War of the Roses, 1455-1485

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Long running but intermittent civil war fought between the descendants of Edward III. Henry VI was descended from John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, third son of Edward III, while the house of York was descended from Edmund, duke of York, the fourth son. In 1399, Henry Bolingbroke, the son of Gaunt, had seized the throne from his cousin, Richard II. His dynasty was only to last for three generations, ending with Henry VI. Henry's reign began promisingly, and he was even crowned as King of France, but in 1453 the battle of Castillon marked the end of the Hundred Years War. Of all the lands in France once held by the kings of England, only Calais remained. To add to the nation's problems, in August 1453 Henry suffered from an attack of insanity that lasted for sixteen months. Richard of York was declared Protector of the Realm, and used his position to arrest Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, who with Queen Margaret of Anjou had dominated Henry. Unfortunately for York, the king recovered in December 1454, and York was forced to relinquish power, while Somerset regained his dominant position. In May 1455 the queen and Somerset called a meeting of the Council at Leicester, including none of York's supporters, while York, who had gathered his retainers together marched towards the king, in the company of Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, in an attempt to get a fair hearing.

The two sides came together at the first battle of St. Albans (22 May 1455). York defeated Somerset, who was killed, and seized control of Henry, regained the Protectorship, appointing Warwick captain of Calais. The next three years saw no more fighting, but political maneuvering. York soon lost the Protectorship (early 1456), and returned to Ireland, but Warwick refused to surrender Calais to the Queen, and it remained a Yorkist base. Fighting flared up again in 1459, starting with a Yorkist victory at the battle of Blore Heath (3 September 1459), but ending with the Rout of Ludford Bridge (12-13 October 1459), where York and Warwick were forced to flee after some of York's supporters changed sides.

York fled to Ireland, from where Warwick and Edward, earl of March, the second son of Richard of York, reappeared in June 1460. On 18 July they defeated a royal army at the battle of Northampton (18 July 1460), and captured King Henry. Richard returned from Ireland, and for the first time made attempted to claim the throne, before settling for being made heir, disinheriting Edward, prince of Wales, the son of Henry and Margaret. This was the high point of Richard's career. Margaret raised a new army in northern England, and Richard, along with his eldest son Edmund went north to deal with it, leaving Edward to deal with the situation in the west. Queen Margaret now led the Lancastrian army to victory at the battle of Wakefield (30 December 1460), killing both Richard of York and his son Edmund. After their victory, Margaret and the Lancastrian army moved towards London. Leadership of the Yorkists now fell to Edward, now duke of York. On 2 February 1461 he won the battle of Mortimer's Cross, defeated a Lancastrian army commanded by Jasper Tudor, earl of Pembroke, and after the battle ordered the execution of a group of captured Lancastrian nobles. This set a pattern for the rest of the war, and the death toll amongst members of the nobility was unusually high from this point onwards. Queen Margaret continued on her path, defeated Warwick at the Second battle of St. Albans (17 February 1461), and continued her slow march towards London.

Edward took advantage of this, and dashed to London, where on 4 March 1461 he declared himself King as Edward IV. Faced with this, Margaret retreated to Yorkshire, with Edward in pursuit. He caught her on 29 March 1461 at the battle of Towton, fought in a blizzard. Edward won, although Henry VI and his family escaped, and managed to reach Scotland. The battle left Edward relatively secure. On 15 May 1464 a Lancastrian invasion was defeated at the battle of Hexham, after which Henry went into hiding in a monastery, where he stayed for a year before being found and taken to London as a prisoner. From 1469, Edward and Warwick came into conflict. A Lancastrian revolt was put down in March 1470, and it was discovered that Warwick had inspired it. He fled to France, where he joined with Queen Margaret and planned a new Lancastrian invasion.

In September 1470 Warwick inspired a revolt in Yorkshire, and while Edward was in the north, landed at Dartmouth, freed Henry VI, and restored him. Edward fled to Flanders, and for a few months the Lancastrians were triumphant. However, in March 1471 Edward, with 1,500 men, landed at Ravenspur on the Humber, and managed to reach London despite the presence of several Yorkist armys, gaining support with every step. On 14 April he met Warwick's army at the battle of Barnet, and in the fog inflicted a crushing defeat on the Lancastrians, killing Warwick. The first part of the war now moved towards its tragic end. While Warwick was meeting defeat at Barnet, Margaret and Prince Edward were landing in England. With the remains of Warwick's army, they attempted to reach safety in Wales, but Edward caught up with them at Tewkesbury (4 May 1471). Prince Edward was killed, Queen Margaret captured, and the bulk of the Lancastrian nobility executed. Henry VI was killed a few days later. Edward IV was now free to enjoy the rest of his reign in peace.

After his death (9 April 1483), the final act of the war was played out. His young son Edward V was probably killed by Richard of Gloucester, Edward IV's younger brother, who took the throne as Richard III. Richard rapidly became unpopular, and in March 1485 Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven. On 22 August 1485, Henry defeated a much larger royal army at the battle of Bosworth, killing Richard, and becoming king Henry VII, finally ending the Wars of the Roses.

Books on the Middle Ages - Subject Index: War of the Roses

How to cite this article: Rickard, J. (6 January 2001), War of the Roses, 1455-1485, http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_roses.html

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