THE LONG AND BLOODY ENMOMOUS TWO OF THE MOST NOBLE ENGLISH Families, WHICH WENT INTO HISTORY UNDER THE CALL “WAR OF THE SCARLET AND WHITE ROSE,” BROUGHT TO THE THRONE A NEW ROYAL DYNASTY—THE TUDORS. THE WAR OBLIGATED ITS ROMANTIC NAME TO THE fact that NOT THE COAT OF ARMS OF ONE OF THE RIVAL PARTIES - THE YORKS - WAS DEEPICTED A WHITE ROSE, BUT ON THE COAT OF ARMS OF THEIR OPPONENTS - THE LANCASTERS - A SCARLET.
In the middle of the 15th century. England survived hard times. Having been defeated in the Hundred Years' War, the English nobility, deprived of the opportunity to periodically plunder French lands, plunged into a showdown of internal relations. King Henry VI Lancaster was unable to stop the feuds of the aristocracy. Sick (Henry suffered from bouts of madness) and weak-willed, he almost completely handed over the reins of power to the Dukes of Somerset and Suffolk. The signal that foreshadowed the approach of serious unrest was Jack Cad's rebellion, which broke out in Kent in 1451. The royal troops, however, managed to defeat the rebels, but anarchy in the country was growing.
WHITE STARTS BUT DOESN'T WIN.
Richard, Duke of York, decided to take advantage of the situation. In 1451, he tried to increase his influence by opposing the king's all-powerful favorite, the Duke of Somerset. Members of parliament who supported Richard York even dared to proclaim him heir to the throne. However, Henry VI unexpectedly showed firmness and dissolved the rebellious parliament.
In 1453, Henry VI lost his mind as a result of a strong shock. This is the opportunity for Richard to achieve the most important position - protector of the state. But the Disease receded, and the king again ousted his ambitious brother. Not wanting to give up his dreams of the throne, Richard began to gather supporters for a decisive battle. Having concluded an alliance with the Earl of Salisbury and Warwick, who had strong armies, he moved against the king in the spring of 1455. The war of the two roses has begun.
The first battle took place in the small town of St. Albans. Earl Warwick and his detachment entered through the gardens from the rear and struck the royal troops. This decided the outcome of the battle. Many of the king's supporters, including Sommerset, died, and Henry VI himself was captured.
However, Richard's triumph did not last long. Queen Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI, who stood at the head of the supporters of the Scarlet Rose, managed to remove York from power. Richard again rebelled and defeated the Lancastrians at the battles of Blore Heath (September 23, 1459) and Northampton (July 10, 1460), and in the latter battle King Henry was again captured. But Margaret of Anjou, who remained free, unexpectedly attacked Richard and defeated his troops at the Battle of Wakefill (December 30, 1460). Richard himself fell on the battlefield, and his head, wearing a paper crown, was displayed for all to see on the wall of York.
WHITE WIN, BUT NOT FOR LONG.
However, the war was still far from over. Having learned about the death of his father, Richard's son Edward, Earl of March, forms the Yorks in the Welsh possessions new army. Forces are gathering in the Wigmore and Ledlo area. On February 3, 1461, the two armies met in a decisive battle at Mortimer's Cross (Herefordshire). The supporters of the White Rose won an undoubted victory. The Lancastrians left the battlefield with 3,000 casualties.
Meanwhile, Queen Margaret of Anjou, with Henry VI's only heir, Prince Edward, and a huge army, rushed to the rescue of her husband. Having unexpectedly attacked the enemy, in February of the same year she defeated the White Rose supporter Earl of Warwick in St. Albans and freed her husband.
Inspired by the victory, Margarita decides to unite with the army of Jasper Tudor and march on London. And the Earl of March and Warwick head towards the Allied camp in the Cotswolds. Only by a miracle did the Scarlet and White manage to avoid a meeting, which would have been extremely undesirable primarily for the Yorks. Entering London, the queen's army began to loot and terrorize the townspeople. Eventually, riots began in the city, and when March and Warwick approached the capital, Londoners joyfully opened the gates to them. On 4 March 1461, Edward March was proclaimed King Edward IV, and on 29 March he dealt a crushing blow to the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton. The deposed king and his wife are forced to flee to Scotland.
