In the second half of the 15th century, Great Britain was rocked by a terrible civil war between supporters of the two branches of the ruling Plantagenet dynasty - the Lancasters and Yorks. Since, going into battle, Lancastrian supporters attached to their armor scarlet rose, and the symbol of York was white flower, behind the bloody events of 1455-85 light hand Walter Scott’s poetic name “War of the Scarlet and White Roses” stuck.
Background and causes of the conflict
Henry V Lancaster ruled Great Britain from 1413-22. He was one of the greatest commanders of his time and a talented ruler. Like his predecessors, Henry V fought the French in the fields Hundred Years' War. In this matter, Henry V achieved great success. He not only included part of the French possessions in his state and married the French princess Catherine of Valois, but also insisted that in the future his and Catherine’s son would become the king of both powers.
However, fate played a cruel joke on the English king. At the age of 35, he died of illness, and his heir, Henry VI, who received the throne at the age of one, became an adult and found himself not only deprived of his father’s talents, but also mentally ill.
Henry VI was rapidly losing control of the French lands where troops under the leadership of Joan of Arc were operating. In 1453, the Hundred Years' War ended with the loss of all English possessions on the continent, with the exception of the city of Calais. However, the internal affairs of the mad king were not much better. After defeat in the Hundred Years' War, the nobles decided that Henry VI, whose mental health was in recent years has seriously deteriorated and is in need of a regent. It was decided to make the king’s cousin, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, such. This proposal greatly frightened the queen, Margaret of Anjou, who believed that Richard would push her and Henry’s son, Edward, away from the throne. During periods of her husband's madness, the country was ruled by Margarita herself - an educated and powerful woman, however, she was not very popular among the British. Therefore, Margaret’s protests did not meet with support from the nobles (by that time a powerful party of large feudal lords had formed around the Duke of York) and Richard Plantagenet received the title of protector.
By 1455, Henry VI's condition had improved significantly and he decided to return to independent rule. Margaret insisted that the York party be expelled from the Great Royal Council. The Duke of York was not ready to give up his high title, so, having enlisted the support of the powerful Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, he gathered an army to regain the throne by force.
Thus, the causes of the War of the Scarlet and White Roses were:
- the results of the Hundred Years' War, which not only led to economic collapse, but also greatly damaged the authority of the royal power;
- peasant uprisings 1450-51;
- the attitude of the British towards the Frenchwoman Margaret of Anjou;
- political instability associated with the health of the English king;
- the crisis of patrimonial land ownership caused by outdated feudal orders;
- the presence of different branches of the Plantagenet dynasty fighting for power.
IN in a broad sense, the War of the Roses was not just a clash between different representatives royal family, but rather between two ways of life and economic systems. The ruling king and his wife were supported by the northern barons - staunch conservatives, whose possessions were located in the most economically backward region of the country, and residents of the economically developed southeast of England - merchants, artisans and the most progressive nobles - spoke for York.
Course of events
The first military clash between the Yorks and Lancasters took place in May 1455 at St. Albans. The army of Henry VI turned out to be smaller and weaker, so the victory remained with the White Rose. Many high-ranking Lancastrian supporters fell in this battle. The victory allowed the head of the White Rose to declare himself Lord High Constable of England and heir to Henry VI. Minor skirmishes between the two parties continued until 1460, when the Yorks inflicted a crushing defeat on the Lancastrians at Northampton. The king was captured by the Yorks, so Richard York was able to enter London unhindered. However, the fight was continued by Margaret of Anjou, who escaped captivity. Through her efforts, the Lancastrian supporters managed to defeat the Yorks at Wakefield that same year. In this battle, Richard York died without receiving the coveted English crown.
After the death of the Duke of York, his eldest son, Edward, became the head of the White Rose. In 1461, the new king inflicted several defeats on the Lancastrians. The largest was the Battle of Towton, as a result of which Henry VI was imprisoned in the Tower, and Margaret of Anjou and her son were forced to flee the country. After the victory, Edward York was crowned in London under the name of Edward IV, bypassing the legal heir to the throne. By decree of the new king, the Lancasters themselves and their supporters were declared traitors.
However, Edward IV could not find common language about your subjects. The king was distinguished by a tough character, which led to the fact that many of his supporters chose to go over to the Lancastrian camp. Among the defectors were the king’s younger brother, the Duke of Clarence, and the experienced intriguer Earl of Warwick, whom his contemporaries gave him the nickname “kingmaker.”
