139] Salisbury was captured the following night and executed.

Yorkists' triumph, 1461

Painting by Henry Tresham representing Warwick the Kingmaker's alleged vow prior to the Battle of Towton.
Edward IV of England

Following the Yorkist defeat at

Tudors
in western England and Wales from joining the main Lancastrian forces opposing him in the north.

On 2 February 1461, he decisively defeated the Lancastrian armies at

personal device.[148][149]

In the north, having defeated and killed Richard, Margaret's troops and the victorious Lancastrians moved south,[citation needed] while Warwick, with the captive Henry in tow, moved his forces to meet them astride the ancient Roman road of Watling Street at St Albans. Warwick's forces were well-entrenched,[150] but were ultimately defeated in the Second Battle of St Albans on 17 February.[151]

Henry was freed by the Lancastrians, and knighted his young son

Edward IV of England by a hastily gathered assembly.[154] Edward was a more attractive prospect as a monarch for the people of England; contemporaries such as Philippe de Commines describe him as energetic, handsome, affable,[citation needed] and struck an imposing sight in full armour and resplendent clothing, a deliberate move on the part of his supporters to contrast him with Henry, whose physical and mental frailties had fatally undermined his support.[155]

To cement his position, Edward and Warwick moved north to confront the Lancastrians. Warwick, leading the Yorkist vanguard, inconclusively clashed with the Lancastrians at

coronation,[162] while Warwick remained in the north to pacify further Lancastrian resistance.[163] The Battle of Towton confirmed to the English people that Edward was the uncontested ruler of England, at least for the time being;[9][10] as a result, Edward used this opportunity to employ a bill of attainder to forfeit the titles of 14 Lancastrian peers and 96 knights and minor members of the gentry.[164]

Ascension and reign of Yorkist Edward IV (1461–1483)

Coronation of Edward IV and Warwick's apex

William Neville (mounted) directs his longbowmen at Towton – 19th century print

Edward was formally crowned

King of England on 28 June 1461 in Westminster Abbey.[165] Edward sought to win the affections of his vanquished foes; he pardoned many of the Lancastrians he attainted following his victory at Towton after they submitted to his rule,[166] and permitted them to retain their property and titles.[167]

For his part, Warwick benefited generously from Edward's patronage and became the most powerful noble in the country.[168] He had inherited the lands and titles of both his parents,[169] and was made High Admiral of England, Steward of the Duchy of Lancaster, along with several other offices of importance.[170] In the summer of 1462, Warwick successfully negotiated a truce with Scotland,[107] while at Piltown in Ireland, Yorkist forces under Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond decisively defeated the Lancastrians under John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond,[171] forcing the Ormonds into exile and ending Lancastrian designs on Ireland.[172] That October, Margaret of Anjou invaded England with troops from France, and captured the castles of Alnwick and Bamburgh,[173] although they were back in Yorkist hands within just three months.[174]

In the spring of 1463, the north of England rose in revolt in support of Henry when Sir Ralph Percy laid siege to Norham Castle.[175] Separate truces had been agreed with both Scotland and France by late 1463, allowing Warwick to recover much of the territory lost in the north by 1464.[176] The main Lancastrian army moved south through Northumberland, however, it was destroyed by a Yorkist force under John Neville at Hexham on 15 May 1464.[177] All three Lancastrian commanders, Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset,[178] the Baron Ros,[179] and the Baron Hungerford,[citation needed] were captured and executed. Yorkist troops captured the deposed king Henry in the woods near the River Ribble,[180] and was taken to London where he was imprisoned in the Tower.[181][182] With Somerset's army defeated and Henry captured, all effective resistance to Edward's rule had been wiped out.[183]

Edward saw no profit in killing Henry while his son remained alive, instead preferring to keep the Lancastrian claim with a frail captive.

Louis XI of France, where they maintained an impoverished court in exile for many years.[185]

Growing discontent

Edward IV

With his position upon the throne secure, Edward was free to pursue his domestic and foreign ambitions. Internationally, Edward favoured a

marriage alliance with the French crown; the intended bride either being Louis' sister-in-law Bona of Savoy, or his daughter, Anne of France.[186] To his considerable embarrassment and rage, Warwick discovered in October 1464 that four months earlier on 1 May, Edward had secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of a Lancastrian noble.[187] Elizabeth had 12 siblings, some of whom married into prominent families, turning the Woodvilles into a powerful political establishment independent of Warwick's control.[188] The move demonstrated that Warwick was not the power behind the throne as many had assumed,[189] and the marriage was criticised by Edward's own Privy Councillors, who felt that marriage to a woman who was the daughter of neither a duke nor an earl was unbefitting a man of royal blood.[190] Warwick attempted to restore his lost influence by accusing Elizabeth, and her mother Jacquetta of Luxembourg, of witchcraft,[191] a ploy which, while unsuccessful, did not break the relationship between Warwick and Edward.[192]

Edward's choice of bride would plague him politically for the rest of his reign.