Backed by France, Henry VI still had supporters in the north of England, but they were defeated in 1464 and the king was imprisoned again.
WHITE WINS.
At this moment, strife begins in the White Rose camp. The Earl of Warwick, who leads the Neville clan, teams up with Edward's brother Duke of Clarence and raises a rebellion against the newly enthroned king. They defeat the troops of Edward IV, and he himself is captured. But, flattered by tempting promises, Warwick releases the king. Edward does not keep his promises, and enmity between former like-minded people flares up with renewed vigor. On July 26, 1469, at Edgecote, Warwick defeated the royal army commanded by the Earl of Pembroke and executed the latter along with his brother Sir Richard Herbert. Now Warwick, through the mediation of King Louis XI of France, goes over to the side of the Lancastrians, but just a year later he is defeated and dies at the Battle of Barnet.
Margaret of Anjou returns home from France just on the day of defeat. The news from London shocked the queen, but her determination did not leave her. Having gathered an army, Margaret leads it to the Welsh border to join the army of Jasper Tudor. But Edward IV overtakes the Scarlets and defeats them in the battle of Tewkesbury. Margarita is captured; the only heir, Henry VI, fell on the battlefield; the latter died (or was killed) in captivity that same year. Edward IV RETURNED TO LONDON, AND THE COUNTRY WAS RELATIVELY CALM UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1483.
WHITE AND SCARLET ROSES ON ONE COAT OF ARMS
A new drama unfolds with the death of the king. Edward's brother, Richard Gloucester, joins the struggle for power. According to the law, the throne had to pass to the son of the deceased monarch - the young Edward V. Lord Rivers, the queen's brother, sought to speed up the coronation. However, Richard managed to intercept Rivers with the young heir and his younger brother on the way to London. Rivers was beheaded and the princes were taken to the Tower. Later, the uncle apparently ordered the murder of his nephews. He himself takes possession of the crown under the name of Richard III. This act makes him so unpopular that the Lancasters regain hope. Together with the offended Yorks, they unite around Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, a distant relative of the Lancastrians who lived in France.
In August 1485, Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven, passed through Wales unmolested and joined forces with his followers. Richard III was defeated by their united army at the Battle of Bosworth on August 22, 1485. The usurper king was killed in this battle. Henry VII, the founder of the Tudor dynasty, ascended the English throne. Having married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth, the heiress of York, he combined scarlet and white roses in his coat of arms.
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 Lancaster 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. That 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
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
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
A long (1455 85) internecine war of feudal cliques, which took the form of a struggle for the English throne between two lines of the royal Plantagenet dynasty (See Plantagenet): 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
History report
on the topic:
"War of the White and Scarlet Roses."
Completed the job:
Student of 6th grade "B"
GBOU "School No. 883"
Moscow North-Western Administrative District
Latyntsev Mikhail
2017-11-25
22,312
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).
Reasons:
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 two dynasties in England resulted in civil war, which 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. Multiplying internecine wars. 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 at that time in exile in Ireland, 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.
Consequences:
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.
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 the difficult economic situation of England (the crisis of large patrimonial farming 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 at that time in exile in Ireland, 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 interference 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, a new page was written 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.
You can’t help but be amazed at the time frame during which they were carried out. Just think about it - ! Sieges of castles and cities lasted for years, and sometimes decades! So the war, called very romantically, the War of the Scarlet and White Roses, lasted for three whole decades.
In fact, of course, there was nothing romantic in this war. Like any other war, it was bloody and dirty, driven by the ambitions of a few that resulted in the death and suffering of thousands upon thousands of innocents. This war was caused by the struggle for the English throne between two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty - the Lancasters, whose coat of arms was decorated with a scarlet rose, and the Yorks, on whose coat of arms, respectively, there was a white rose.
Ended Hundred Years' War between England and France, thousands of disappointed people began to return to Foggy Albion. England lost the war! Henry the Sixth of Lancaster, King of England, not only suffered from bouts of madness, but also, in moments of rare enlightenment, was not particularly eager to rule the country. He preferred a quiet, secluded life, rather than the routine of government affairs, and even more so, war. So, in fact, England was ruled by the king's wife, Margaret of France (Valois) and her many entourage. But disappointment and awareness of the bitterness of defeat in the war with France somehow did not add to the queen’s people’s love.