In 1470, the Lancastrians, having secured the support of new allies, opposed Edward IV. The young king was driven to Burgundy. Meanwhile, Warwick managed to free Henry VI and return him to his former place. Lancastrian king, whose mental state by that time it was completely shaken, did not participate in state affairs in any way, the powerful Earl of Warwick had real power at court. The “Kingmaker” planned in the future to replace the mad king from the Lancaster family with his younger brother, George. To achieve this, Earl Warwick carried out yet another intrigue: having provoked the Lancastrian opponents into yet another action, he convinced Henry VI to set out on an obviously failed punitive campaign. The king fell into a trap and the cunning count took him to one of his castles, supposedly for protection. In fact, to take prisoner. Henry VI realized too late that his former ally had betrayed him, but there was nothing he could do.
Meanwhile, Edward IV collected new army, made peace with the Duke of Clarence and resumed the fight for the throne. In 1471, he managed to inflict several serious defeats on the Lancastrians. In one of them the Earl of Warwick was killed. But the real disaster awaited the Lancasters near Tewkesbury. After the battle, this place was called the “bloody meadow.” In this battle, not only almost all Lancastrian supporters were destroyed, but also the only heir of Henry VI, Prince Edward. Margaret of Anjou and the young widow of the prince who died on the battlefield were captured by Edward IV. Henry VI outlived his son by only a few days. Shortly after the York victory in the “bloody meadow,” it was announced that Henry VI Lancaster had died of grief upon learning of the death of his son. Both historians and contemporaries of those events had every reason not to believe in the version that explained the death former king natural reasons. It is likely that Edward IV decided to get rid of the last legitimate contender for the English crown.
For some time, relative calm reigned in England. But in 1483 Edward IV of York died. By law, the throne was inherited by his young son under the name of Edward V of York. However, this decision was opposed by the boy’s uncle, Richard Gloucester, one of the younger brothers of the deceased king. He declared his brother's sons illegitimate and ordered that the boys be sent to the Tower. Historians know nothing more about their further fate. Apparently, the princes were killed and secretly buried on the orders of their uncle. So Richard III of Gloucester became the new English king. The new king set about establishing internal order, however, he had to face strong opposition in the form of the Yorks and the seemingly completely broken Lancasters.
The strength to resist returned to the Scarlet Rose camp after it was led by Henry Tudor, the grandson of Catherine of Valois and nephew of Henry VI. After the death of Henry V, Catherine Valois remained a young woman, so she soon began a secret affair with a Welsh nobleman, Owen Tudor. From this relationship the couple had six children, including the father of Henry Tudor.
In August 1485, Henry Tudor, who lived almost his entire life in France, set out with his army across the English Channel and landed on the English coast. Richard III met him on Bosworth Field. During the battle, many nobles left the camp of Richard III, running over to his enemy. The king himself was killed and Henry VII Tudor was proclaimed the new ruler of England. In 1487, one of Richard's nephews of Gloucester attempted to dethrone Henry VII, but the attempt failed. Thus, the civil war in England ended with the nominal victory of the Scarlet Rose, but in fact with the suppression of the Plantagenet dynasty.
Results of the War of the Roses in England
Henry VII managed to establish peace in the country. He married the daughter of Edward IV, as if uniting the Scarlet and White Roses together. However, the war ended, rather, due to the fact that the country was completely drained of blood, and from the huge noble clans only their most insignificant representatives remained, incapable of a serious struggle for power. The thirty-year conflict led to a number of varied consequences:
- establishment of Tudor power;
- complete extermination of the oldest and most distinguished English noble families. Although the Scarlet and White Roses were represented by compatriots, many of whom were related, the clashes between the two sides were marked by great bloodshed. Noble clans were slaughtered completely, including women, old people and children. No one was taken prisoner, the enemy was destroyed in the bud;
- England's complete renunciation of claims to French lands;
- the strengthening of the merchant class, which replaced the nobility and became the main social support of the Tudors.
The tragic events of the 15th century, replete with almost detective plot twists, became a source of inspiration for many authors: William Shakespeare with his plays “Henry VI” and “Richard III”, Walter Scott and George Martin.
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The Wars of Roses
WAR OF THE SCARLET AND WHITE ROSE.