Earl Rivers, was appointed as Lord High Treasurer, and supported the king's position for a Burgundian alliance.[195] Unbeknownst to Warwick, Edward had already concluded a treaty in secret with Burgundy in October 1466, while leaving Warwick to continue with doomed negotiations with the French court.[196] In 1467, Edward removed Warwick's brother, the Archbishop of York, from his office of Lord Chancellor, while the king refused to entertain a marriage proposal between Warwick's eldest daughter, Isabel, and Edward's brother, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence.[197] For various reasons, Clarence himself greatly resented his brother's interference.[197] In 1468, Edward sent his forces and successfully retook Jersey
from the French.

Redesdale's rebellion

In April 1469, a rebellion broke out in Yorkshire under a leader known only as Robin of Redesdale.[citation needed] A second pro-Lancastrian revolt broke out the following month, which demanded the restoration of Henry Percy as Earl of Northumberland,[198] however the revolt was quickly crushed by the current earl, John Neville, though he made little attempt to quell Redesdale's actions.[198] Warwick and Clarence had spent the summer assembling troops, officially to suppress the revolt, however, in early July they travelled to Calais, where Clarence and Isabel were married in a ceremony overseen by Warwick. They returned to London, where they assembled their troops, ostensibly to remove 'evil councillors' from the king's company and re-establish good governance and moved north to link with the Yorkshire rebels.[199] Privately, Warwick hoped to depose Edward and install the nineteen-year-old Clarence on the throne.[200]

Redesdale defeated royal troops at

Lord Rivers, and brother Sir John Woodville were apprehended and murdered.[202] After the battle, Edward was taken captive by George Neville and held at Middleham Castle.[203] However, it soon became clear to the rebels that neither Warwick nor Clarence enjoyed significant support, and unable to quell the growing disorder, Edward was released in September of that year and reassumed his duties as king.[204] In March 1470, Warwick and Clarence exploited political instabilities to induce Lincolnshire into a full-scale revolt, hoping to lure Edward north where he could be taken by Warwick's men.[i] However, on 12 March 1470, Edward routed the Yorkist rebels at Losecoat Field and captured the rebel leader, the Baron Willoughby, who named Warwick and Clarence as the "partners and chief provokers" of the rebellion.[206] Physical evidence also came to light which proved the complicity of the two men, who subsequently fled to France in May.[citation needed] Willoughby was beheaded, and his lands seized.[citation needed
]

Warwick's Rebellion and readeption of Henry VI

Mounted knights chase their enemies off to the right, across a river.
1885 lithograph portraying the rout of Warwick's forces at Barnet in the manner of Paolo Uccello

Seeking to capitalise on Warwick's disfavour with the king,

Louis XI of France arranged a reconciliation between Warwick and his bitter rival, Margaret of Anjou, with the objective to restore Henry to the throne.[207] As part of the arrangement, Warwick agreed to marry his daughter Anne to Edward of Westminster, Margaret and Henry's son and heir apparent;[citation needed] while the marriage was solemnised, it may not have been consummated, as Margaret was hoping to find a better match for her son once he became king.[208] Staging a diversionary uprising in the north, Warwick and Clarence launched a two-pronged invasion of England at Dartmouth and Plymouth on 13 September 1470.[citation needed] Warwick's brother, the Marquess of Montagu joined him, bitter with the king that his support for the crown during the preceding revolts did not result in the restoration of his earldom.[209] Edward rushed south to meet the invasion, while Montagu's forces advanced from the north, and the king found himself surrounded.[210] With few options, Edward, his younger brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and several hundred retainers fled to Flanders on 2 October, then part of the Duchy of Burgundy, his ally.[j]

The

Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset held Warwick responsible for his father's death in 1455, and the ensuing internal disputes eventually left Warwick and Clarence politically isolated.[216] With the backing of Flemish merchants, Edward landed at Ravenspurn in Yorkshire on 14 March 1471, supported by the Earl of Northumberland.[217] Edward was joined by troops under Sir William Parr and Sir James Harrington, a move which convinced Clarence, who was politically disadvantaged by his agreement with the Lancastrians,[218] to abandon Warwick and Henry and join his brother.[219] Edward's army made rapidly for London, where they took the by now feeble king Henry prisoner and sent him to the Tower of London.[220]

Poor weather contained French troops under Margaret and Edward of Westminster on the continent, preventing Warwick from being reinforced.

heraldic sun to the Earl of Oxford's star[223] led to the Lancastrians attacking their own men,[224] and, coupled with Edward's determined attack, Warwick's army was destroyed. During the rout, Warwick was unhorsed and killed,[225] along with his brother the John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu,[226] while Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter was apprehended and imprisoned in the Tower of London.[227] In 1475, Exeter would be sent on a Yorkist expedition to France, where he was reputed to have fallen overboard while at sea, and drowned without any witnesses.[228] Warwick's defeat and death was a catastrophic blow for the Lancastrian cause,[229] and the Neville family's political influence was irrevocably broken.[230]

Defeat of Henry VI; Return of Edward IV

Battle of Tewkesbury

The return of Henry VI to the throne did not last long. Though the Nevilles had been defeated, on the same day of the clash at Barnet, Margaret had managed to land her forces at

Edward of Westminster, was killed by Clarence's men,[232] while the Duke of Somerset[232] and John Courtenay, 15th Earl of Devon[233]
were both killed.

