The wars of roses (1455-1485)

T he Wars of Roses is the name commonly applied to a series of civil wars that arose out of a dynastic struggle between two main branches of the English royal house, the House of York and the House of Lancaster. The emblem of the House of York was the white rose. Although tradition has it that the red rose was the badge of Lancaster, that is probably not true.

The first king in the Lancastrian line was Henry IV, who had deposed his corrupt and tyrannical cousin, Richard II, and assumed the throne. Medieval notions of hereditary rights and the divine right of kings were such that Henry IV’s right to the throne he had gained by usurpation was never entirely accepted, and his reign was troubled by civil unrest and a seemingly endless series of uprisings. His son, Henry V, directed his nobles’ hostile energies outward by declaring war on France. His spectacular triumph over a vastly superior French force at the Battle of Agincourt (1415) made him a national hero. As one of the terms of the peace treaty he married the French king’s daughter, Princess Katherine, thus giving himself and his heirs a place in the French succession. Henry V was a soldier at heart, and he was soon off to fight again. He died rather suddenly in 1422. After his death the country was subject to the long and factious minority of Henry VI. A marriage was arranged for him with Margaret of Anjou, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the Duke of Anjou. Forceful and ambitious, young Margaret had no trouble controlling her easily led husband. Margaret and her favourites at court comprised a faction that arranged everything to increase their own wealth and power.

Henry, who inherited from his maternal grandfather a tendency toward insanity, lapsed into a state of catatonia in 1453. This provided an opening for a powerful faction led by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (called the “kingmaker”) to make Richard, Duke of York, Protector of the Realm. Ironically, Richard of York had a better hereditary claim to the throne than Henry VI did, because York was descended from the second son of King Edward III, while Henry was descended from John of Gaunt, Edward’s third son, whose line had gained the throne by means of Henry IV’s deposing of Richard II. York’s personality was also far better suited to kingship than was Henry’s.

The first military action of the Wars of Roses was the battle of Saint Alban’s (22 May 1455), which resulted in a decisive victory for the Duke of York. York’s innocent intentions at this point are shown by the fact that although he had the king in his power, he made no effort to depose him, or even to impose demands on him. Instead, he apologized for having raised arms against his sovereign and presented a list of grievances. They established an uneasy truce that lasted for four years.

Civil war resumed in 1459. Both sides won victories and suffered defeats, but the Earl of Warwick decisively defeated the Lancastrian forces at Northampton (1460). In a dramatic gesture before the assembled lords, York attempted to claim the throne by marching up to it and laying his hand possessively on it. He was repulsed by the shocked silence that greeted this gesture. Realizing he would lose support if he attempted to depose Henry, York settled for being named Henry’s heir. Margaret, of course, refused to accept this compromise, which effectively disinherited her son, Edward.

Gathering her forces, Margaret continued her struggle against York. In 1461, the Lancastrian army surprised York and killed him at Wakefield. Warwick was also defeated at this time, at the second battle of Saint Alban’s.

York’s own son Edward, already at eighteen a charismatic military leader, defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimer’s Cross (1461), and reached London before Margaret’s forces could get there. He assumed the throne as Edward IV in March of 1461. His armies pursued Margaret and completely defeated her forces at Towton, though Henry, Margaret, and their son Edward escaped to Scotland.

Edward then reigned peacefully until his death (1483). His twelve-year-old son Edward succeeded him as Edward V, but his uncle, Edward IV’s youngest brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, usurped the throne as Richard III. Even the Yorkist supporters were outraged at Richard’s bold move, especially as the boy king Edward and his younger brother Richard were imprisoned in the Tower and died mysteriously there.

The alienated nobles threw their support behind Henry Tudor, the claimant from the House of Lancaster. With their air and that of the French, his forces defeated Richard’s army at the Battle of Bosworth Field (1485). Richard himself was killed in a bold but futile charge against the rebels, and Henry Tudor then assumed the throne as King Henry VII, the first king in the Tudor dynasty. Thus did the Wars of Roses end at last. After decades of bloody civil war, the English people were grateful for the peace and prosperity they experienced under Henry VII, who reigned until his death from tuberculosis in 1509.

The Wars of Rose broke the feudal power of the nobles and effectively marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. Many of the ruling nobles had been slain during the wars, and their estates were confiscated by the Crown.

Lawlessness had torn England since the beginning of the Hundred Years’ War. It grew even worse during the Wars of Roses. Not enough able leaders remained to maintain law and order. It was said that “few would venture alone into the country by day and fewer still into the towns by night.” The people longed for a strong government that would bring peace and prosperity. Henry VII seized the opportunity to reestablish the royal power and to launch policies that marked the beginning of modern England.)