THE WAR OF THE ROSE (The Wars of Roses) (1455-85), bloody internecine conflicts between feudal cliques in England, which took the form of a struggle for the throne between two lines of the Plantagenet royal dynasty: the Lancasters (in the coat of arms there is a scarlet rose) and the Yorks (in the coat of arms white rose). Causes of the war
Pichin:
The causes of the war were heavy economic situation England (the crisis of the large patrimonial economy and the fall in its profitability); the defeat of England in the Hundred Years' War (1453), which deprived the feudal lords of the opportunity to plunder the lands of France; the suppression of Jack Cad's rebellion in 1451 (see Cad Jack's rebellion) and with it the forces opposed to feudal anarchy. The Lancasters relied mainly on the barons of the backward north, Wales and Ireland, the Yorks - on the feudal lords of the economically more developed southeast of England. The middle nobility, merchants and wealthy townspeople, interested in the free development of trade and crafts, the elimination of feudal anarchy and the establishment of firm power, supported the Yorks.
Progress of the war:
The rivalry between the two dynasties in England resulted in a civil war that began in 1455. Since the last months of the Hundred Years' War, two branches of the Plantagenet family - York and Lancaster - have been fighting for the throne of England. The War of the Roses (York's coat of arms had a white rose, and Lancaster's had a scarlet one) put an end to the reign of the Plantagenets.
1450
England was going through difficult times. King Henry VI of Lancaster was unable to calm down the disagreements and strife between the major aristocratic families. Henry VI grew up weak-willed and sickly. Under him and his wife Margaret of Anjou, the Dukes of Somerset and Suffolk were given unlimited power.
In the spring of 1450, the loss of Normandy signaled collapse. Internecine wars are multiplying. The state is collapsing. The conviction and subsequent murder of Suffolk does not lead to peace. Jack Cad rebels in Kent and marches on London. Royal troops defeat Cad, but the anarchy continues.
The king's brother Richard, Duke of York, who was in exile in Ireland at that time, gradually strengthened his position. Returning in September 1450, he tries, with the help of Parliament, to reform the government and eliminate Somerset. In response, Henry VI dissolved Parliament. In 1453, the king lost his mind as a result of severe fright. Taking advantage of this, Richard York achieved the most important position - protector of the state. But Henry VI regained his sanity, and the Duke's position began to shake. Not wanting to give up power, Richard York gathers armed detachments of his followers.
Lancasters vs Yorks
York enters into an alliance with the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, who are armed with a strong army, which in May 1455 defeats the royal troops in the town of St. Albans. But the king again takes the initiative into his own hands for a while. He confiscates the property of York and his supporters.
York abandons the army and flees to Ireland. In October 1459, his son Edward occupied Calais, from where the Lancasters unsuccessfully tried to dislodge them. There he gathers a new army. In July 1460, the Lancastrians were defeated at Northampton. The king is in prison, and Parliament names York heir.
At this time, Margaret of Anjou, determined to defend the rights of her son, gathers her loyal subjects in the north of England. Taken by surprise by the royal army near Wakefield, York and Salisbury are killed. The Lancastrian army moves south, devastating everything in its path. Edward, the son of the Duke of York, and the Earl of Warwick, having learned about the tragedy, hastened to London, whose inhabitants joyfully greeted their army. They defeated the Lancastrians at Towton, after which Edward was crowned Edward IV.
Continuation of the war
Taking refuge in Scotland and supported by France, Henry VI still had supporters in the north of England, but they were defeated in 1464 and the king was imprisoned again in 1465. It seems that everything is over. However, Edward IV faces the same situation as Henry VI.
The Neville clan, led by the Earl of Warwick, who placed Edward on the throne, is starting a fight with Queen Elizabeth's clan. The king's brother, Duke of Clarence, is jealous of his power. Warwick and Clarence mutiny. They defeat the troops of Edward IV, and he himself is captured. But, flattered by various promises, Warwick releases the prisoner. The king does not keep his promises, and the struggle between them flares up with renewed vigor. In March 1470, Warwick and Clarence find refuge with the King of France. Louis XI, being a subtle diplomat, reconciles them with Margaret of Anjou and the House of Lancaster.