The royal propagandist of the Historie of the arrivall of Edward IV suggests the royal army was, "though small, well-armed and determined" and that Edward claimed he had returned solely for his duchy of York.[234] However, Henry VI could not start raising a force of any numbers until well to the south (of England), in Lord Hastings's estates in the Midlands (about 3,000 men in Nottingham, where he was joined by William Parr and James Harrington, with their personal forces of sixty men-at-arms). Whereas, in the north, came "not so many as supposed would have come", reported the Arrivalist.[235]

Edward IV entered London on 21 May. Henry VI died that night, or soon afterwards, perhaps on Edward's orders. A contemporary chronicle (favourable to Edward IV) reported Henry's death as caused by "melancholy" after hearing of his son's death.[236] It is widely suspected however, that with Henry's only heir dead, Edward had ordered the former king's murder.[11] Margaret of Anjou was imprisoned until she was ransomed by Louis XI in 1475 to France,[237] where she would live for the remainder of her life, dying on 25 August 1482.[238]

Second Reign of Edward IV

With the defeats at Barnet and Tewkesbury, armed Lancastrian resistance appeared to be at an end. However, Edward IV's regime was progressively fractured by a worsening feud between his brothers,

Duchess of Burgundy, but Edward objected to the match, and Clarence left the royal court.[240]

For his part, Gloucester was married to Anne Neville; both Anne and Isabel were daughters of the Countess of Warwick, and therefore heirs to their mother's considerable fortune.[241] Many of the estates held by the two brothers had been bestowed upon them by Edward's patronage (who retained the right to revoke them). This was not the case with property acquired through marriage; this difference fuelled the disagreement.[242] Clarence continued to fall out of favour with Edward; persistently widespread claims he was involved in a revolt against Edward led to his imprisonment and execution at the Tower of London on 18 February 1478.[243]

Edward's reign was relatively peaceful domestically; in 1475 he invaded France, however he signed the

Edward. On 9 April 1483, Edward IV died.[247]

Richard III reign and defeat by Lancastrians (1483–1485)

Overview

For only approximately two years, Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was

Middle Ages in England
.

Richard was created

bigamous and therefore invalid. Now officially illegitimate, their children were barred from inheriting the throne. On 25 June, an assembly of lords and commoners endorsed a declaration to this effect, and proclaimed Richard as the rightful king. He was crowned on 6 July 1483. Edward and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, called the "Princes in the Tower
", were not seen in public after August, and accusations circulated that they had been murdered on King Richard's orders, after the Tudor dynasty established their rule a few years later.

There were two major rebellions against Richard during his reign. In October 1483, an unsuccessful revolt was led by staunch allies of Edward IV and Richard's former ally,

southern Wales with a contingent of French troops, and marched through Pembrokeshire, recruiting soldiers. Henry's forces defeated Richard's army near the Leicestershire town of Market Bosworth
. Richard was slain, making him the last English king to die in battle. Henry Tudor then ascended the throne as Henry VII.

Edward V's claims to the throne

King Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury (painted here by John Everett Millais
)

During Edward IV's reign, his brother

Dowager Queen Elizabeth instructed her brother, Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, to escort her son Edward V to London with an armed escort of 2,000 men.[251]

However, upon reaching Northampton, Richard discovered that the king had already been sent onward to Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire.[252] In response, and to forestall any Woodville family attempts on his person, on 30 April 1483, Richard had Earl Rivers, Edward's half-brother Richard Grey, and Edward's chamberlain Thomas Vaughan arrested and sent to the north.[253] Richard and Edward journeyed to London together, where the young king took up residence at the Tower of London on 19 May 1483, joined the following month by his younger brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.[254]

Richard III takes the throne

Despite his assurances to the contrary, Richard had Earl Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan beheaded in June 1483.[255][256] Acting as Lord Protector, Richard repeatedly stalled the coronation of Edward V, despite the urging of the king's councillors, who wished to avoid another protectorate.[257] That same month, Richard accused the Lord Chamberlain, the Baron Hastings, of treason, and had him executed without trial on 13 June.[258] Hastings had been popular, and his death created considerable controversy, not least because his loyalty to Edward and his continued presence would have presented a major obstacle to Richard's path to securing the throne.[259][260] A clergyman, likely Robert Stillington, the Bishop of Bath and Wells,[261] informed Richard that Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid because of Edward's earlier union to Eleanor Butler, thereby making Edward V and his siblings illegitimate heirs to the throne.

On 22 June, the selected date for Edward's coronation,

St. Paul's Cathedral declaring Richard the rightful king,[263] a post which the citizenry petitioned Richard to accept.[264] Richard accepted four days later, and was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 6 July 1483.[citation needed
]

Conflicts and actions against opposing claims

Edward and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury, who were still in residence in the Tower of London, had completely disappeared by the summer of 1483.[265] The fate of the two princes following their disappearance remains a mystery to this day, however, the most widely accepted explanation is that they were murdered on the orders of Richard III.[266]

Stripped of her family's influence at court, the widowed

Edward III[268] and the closest male heir of the Lancastrian claim,[k] as an alternative to Richard.[269]

Woodville proposed to strengthen Henry's claim by marrying him to her daughter Elizabeth of York, the only living heir to Edward IV. Convinced of the need for Yorkist support, Henry promised his hand to Elizabeth well before his planned invasion of England,[270] a factor which caused many Yorkists to abandon Richard.[271] By September 1483, a conspiracy against Richard began to be formulated among members of the disaffected English gentry, many of whom had been staunch supporters of Edward IV and his heirs.[272]