Richard of York was the first to declare that royal power in the hands of a woman is an absolutely unacceptable matter. And the fact that this woman was also French made the queen the first enemy of the state. Richard of York demanded guardianship, that is, regency over the incompetent king, and after his death, the English crown. And Richard had every reason for such high demands. King Henry the Sixth was the great-grandson of King Edward the Third's third son, John of Gaunt, and Richard York himself was the great-grandson of Edward's second son, Lionel, although on the female side. On the male side, Richard of York was the grandson of the fourth son of Edward the Third, Edmund. Well, and on top of that, the fact that Henry the Sixth’s grandfather, Henry the Fourth Lancaster, forced him to abdicate the throne, seizing power in 1399, cast doubt on the legitimacy, in general, of the entire royal Lancaster dynasty.
Richard York found support from many families of the English aristocracy. The second half of the nobility sided with the Lancasters. And so a bloody civil strife ensued, dividing the country into two irreconcilable warring camps for thirty years. (The war lasted from 1455 to 1485.) In this war, the Yorks periodically won, the Lancasters periodically won, and their supporters often forgot their vassal oaths and ran from camp to camp. In a word, in this war all the knightly ideals of that time were forgotten and trampled upon. The word “loyalty” lost all meaning for many nobles; they easily changed their political convictions as soon as one of the parties to this great confrontation lured them with a more generous reward. This war was also distinguished by rare cruelty even for that time. In 1455, Richard of York defeated the Lancastrian army, took King Henry the Sixth himself prisoner and forced the Upper House of Parliament to recognize himself as regent and heir to the throne. Queen Margaret, of course, did not agree with this decision.
She fled north and soon returned to England with an army of thousands. She won the battle by ordering the head of the already dead Richard, who died in this battle, to be cut off. The head was decorated with a paper crown, painted gold, and it remained adorned over the gates of the city of York for a long time. Queen Margaret also violated the knightly custom of leaving life to all the vanquished. She ordered the execution of all supporters of Richard York who surrendered. The son of the murdered Richard of York, Edward, in 1461, with the support of the Earl of Warwick, gathered an army and defeated the Lancastrians, forcing Margaret to flee to Scotland again. Henry the Sixth, who by that time hardly understood what was happening in the country, was deposed, and Edward was crowned at Westminster as the new English monarch under the name of Edward the Fourth. The new king decided to follow Margaret's example and ordered the heads of all noble supporters of the Lancastrians to be cut off. But the war did not end there either. The weak-minded King Henry was imprisoned in the Tower, and Edward's fanatical desire to strengthen his power, while weakening the power of his barons, only led to the fact that his former supporters sided with Henry the Sixth.
As a result, King Edward was forced to flee England. The unfortunate King Henry was again seated on the English throne in 1470. A year later, Edward returned with an army and again won the crown for himself. Now, just in case, he decided to kill the king, whom he immediately imprisoned again in the Tower, announcing to everyone that he had died from some kind of strange illness. Queen Margaret was redeemed from captivity by the French king a few years later. After Edward's death, the throne was to be inherited by his eldest son, Edward the Fifth, but he was removed from power by Richard of Gloucester, the younger brother of the late king. He declared himself protector, and later heir to the throne, subsequently ordering Edward and his younger brother to be imprisoned in the Tower, where they were killed.
Richard III tried to pursue a wise policy, trying to restore the country after thirty years of military devastation. His actions were not to the liking of many feudal lords, and former supporters of the Lancasters and Yorks began to unite around a new contender for the throne, a distant relative of the Lancasters, who lived in France in exile. In 1485, Henry's troops landed on the English coast. Richard the Third hurried with his army to meet them. At the Battle of Bosworth, at the most crucial moment, supporters of Richard III betrayed him, going over to the enemy’s side. But the king refused to run, even when someone brought him a horse. He decided to die as a king. A fatal blow to the head with a battle ax caused the crown to fly off the helmet. She was immediately lifted from the bloody slurry and placed on the head of Henry Tudor. Thus ended the three-decade war between Lancaster and York. Henry Tudor combined Scarlet and White roses, taking as his wife the daughter of Edward the Fourth, Elizabeth.