He did this so well that in September 1470 Warwick, supported by Louis XI, returned to England as a supporter of the Lancastrians. King Edward IV flees to Holland to join his son-in-law Charles the Bold. At the same time, Warwick, nicknamed the “kingmaker,” and Clarence restore Henry VI to the throne. However, in March 1471, Edward returned with an army financed by Charles the Bold. At Barnet, he wins a decisive victory - thanks to Clarence, who betrayed Warwick. Warwick is killed. The Lancastrian Southern Army is defeated at Tewkesbury. In 1471 Henry VI died (or possibly was assassinated), Edward IV returned to London.
Union of two roses
Problems arise again after the king's death in 1483. Edward's brother, Richard of Gloucester, who hates the queen and her supporters, orders the murder of the king's children in the Tower of London, and seizes the crown under the name of Richard III. This act makes him so unpopular that the Lancasters regain hope. Their distant relative was Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, son of the last of the Lancastrians and Edmond Tudor, whose father was a Welsh captain, bodyguard of Catherine of Valois (widow of Henry V), whom he married. This secret marriage explains the intervention in the discord of the Welsh dynasty.
Richmond, along with the supporters of Margaret of Anjou, weaves a web of conspiracy and lands in Wales in August 1485. The decisive battle took place on August 22 at Bosworth. Betrayed by many of his circle, Richard III was assassinated. Richard ascends the throne as Henry VII, then marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. The Lancasters become related to the Yorks, the War of the Roses ends, and the king builds his power on the union of the two branches. He introduces a system of strict control of the aristocracy. After the accession of the Tudor dynasty it is written new page in the history of England.
Half-term:
The War of the Scarlet and White Roses was the last rampant of feudal anarchy before the establishment of absolutism in England. It was carried out with terrible cruelty and was accompanied by numerous murders and executions. Both dynasties were exhausted and died in the struggle. For the population of England, the war brought strife, oppression of taxes, theft of the treasury, the lawlessness of large feudal lords, a decline in trade, outright robberies and requisitions. During the wars, a significant part of the feudal aristocracy was exterminated, and numerous confiscations of land holdings undermined its power. At the same time, land holdings increased and the influence of the new nobility and merchant class, which became the support of Tudor absolutism, increased.
Liquidation of the Middle Ages in England.
French mercenaries
Wars of the Roses- a series of armed conflicts between factions English nobility in -1487 in a power struggle between supporters of the two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty.
Causes of the war
The cause of the war was the dissatisfaction of a significant part of English society with the failures in the Hundred Years' War and the policies pursued by the wife of King Henry VI, Queen Margaret and her favorites (the king himself was a weak-willed person, moreover, sometimes falling into complete unconsciousness). The opposition was led by Duke Richard of York, who first demanded a regency over the incompetent king, and later the English crown. The basis for this claim was that Henry VI was the great-grandson of John of Gaunt, the third son of King Edward III, and York was the great-grandson of Lionel, the second son of this king (on the female side, by male line he was the grandson of Edmund - the fourth son of Edward III), in addition, Henry VI's grandfather Henry IV seized the throne in, forcibly forcing King Richard II to abdicate - which made the legitimacy of the entire Lancastrian dynasty questionable.
Origin of Scarlet and White Roses
The frequent statement that the Scarlet Rose was the coat of arms of Lancaster and the White Rose was the coat of arms of York is incorrect. As great-great-grandsons of Edward III, the heads of both parties had very similar coats of arms. Henry VI wore the Plantagenet family coat of arms (consisting of the coats of arms of England - three leopards on a scarlet field and France - three lilies on a blue field), and the Duke of York - the same coat of arms, only with a superimposed title. The roses were not coats of arms, but distinctive badges (badges) of two warring parties. It is not known exactly who used them for the first time. If the White Rose, symbolizing the Virgin Mary, was used as a distinctive sign by the first Duke of York Edmund Langley in the 14th century, then nothing is known about the use of Scarlet by the Lancastrians before the start of the war. Perhaps it was invented to contrast with the emblem of the enemy. Shakespeare, in his chronicle Henry VI, cites a scene (probably fictional) in which the Dukes of York and Somerset, who had quarreled in London's Temple Garden, invited their supporters to pick a white and a red rose, respectively.