Buckingham's Rebellion

Since Edward IV had regained the throne in 1471, Henry Tudor had lived in exile at the court of

launched a revolt against Richard on 18 October 1483 with the aim of installing Henry as king.[276] Buckingham raised a substantial number of troops from his Welsh estates, and planned to join his brother the Earl of Devon.[277]

However, without Henry's troops, Richard easily defeated Buckingham's rebellion, and the defeated duke was captured, convicted of treason, and executed in Salisbury on 2 November 1483.[278] Following the rebellion in January 1484, Richard stripped Elizabeth Woodville of all the lands bestowed upon her during her late husband's reign.[279] For the sake of outward appearances, the two appeared to reconcile.[280]

Defeat of Richard III

Henry VII of England
The Battle of Bosworth Field, fought on 22 August 1485

Following Buckingham's failed revolt, some 500 Englishmen fled to Rennes, the capital of Brittany to join Henry in exile.[281] Richard opened negotiations with Francis for Henry's extradition to England, however, the Duke continued to refuse, hoping for the possibility of extracting more generous concessions from Richard in exchange.[282] By mid-1484, Francis was incapacitated from illness, leaving Landais to take the reins of government. Richard made overtures to Landais, offering military support to defend Brittany against a possible French attack; Landais agreed, however, Henry escaped to France by mere hours.[283] Henry was warmly received at the court of Charles VIII of France, who supplied Henry with resources for his coming invasion.[284] Upon the recovery of Francis II, Charles offered the remaining Lancastrians in Brittany safe conduct to France, paying for their expenses himself. For Charles, Henry and his supporters were useful political pawns to ensure Richard did not intervene with French designs on the acquisition of Brittany.[285]

On 16 March 1485, Richard's wife,

Anne of Beaujeu, who supplied him with 2,000 troops in support.[289] Overseas, Henry relied heavily on his mother Margaret of Beaufort to raise troops and support for him in England.[290] Anxious to press his claim, with the backing of the Woodvilles, Henry set sail from France on 1 August with a force consisting of his English and Welsh exiles, along with a large contingent of French and Scottish troops,[291] landing near Dale, Pembrokeshire, in Wales.[292] Henry's return to his Welsh homeland was regarded by some as the fulfilment of a Messianic prophecy,[293] as "the youth of Brittany defeating the Saxons" and restore their country to glory.[294] Henry amassed an army of approximately 5,000 troops to confront Richard.[295] Richard's lieutenant in Wales, Sir Walter Herbert, failed to move against Henry, and two of his officers deserted to the Tudor claimant with their troops.[296] Richard's lieutenant in West Wales, Rhys ap Thomas, also defected.[296] By mid-August, Henry crossed the English border, advancing on Shrewsbury.[297]

Richard, who had been well-informed of Henry's movements, had ordered a mobilisation of his troops.[298] The powerful Stanleys had assembled their bannermen upon hearing of Henry's landing; while they had been communicating on friendly terms with Henry both prior to and during his landfall in England,[288][299] their forces were a wildcard, and would not support Henry until a decisive juncture in the coming battle.[300] On 22 August 1485, Henry Tudor's outnumbered forces[301] engaged Richard's army in the Battle of Bosworth Field. Stanley's forces entered the fray on behalf of Henry, decisively defeating Richard's army.[302] Polydore Vergil, Henry's official historian, records that "King Richard, alone, was killed fighting manfully in the thickest press of his enemies",[303] and became the last English king to die in battle.[304] Richard's ally the Earl of Northumberland fled, while the Duke of Norfolk was killed, and Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey was taken captive.[300] Henry claimed the throne by right of conquest, retroactively dating his claim to the day prior to Richard's defeat.[305]

Aftermath and Henry VII's reign (1485–1509)

Main article: Henry VII of England
Elizabeth of York – Henry VII's marriage to Elizabeth united the rival Lancastrian and Yorkist claims to the throne

Henry was crowned as Henry VII of England on 30 October 1485 in Westminster Abbey.[306] As per his pledge, Henry married Elizabeth of York on 18 January 1486,[307] and Elizabeth gave birth to their first child just 8 months later, Prince Arthur.[308] The couple's marriage appears to have been a happy one;[309][310] Henry in particular was noted for being uncharacteristically faithful for a king of the time.[308] Henry and Elizabeth's marriage united the rival Lancastrian and Yorkist claims since their children would inherit the claims of both dynasties; however, paranoia persisted that anyone with blood ties to the Plantagenets were secretly coveting the throne.[311]

Challengers to Henry VII

Despite the union of the two dynasties, Henry's position as king was not immediately secure. That same year he faced a

George, Duke of Clarence.[318] Henry had Warwick arrested and imprisoned at the Tower of London.[319]

Lincoln's rebellion

Around this time, a Yorkist-sympathising priest by the name of Richard Symonds had noticed a striking similarity between a young boy,

Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy provided him with financial and military support. The Yorkist exiles sailed for Ireland, where the Yorkist cause was popular, to gather support.[322] Simnel was proclaimed King Edward VI in Dublin despite Henry's efforts to quell the rumours, which included parading the real Earl of Warwick through the streets of London.[234] While nominally supporting the impostor king, Lincoln likely saw the whole affair as an opportunity to claim the throne for himself.[323]