Main events of the war
The confrontation reached the stage of open war when the Yorkists celebrated victory at the First Battle of St. Albans, shortly after which the English Parliament declared Richard York protector of the kingdom and heir to Henry VI. However, in the Battle of Wakefield, Richard York died. The White Rose Party was led by his son Edward, who was crowned Edward IV in London. In the same year, the Yorkists won victories at Mortimer Cross and Towton. As a result of the latter, the main forces of the Lancastrians were defeated, and King Henry VI and Queen Margaret fled the country (the king was soon caught and imprisoned in the Tower).
Active hostilities resumed when the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence (the younger brother of Edward IV), who had gone over to the Lancastrian side, returned Henry VI to the throne. Edward IV and his other brother, the Duke of Gloucester, fled to Burgundy, from where they returned to. The Duke of Clarence again went over to his brother's side - and the Yorkists won victories at Barnet and Tewkesberry. In the first of these battles, the Earl of Warwick was killed, in the second, Prince Edward, the only son of Henry VI, was killed, which, together with the death (probably murder) of Henry himself that followed in the Tower that same year, became the end of the Lancastrian dynasty.
Edward IV - the first king of the York dynasty - reigned peacefully until his death, which followed unexpectedly for everyone in 1483, when the king short time became his son Edward V. However, the royal council declared him illegitimate (the late king was a great lover of women and, in addition to his official wife, was secretly engaged to one or more women; in addition, Thomas More and Shakespeare mention rumors circulating in society that Edward himself was the son not of the Duke of York, but of a common archer), and Edward IV's brother Richard of Gloucester was crowned the same year as Richard III. His short and dramatic reign was filled with struggles against open and hidden opposition. In this fight, the king was initially favored by luck, but the number of opponents only increased. Lancastrian forces (mostly French mercenaries) led by Henry Tudor (the great-great-grandson of John of Gaunt on the female side) landed in Wales. At the Battle of Bosworth, Richard III was killed and the crown passed to Henry Tudor, who was crowned Henry VII, the founder of the Tudor dynasty. The Earl of Lincoln (nephew of Richard III) tried to return the crown to York, but was killed at the Battle of Stoke Field. Hugh de Lanois was also executed with abuse.
Results of the war
The War of the Roses actually brought an end to the English Middle Ages. On the battlefields, scaffolds and in prison casemates, not only all the direct descendants of the Plantagenets perished, but also a significant part of the English lords and knighthood.
Notes
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See what “War of the Scarlet and White Roses” is in other dictionaries:
This term has other meanings, see English Civil War. War of the Roses Presentation of an unreliable story ... Wikipedia
War of the Scarlet and White Roses- The War of the Scarlet and White Roses... Russian spelling dictionary
War of the Scarlet and White Roses- (in England, 1455–1485) ... Spelling dictionary of the Russian language
War of the Scarlet and White Roses Date 1455 1485 Place England Result Victory of the Lancastrians and their minions. Liquidation of the Middle Ages in England... Wikipedia
Long-term (1455 85) internecine war feudal cliques, which took the form of a struggle for the English throne between two lines of the royal Plantagenet dynasty (See Plantagenets): Lancaster (See Lancaster) (scarlet rose in the coat of arms) and York... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
War of the Scarlet and White Roses- (1455 1485) fight for English. the throne between two lateral lines of queens, the Plantagenet dynasty Lancaster (scarlet rose in the coat of arms) and York (white rose in the coat of arms). The confrontation between the Lancasters (the ruling dynasty) and the Yorks (the richest... ... The medieval world in terms, names and titles
Under King Henry VI of the Lancaster dynasty, his wife, Queen Margaret of Anjou, a Frenchwoman, really ruled the country. This displeased the Duke of York, the king's closest relative.
The Lancastrians (in their coat of arms there is a scarlet rose) were a side branch of the royal Plantagenet dynasty (1154-1399) and relied on the barons of the north of England, Wales and Ireland.
The Yorkies (with a white rose in their coat of arms) relied on the feudal lords of the economically more developed southeast of England. The middle nobility, merchants and wealthy townspeople also supported the Yorks.
The war that broke out between supporters of Lancaster and York was called the War of the Scarlet and White Roses. Despite the romantic name, this war was characterized by rare cruelty. The knightly ideals of honor and loyalty were forgotten. Many barons, pursuing personal gain, violated the oath of vassal allegiance and easily moved from one warring side to another, depending on where they were promised a more generous reward. Either the Yorks or the Lancasters won the war.