Lincoln had no intention of remaining in Ireland, and with Simnel, 2,000

Earl of Lincoln was killed in the fighting, while the Viscount Lovell disappeared, likely to Scotland.[328] Henry pardoned the young Simnel, likely recognising he was merely a puppet in the hands of adults, and put him to work in the royal kitchens as a spit-turner. Simnel later became a falconer, and died around 1534.[329] Henry persuaded the Pope to excommunicate the Irish clergy who supported the revolt, and had Symonds imprisoned, but not executed.[326] Stoke Field proved to be the last military engagement of the Wars of the Roses.[330]

Warbeck's rebellion

In 1491,

Sir William Stanley, Sir Thomas Thwaites, and Sir Robert Clifford. Clifford, who visited Warbeck, wrote back to his allies in England confirming Warbeck's identity as the lost prince.[334]

In January 1495, Henry crushed the conspiracy with six of the conspirators imprisoned and fined, while Montfort, Stanley, and several others were executed.[335] Warbeck courted the Scottish royal court, where he was well received by James IV, who hoped to use Warbeck as leverage in international diplomacy.[citation needed] In September 1496, James invaded England with Warbeck, however the army was forced to withdraw when it expended its supplies, and support for Warbeck in the north failed to materialise.[336] Having now fallen out of favour with James, Perkin sailed to Waterford.[337] On 7 September 1497, Warbeck landed in Cornwall, hoping to capitalise on the Cornish people's resentment to Henry VII's unpopular taxes,[338][339] which had induced them into revolt just three months earlier.[340] Warbeck's presence triggered a second revolt; he was declared as Richard IV on Bodmin Moor, and his army of 6,000 Cornishmen advanced on Taunton.[340][341] However, when Warbeck received word the king's troops were in the area, he panicked and deserted his army. Warbeck was captured, imprisoned, and on 23 November 1499, he was hanged.[332]

That same year, Henry had the captive Edward Plantagenet, 17th Earl of Warwick, who had shared a cell with Warbeck and made an escape attempt together, executed. With Warwick's death, the direct male-line descent of the Plantagenet dynasty was rendered extinct.[342][343] [l]

Impact

Immediate social effects

Some historians question the impact the wars had on the fabric of English society and culture; revisionists, such as the Oxford historian

pillaging, and sought a quick resolution to the conflict through a pitched battle. The lengthy sieges that did occur, such as at Harlech and Bamburgh were in comparatively remote and sparsely populated areas.[348] Contemporaries such as Philippe de Commines observed in 1470 that England was a unique case compared to wars that befell the continent, in that the consequences of war were only visited upon soldiers and nobles, not citizens and private property.[349]

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, accumulate wealth, and diminish the power of the Crown at a local level. [350] Many areas undertook little effort to improve their defences; city walls were either left in prior ruinous states or only partially rebuilt, as was the case in London, whereby the citizenry was able to avoid devastation by persuading the Yorkist and Lancastrian troops to stay out, after the inability to reconstruct adequate walls, thereby rendering the city indefensible.[351] "It is true that the wars were largely fought between nobles and their private armies, and they were also intermittent with fewer than 24 months of actual fighting over the entire period. Nevertheless, the local populace was sometimes dragged into the conflict, especially if nobles formed militia from their estate workers."[350]

Among the lords, few noble houses were extinguished entirely by the wars; between 1425 and 1449, before the outbreak of fighting, there were as many extinctions of noble lines from natural causes (25), as occurred between 1450 and 1474 (24), during the heaviest period of combat.

Cromwell's Commonwealth of England and The Protectorate.[342]

Despite the relative paucity of violence undertaken against civilians, the wars claimed the lives of 105,000 people,[4] approximately 5.5% of the population level in 1450, though by 1490 England had experienced a 12.6% increase in population levels compared to 1450, despite the wars.[352][353]

Question of succession

Henry VIII of England
's anxiety over producing a male heir was driven by fears of a continuation of the Wars of the Roses

Although there would be no more serious military threat to Henry's rule or the Tudor claim to the throne that threatened a repeat of the Wars of the Roses, individuals claiming descent from the Plantagenets continued to present challenges to the Tudor dynasty; when Henry ascended the throne, there were eighteen Plantagenet descendants who may be considered to have a stronger claim to the throne, and by 1510 this number had increased by the birth of sixteen Yorkist children.

Henry VIII for this claim,[355] while his brother Richard, known as the White Rose and who had conspired to invade England to claim the throne, was killed in battle at Pavia in 1525.[356]

As late as 1600, before the death of

Elizabeth I, there were twelve competitors for succession,[357] which included seven Plantagenet descendants.[358] The Tudor dynasty's tenuous claim to the throne and the potentially stronger claims of Plantagenet inheritors was a significant factor in driving Henry VIII's considerable anxiety over the need to produce a male heir.[359] Henry was well aware of the potential instability that could follow a succession crisis, and wished to avoid a repeat of the Wars of the Roses.[citation needed
]

Tudor dynasty

The English monarchy prior to the wars exerted only weak influence, unable to prevent the growing factional infighting that tore the political structure of the country apart.[

Henry VIII, defined the concept of the "divine right of kings" to help reinforce monarchical authority,[366] a philosophical concept which would come to plague England under the reign of Charles I, leading to another civil war.[367]

The ascension of the Tudor dynasty saw the end of the

golden age in English history, and is widely remembered today as the Elizabethan era.[371][372]

Historian John Guy argued that "England was economically healthier, more expansive, and more optimistic under the Tudors" than at any time since the Roman occupation.[14] However, some historians such as Kendall, Walpole, and Buck contend that the characterisation of the Wars of the Roses as a period of bloodshed and lawlessness, contrasted with the Tudors ushering in a period of law, peace, and prosperity, served the political interests of the Tudors to present the new regime positively.[373][374][375] Indeed, contemporaries of the Tudors, such as William Shakespeare and Sir Thomas More, wrote fictional and non-fictional works respectively which were hostile to the Yorkists.[376][373]

Armies and warfare

Strategy

Military strategy in the medieval period was predominated by siege warfare; fortifications provided a powerful bastion of defence for a regional populace to shelter from large-scale pillaging that characterised groups such as the Vikings or Mongols,[377] and castles evolved as a central point of control and protection for local elites to exercise their authority over a given area. Fortifications also nullified the dominant weapon of the medieval battlefield: heavy cavalry.[378] Pitched battles were generally rare compared to the Classical period due to a dramatic reduction in logistical capability,[379] and those that were fought tended to be decisive encounters that risked the deaths of the leaders and the potential destruction of the army as a fighting force, discouraging them from taking place.[380] The Wars of the Roses were anomalous in this regard; nobles had a great deal to lose by the ruin of the countryside in a protracted conflict, so they tended to deliberately seek pitched battles to resolve their grievances quickly and decisively.[348]

Battlefield

Decline of chivalry

The code of

Edward IV was noted by contemporary Philippe de Commines as ordering his troops to spare common soldiers and kill the nobles.[349] Ensuring the deaths of nobles in battle often led to one side wielding lopsided political control in the aftermath as a result, as occurred after Towton at which 42 captured knights were executed,[383] and Barnet, which irrevocably broke the influence of the powerful Neville family.[230] Nobles who escaped battle may be attainted, thereby being stripped of their lands and titles, and would therefore be of no value to a captor.[384]

Knights during the Wars of the Roses typically valued money, land, and sabotaging other factions, even within or allied to the same house, they perceived as not supporting them enough.[385]

Tactics, arms, and equipment

Much like their campaigns in France, the English gentry fought on foot.[386] Though heavy cavalry had been the dominant class of soldier on the medieval battlefield for centuries,[387] the relative inexpensiveness to train and outfit an infantryman compared to an expensive mounted knight incentivised leaders for expanding their use,[citation needed] and the late medieval battlefield saw an increased use of infantry and light cavalry.[388] In particular, English armies were characterised by their use of massed longbowmen, which often proved decisive in their encounters with French cavalry,[388] however, as the English nobility fought on foot, and due to advances in fluted plate armour, neither side possessed a decisive tactical advantage from the use of these archers.[389] An exception to this was at Towton, where the Yorkist archers took advantage of the high winds to extend their maximum range, dealing disproportionate damage to their Lancastrian opponents.[390][391]

English armies of the time tended to favour a mix between infantry equipped with

Crecy, these were crude ribauldequins firing metal arrows or simple grapeshot,[citation needed] and were rendered obsolete by the bombards that came in the late 15th century.[398] Bamburgh Castle, previously thought impregnable, was captured thanks to bombards in 1464.[399] Field artillery was used but sparingly; Northampton was the first battle on English soil to use artillery.[400] Early cannon were expensive to cast as they were often made from bronze,[401] as such few commanders were willing to risk their capture on the field; at Barnet in 1471, the Yorkist artillery withheld their fire so as not to betray their location.[402]

The invention of the blast furnace in Sweden in the mid-14th century increased and improved iron production,[403] which led to advances in plate armour to protect soldiers from the powerful crossbows, longbows, and the advent of gunpowder weaponry, such as the hand cannon and the arquebus, that began to emerge around the same time.[404] By the 15th century, plate armour had become cheaper than mail, although mail continued to be used to protect joints which could not be adequately protected by plate, such as the armpit, crook of the elbow, and groin.[405] Contrary to the popular preconception of medieval armour as excessively heavy,[406] a full suit of medieval armour in the 15th century seldom weighed more than 15 kg (33 lbs),[407] substantially less than the loads that modern ground combat troops carry.[408]

Recruitment

Half of an indenture contract, the randomly cut (or indented) edge at the top proves a match to the counterpart document

Following the climax of the

Percy-Neville feud, increasingly relied on their retainers to settle disputes. It became common practice for local landowners to bind their mesnie knights to their service with annual payments.[409] Edward III had developed a contractual system whereby the monarch entered into agreements named indentures with experienced captains who were obliged to provide an agreed-upon number of men, at established rates, for a given period. Knights, men-at-arms, and archers were often sub-contracted.[409] Skilled archers could often command wages as high as knights.[410] The complex feudal structures that existed in England enabled nobles to raise large retinues, with armies large enough that could challenge the power of the crown.[31][33]

Leadership

As the wars were a series of sporadic battles fought across a period of over 32 years, many of the key commanders fluctuated due to

executions, and possible assassinations. Some key commanders also defected between sides, such as Warwick the Kingmaker
.