Richard, Duke of York, defeated the Lancastrian supporters in 1455, and in 1460 captured Henry VI and forced the Upper House of Parliament to recognize himself as protector of the state and heir to the throne.
Queen Margaret fled to the north and returned from there with an army. Richard was defeated and died in battle. By order of the queen, his severed head, crowned with a crown of gilded paper, was displayed above the gates of the city of York. The knightly custom of sparing the vanquished was violated - the queen ordered the execution of all York supporters who surrendered.
In 1461, Edward, the eldest son of the murdered Richard, defeated the Lancastrian supporters with the support of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. Henry VI was deposed; he and Margaret fled to Scotland. The winner was crowned at Westminster as King Edward IV.
The new king also ordered the heads of all noble captives to be cut off. The head of the king's father was removed from the city gates of York, replacing it with the heads of those executed. By a decision of parliament, the Lancastrians, living and dead, were declared traitors.
However, the war did not end there. In 1464, Edward IV defeated Lancastrian supporters in the north of England. Henry VI was captured and imprisoned in the Tower.
The desire of Edward IV to strengthen his power and weaken the power of the barons led to the transition of his former supporters, led by Warwick, to the side of Henry VI. Edward was forced to flee England, and Henry VI was restored to the throne in 1470.
In 1471, Edward IV, who returned with an army, defeated the troops of Warwick and Margaret. Warwick himself and Henry VI's young son Edward, Prince of Wales, fell in the battles.
Henry VI was again deposed, captured and brought to London, where he died (presumably murdered) in the Tower. Queen Margaret survived, finding refuge outside the country - a few years later she was ransomed from captivity by the French king.
Edward IV's closest associate was his younger brother Richard of Gloucester. Short in stature, with a left hand that was inactive from birth, he nevertheless fought bravely in battles and commanded troops. Richard remained faithful to his brother even in the days of defeat.
After the death of Edward IV in 1485, the throne was to be inherited by the eldest of his sons, twelve-year-old Edward V, but Richard removed him from power and first declared himself protector of the child king, and later declared his nephews illegitimate and himself accepted the crown under the name Richard III.
Both princes - Edward V and his ten-year-old brother - were imprisoned in the Tower. At first, the boys were still seen playing in the courtyard of the Tower, but when they disappeared, rumors spread that they were killed by order of the king. Richard III did nothing to refute these rumors.
Richard III tried to pursue a reasonable policy and began to restore the country devastated by the war. However, his attempts to strengthen his power displeased the major feudal lords.
Supporters of the Lancasters and Yorks united around a distant relative of the Lancasters - Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who lived in exile in France. In 1485, he landed with an army on the British coast.
Richard III hastily gathered troops and moved towards him. At the decisive moment of the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Richard III was betrayed by his entourage, and his personal courage could no longer influence anything. When they brought him a horse to escape, Richard refused to flee, declaring that he would die a king. Already surrounded by enemies, he continued to fight. When he was dealt a fatal blow to the head with a battle ax, the crown fell off his helmet, and immediately on the battlefield it was placed on the head of Henry Tudor.
Thus ended the War of the Scarlet and White Roses, which lasted three decades (1455-1485). Most of the ancient nobles died in the battles. England began to be ruled by Henry VII, the founder of the new Tudor dynasty (1485-1603). Trying to reconcile the Lancasters and Yorks, Henry VII married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth and combined both roses in his coat of arms.
Having come to power, Henry VII did everything to discredit his former enemy, presenting him as an evil hunchback who paved the way to the throne over the corpses of his relatives. The accusation of cold-blooded murder of his young nephews fell especially hard on Richard. There is no direct evidence of his guilt, and the death of the scions of the House of York was much more beneficial for Henry VII himself than for Richard. The mystery of the disappearance and death of the young princes remains unsolved to this day.
The history of the War of the Roses became the source of the historical chronicles of W. Shakespeare “Henry VI” and “Richard III”, as well as the novel “Black Arrow” by R. L. Stevenson.
The Wars of the Roses (1455 - 1485) - the struggle for the English throne between two side branches of the Plantagenet royal dynasty - Lancaster (coat of arms with a scarlet rose) and York (coat of arms with a white rose). The confrontation between the Lancasters (the ruling dynasty) and the Yorks (the rich aristocratic feudal family) began with separate non-war clashes that took place both before and after the war. The war ended with the victory of Henry Tudor of the Lancastrian dynasty, who founded a dynasty that ruled England and Wales for 117 years.