Yorkists are those who supported the rival House of York's claims to the throne, over the incumbent Lancastrian dynasty.

Lancastrians are those who supported the Lancastrian claim to the throne, principally by supporting the incumbent monarch, Henry VI.

Tudors are those who supported Henry VII's claim to the throne by right of conquest in 1485.[305]

Yorkist rebels are Yorkists who, while not aligned with the claims of the Lancastrian dynasty, nevertheless rebelled against Edward IV during his reign.

Title Name Side Notes
King of England
Edward IV of England
 York First reign: 4 March 1461 – 3 October 1470
Second reign: 11 April 1471 – 9 April 1483
Died of natural causes on 9 April 1483[247]
King of England
Edward V of England
 York Reign: 9 April 1483 – 25 June 1483
Deposed by Richard III after a 78-day reign
One of the Princes in the Tower[411]
King of England
 Richard III of England  † York Reign: 26 June 1483 – 22 August 1485
Killed in battle at Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, the last English king to die in battle[304]
Queen consort of England
 Elizabeth Woodville York Consort to Edward IV
Mother to
Edward V and Elizabeth of York
Organised the alliance with Beaufort to promote Henry Tudor as a claimant to the throne[267]
Dowager Queen
 Tudor
Queen consort of England
 Anne Neville York Consort to Richard III
Died of natural causes on 16 March 1485[412]
Duke of York
Richard of York  †
 York Also Lord Protector
Killed in battle at Wakefield on 30 December 1460[413][143]
Earl of Rutland
 Edmund Plantagenet  † York Son of Richard of York
Killed in battle at Wakefield on 30 December 1460[139]
Duke of Clarence
George Plantagenet  Executed
 York Briefly joined the Lancastrians
Son of Richard of York
Executed for treason at the Tower of London on 18 February 1478[240]
Lancaster
Duke of Buckingham Henry Stafford  Executed York Defected to the Tudor cause
Tudor Grandson of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham
Buckingham's Rebellion on 2 November 1483[414]
Earl of Warwick Richard Neville
Warwick The Kingmaker  † 		York Defected from the Yorkist to the Lancastrian cause.
Killed in battle at Barnet on 14 April 1471[211]
Lancaster
Earl of Salisbury Richard Neville  Executed York Father of Warwick the Kingmaker
Executed after the Battle of Wakefield by Lancastrians on 31 December 1460[415]
Earl of Kent
William Neville
 York Uncle of Warwick the Kingmaker
Died of natural causes
on 9 January 1463
Viscount Fauconberg Thomas Neville York Son of William Neville, Earl of Kent
Defected from the Yorkists to the Lancastrians
Executed at Middleham Castle on 22 September 1471[416]
Lancaster
Marquess of Montagu John Neville  † York Younger brother of Warwick the Kingmaker
Defected from the Yorkist to the Lancastrian cause
Killed in battle at Barnet on 14 April 1471[417]
Lancaster
Baron Neville John Neville Lancaster Briefly defected from the Lancastrians to the Yorkists
Killed in battle at Ferrybridge on 28 March 1461[418]
York
Knight of the Realm Thomas Neville  † York Younger brother of Warwick the Kingmaker
Killed in battle at Wakefield on 30 December 1460[419]
Duke of Norfolk
John de Mowbray
 York
Died of natural causes on 6 November 1461[73]
Duke of Norfolk John Howard  † York Killed in battle at Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485[420]
Earl of Lincoln
John de la Pole  †
 York Killed in battle at Stoke Field on 16 June 1487[328]
Viscount Lovell
 Francis Lovell York Disappeared after the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485[328]
Earl of Pembroke
William Herbert  Executed
 York
Executed after the Battle of Edgcote on 27 July 1469[421]
Earl of Devon Humphrey Stafford  Executed York
Executed after the Battle of Edgcote on 27 July 1469[422]
Earl of Desmond Thomas FitzGerald X York Commanded Yorkist forces in Ireland
Assassinated in Drogheda in 1468[423]
Baron Hastings William Hastings  Executed York
Executed at the Tower of London on 20 June 1483[424]
King of England
 Henry VI of England  Surrendered Lancaster First reign: 1 September 1422 – 4 March 1461
Second reign: 3 October 1470 – 11 April 1471
Captured and imprisoned by the Yorkists
Died in unclear circumstances on 21 May 1471[11]
Prince of Wales Edward of Westminster  † Lancaster Son of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou
Killed in battle at Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471[425]
Queen consort of England
 Margaret of Anjou  Surrendered Lancaster Wife of Henry VI
Died of natural causes on 25 August 1482[426]
Duke of Somerset
Henry Beaufort  †
 Lancaster Killed in battle at St Albans on 22 May 1455[103]
Duke of Somerset Henry Beaufort  Executed Lancaster Son of Henry Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset
Executed after the Battle of Hexham on 15 May 1464[178]
Duke of Somerset Edmund Beaufort  Executed Lancaster Younger brother of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset
Executed after the Battle of Tewkesbury on 6 May 1471[427]
Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy  † Lancaster Killed in battle at Towton on 29 March 1461[citation needed]
Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy Lancaster Son of Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland
Duke of Buckingham Humphrey Stafford  † Lancaster Killed in battle at Northampton on 10 July 1460[132]
Earl of Shrewsbury John Talbot  † Lancaster Killed in battle at Northampton on 10 July 1460[428]
Duke of Exeter Henry Holland Lancaster
Died of natural causes in September 1475[429]
Earl of Wiltshire James Butler  Executed Lancaster
Executed after the Battle of Towton on 1 May 1461[citation needed
]
Earl of Devon John Courtenay  † Lancaster Killed in battle at Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471[430]
Earl of Oxford John de Vere Lancaster Later supported the Tudor claim to the throne under Henry VII
Tudor
Earl of Ormond John Butler Lancaster Commanded Lancastrian forces in Ireland
Died in the Holy Land of natural causes on 14 December 1476[431]
Viscount Beaumont
 John Beaumont  † Lancaster Killed in battle at Northampton on 10 July 1460[432]
Baron Audley James Tuchet  † Lancaster Killed in battle at Blore Heath on 23 September 1459[118]
Baron Clifford John Clifford  † Lancaster Killed in battle at Ferrybridge on 28 March 1461[433]
Baron Ros
Thomas de Ros  Executed
 Lancaster
Executed after the Battle of Hexham on 17 May 1464[179]
Knight of the Realm Andrew Trollope  † Lancaster Killed in battle at Towton on 29 March 1461[160]
Knight of the Realm Owen Tudor  Executed Lancaster Grandfather of Henry VII
Father of
Executed shortly after the Battle of Mortimer's Cross at Hereford on 2 February 1461[146]
Earl of Richmond Edmund Tudor  Surrendered Lancaster Father of Henry VII
Died of bubonic plague on 3 November 1456 while imprisoned at Carmarthen Castle[434]
Earl of Pembroke Jasper Tudor Lancaster Uncle of Henry VII
Tudor
King of England
 Henry VII of England Tudor Reign: 22 August 1485 – 21 April 1509
Inherited the Lancastrian claim
Defeated the Yorkists at Bosworth Field[435]
Countess of Richmond Lady Margaret Beaufort Tudor Mother of Henry VII
Orchestrated the rise of the
Tudor dynasty[290]
Earl of Shrewsbury George Talbot Tudor —
Baron Stanley Thomas Stanley Tudor Supported Henry VII late at the Battle of Bosworth Field[300]
Baron Strange George Stanley Tudor Son and heir apparent of Thomas Stanley
Knight of the Realm
William Stanley
 Tudor Younger brother of Thomas Stanley
Supported Henry VII late at the Battle of Bosworth Field
Baron Scales Edward Woodville Tudor —
Baron Willoughby de Eresby Robert Welles  Executed Yorkist rebel
Executed following the Battle of Losecoat Field on 19 March 1470[citation needed
]
Knight of the Realm Robin of Redesdale  † Yorkist rebel Reportedly killed in battle at Edgcote on 24 July 1469

Family tree

In literature

Chronicles written during the Wars of the Roses include:

  • Benet's Chronicle
  • Gregory's Chronicle (1189–1469)
  • Short English Chronicle
     (before 1465)
  • Hardyng's Chronicle: first version for Henry VI (1457)
  • Hardyng's Chronicle: second version for Richard, duke of York and Edward IV (1460 and c. 1464)
  • Hardyng's Chronicle: second "Yorkist" version revised for Lancastrians during Henry VI's Readeption (see Peverley's article).
  • Capgrave (1464)
  • Commynes
    (1464–98)
  • Chronicle of the Lincolnshire Rebellion (1470)
  • Historie of the arrival of Edward IV in England (1471)
  • Waurin (before 1471)
  • An English Chronicle: AKA Davies' Chronicle (1461)
  • Brief Latin Chronicle (1422–71)
  • Fabyan (before 1485)
  • Rous (1480/86)
  • Croyland Chronicle (1449–1486)
  • Warkworth's Chronicle (1500?)

Stories set within the Wars of the Roses include:

See also

Notes

  1. Francis II sheltered Henry Tudor
    , supplying him with money, troops, and ships. It was only after Francis fell ill that Henry was forced to flee Brittany to France.
  2. Francis II became ill, his treasurer, Pierre Landais
    , ruling the Duchy in his stead, aided Richard III in attempting to capture Henry Tudor.
  3. ^ Died in unclear circumstances
  4. died of natural causes
  5. ^ Deposed by Richard III after 78 days
  6. ^ "Every version of the complaints put forward by the rebels in 1450 harps on the losses in France"[5]
  7. ^ During Shakespeare's time people used the term Civil Wars, cf. e.g., the title of Samuel Daniel's work, the First Four Books of the Civil Wars
  8. ^ Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York is referred to in the text as "York."
  9. ^ There has been debate over Warwick's actual involvement in the plot.[205]
  10. ^ The date was not 29 September, as some sources state.[211][212]
  11. ^ Henry Tudor's claim to the throne was weak, owing to a declaration of Henry IV that barred the accession to the throne of any heirs of the legitimised offspring of his father John of Gaunt by his third wife Katherine Swynford. The original act legitimizing the children of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford passed by Parliament and the bull issued by the Pope in the matter legitimised them fully, making questionable the legality of Henry IV's declaration.
  12. Richard III in September 1483.[345]

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Bibliography

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