Reasons
The cause of the war between the two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty - Lancaster and Nork (note that the traditional name for this confrontation appeared already in the 19th century thanks to Walter Scott) - was the dissatisfaction of the nobility with the policies of the weak-willed King Henry VI from the Lancaster branch, who was defeated in the Hundred Years' War with France. The instigator of the conflict was Richard of York, who was eager for the crown.
Confrontation. Course of events
2 years after the Hundred Years' War, an internecine war began in England that would last 30 years. 1455 - the confrontation first moved to the battlefield. The Duke of York gathered his vassals and marched with them to London. 1455, May 22 at the Battle of St. Albans he was able to defeat the supporters of the Scarlet Rose. Soon removed from power, he again rebelled and declared his claims to the English crown. With an army of his followers, he won victories over the enemy at Bloor Heath (September 23, 1459) and North Hampton (July 10, 1460); in the latter he captured the king, after which he forced the upper house to recognize himself as protector of the state and heir to the throne.
However, Queen Margaret, wife of Henry VI, and her supporters suddenly attacked him at Wakefield (December 30, 1460). Richard's troops were completely defeated, and he himself died in battle. The victors cut off his head and displayed it on the wall of York wearing a paper crown. His son Edward, supported by the Earl of Warwick, defeated the supporters of the Lancastrian dynasty at Mortimers Cross (February 2, 1461) and Towton (March 29, 1461). Henry VI was deposed; Margaret fled to Scotland, and the king was soon caught and imprisoned in the Tower. The severed heads of defeated opponents were placed on the city gates of York, in the place where the head of the defeated Richard had previously stood. The winner became King Edward IV.
The confrontation continues
1470 - The Lancastrians, thanks to the betrayal of King Edward IV's brother, Duke of Clarence, were able to expel Edward and returned Henry VI to the throne. Soon Edward IV, who had fled to the mainland, returned with an army, and the Duke of Clarence again went over to his brother’s side. This brought victory to the Yorks in 1471 at the Battle of Tewkesbury. The son and heir of King Henry VI, Edward, died in it, and soon the unfortunate king himself was killed in the Tower. This marked the end of the Lancastrian branch of the Plantagenet dynasty.
Richard III
There came a break in the wars, which seemed to many to be its end. Edward IV confidently ruled England until he died unexpectedly in 1483 on the eve of his 41st birthday. His son, 12-year-old Edward V, was supposed to become the new monarch, but he suddenly found a formidable rival. This time it was not Lancaster, but York - another younger brother of Edward IV, Richard of Gloucester.
During the War of the Scarlet and White Roses, Richard remained faithful to his brother, not abandoning him even in the days of defeat. And after his death, he declared his rights to the crown, declaring the sons of his deceased brother illegitimate. Two young princes were imprisoned in the Tower, and Richard of Gloucester was proclaimed king under the name Richard III.
What happened to his nephews is still unknown even five centuries later. According to the most common version, the crowned uncle ordered them to be killed. Be that as it may, the princes disappeared forever.
Accession of the Tudors
However, there was no peace in the state, opposition to the Yorks intensified, and in 1485 a detachment of French mercenaries who arrived from the mainland landed in Wales, who were hired by Lancaster supporters led by Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who had no rights to the throne.
1485, August 22 - at the Battle of Bosworth, Henry Tudor was able to defeat King Richard III. Richard III himself was knocked off his horse and immediately stabbed to death. Thus the York branch was severed. The winner, Henry Tudor, was crowned Henry VII immediately after the battle in a nearby church. Thus the new royal dynasty of the Tudors was founded.
Results of the war
In the end civil wars The Scarlet and White Rose, the former Plantagenet dynasty, due to the strife of the clans, left the political arena, the state was ruined, the English possessions on the continent (except Calais) were lost, and many of the aristocratic families suffered colossal damage, which made it possible for Henry VII to curb them. Not only the descendants of the Plantagenets died on the battlefield, scaffolds and in prisons, but also a significant part of the English lords and knighthood.
From the accession of the Tudors, English historians count the New Age as a period of strengthening centralized royal power, weakening the aristocracy and the rise of the bourgeoisie to leading positions.