The War of the Roses

Podcast Transcript

For thirty years between 1455 and 1485, England suffered its greatest civil war at that point.

The war was ultimately over succession to the throne and who should be king. Two great houses fought for the crown, and each of the houses usurped the crown from the other.

The period was filled with death and bloodshed, and when the dust settled, it left England a changed country and set the stage for its later ascension.

Learn more about the War of the Roses, its causes, and its resolution on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.

The War of the Roses was one of the most important events in English history, and it produced some of its most important figures.

Before I begin, I should note that things can get confusing because this story has multiple Henries, Richards, and Edwards.

It all started with King Edward III.

Edward was a formidable king. His father, Edward II, was a disaster as king, but Edward III turned England into a military power. He reigned for over 50 years and died in 1377 at the age of 64.

It was Edward III who began the period known as the Hundred Years War with France because of his claims to the French throne.

His son, the heir apparent to the throne, was Edward the Black Prince, who died one year before his father in 1376 at the age of 45.

When King Edward died, the crown passed to his grandson, Richard, the son of Edward the Black Prince, who, at the age of 10, became known as Richard II.

Richard was not a popular king. His early reign was marked by dependence on unpopular advisors and financial crises stemming from the Hundred Years’ War.

As an adult, Richard’s efforts to consolidate power included bypassing Parliament, confiscating lands from powerful nobles, and favoring a small circle of loyalists, which bred resentment.

His extravagant lifestyle and disregard for traditional governance norms further eroded his support. The final blow came in 1399 when his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, capitalized on widespread discontent and Richard’s absence in Ireland to raise an army and usurp the throne.

Richard’s subsequent capture and forced abdication marked the end of his reign. He died in captivity under suspicious circumstances in 1400.

Henry Bolingbroke became King Henry IV. His claim to the throne came from the fact that his father was John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who was the fourth son of Edward III and the third surviving son.

Richard II had no children.

This does get kind of confusing, so just to explain, when Richard abdicated, having no son, the line of succession would go back up the family tree. Edward the Black Prince had no other son, so you go back to Edward III. His second surviving son had no sons, so it would then go to John of Gaunt, the third son, and his first son, Henry.

That was the argument.

This line became known as Lancasters because John of Gaunt was the Duke of Lancaster.

Henry IV died in 1413, putting his son Henry V on the throne.

Henry V had a short reign of only nine years but was marked by military brilliance and the height of English power during the Hundred Years’ War.

He died in 1422, and his son, Henry VI, ascended to the throne.

Henry VI turned out to be a weak and ineffective king. He suffered from periodic bouts of mental illness and was unable to provide strong leadership or resolve disputes among his nobles.

His incapacity left the government in the hands of his wife, Margaret of Anjou, and various factions, creating instability.

For much of his reign, he had no male heir, which made for controversy as to the line of succession.

During this period, a senior nobleman with a strong claim to the throne, Richard, Duke of York, positioned himself as a protector of England during Henry VI’s incapacity.

Richard of York had his own claim to the throne based on two separate lines of succession:

The first was through Edward III’s second son, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, via his granddaughter Anne Mortimer. Under this argument, the descendants of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, the second son, would have precedent over John of Gaunt, the father of Henry IV, the third son.

The second was through Edward III’s fourth son, Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, whose descendants had a strong male-line claim but ranked lower in seniority. Richard of York was a direct male descendant of Edward III by this route.

Moreover, the Yorks viewed the Lancasters as usurpers because of how Henry IV forced the abdication of Richard II.

Richard of York and his descendants are known as the Yorks because of his position as Duke of York.

Again, I know this can be confusing, so let me simplify:

The Lancaster claim to the throne comes through a direct male descendent of Edward III’s third son.

The York claim comes via the female line of Edward III’s second son and a direct male line from his fourth son.

Here, I should note that the Lancasters and the Yorks were branches of the same family, which history knows as the Plantagents. The name derives from Henry II’s father, Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, the husband of Empress Maud, whose story I covered in the episode on The Anarchy of the 12 Century.

As the reign of Henry VI fell apart, York’s claim to the throne gained support from discontented nobles who resented the dominance of the Lancastrian faction, especially Margaret of Anjou’s allies.

Things came to a head on May 22, 1455, at the Battle of St Albans, which was the first major battle of the Wars of the Roses.

The war was called the War of the Roses because the crest of House Lancaster was a red rose, and that of house York was a white rose.

Fought in the streets of the Hertfordshire town, the Yorkist forces, led by Richard, Duke of York, and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, decisively defeated the Lancastrians commanded by Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset.

The battle resulted in the death of Somerset and the capture of King Henry VI, who was found disoriented but unharmed. The Yorkists claimed they acted to “protect the king” from poor advisors, but their victory marked the beginning of a violent struggle for control of the English throne. This small but pivotal battle shifted power temporarily to the Yorkists and escalated the dynastic feud.

In 1460, the Duke of York formally asserted his claim to the throne, arguing that his lineage was superior to Henry VI’s. The resulting compromise passed by Parliament, the Act of Accord, disinherited Henry VI’s son and declared that Richard and his heirs would succeed Henry VI. This agreement was short-lived, as Margaret of Anjou continued to fight for her son’s claim, reigniting conflict.

Richard, Duke of York, initially claimed the throne but was killed in the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. His son, Edward of York, continued the campaign and decisively defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton in 1461, becoming Edward IV and forcing Henry VI into hiding.

Edward IV reigned for nine years….for the first time.

Henry VI was briefly restored to power in 1470, during a period known as the Readeption, when Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as “the Kingmaker,” formerly a supporter of Edward IV, switched allegiance.

Warwick allied with the wife of Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou, and together they invaded England, compelling Edward IV to flee to France. Henry VI, a passive figurehead by this time, was reinstated as king, but his reign lasted less than a year.

Edward IV returned with an army, defeating Warwick at the Battle of Barnet in 1471 and then defeating the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury, where Henry VI’s son, Edward of Westminster, was killed.

Henry VI was captured and likely murdered in the Tower of London, ending his reign and solidifying Yorkist control under Edward IV.

Edward IV’s second reign lasted from 1471 to 1783.

Upon his death, the crown passed to his young son, Edward V.

Edward V was too young to rule in his own right and while he was declared king, he was never crowned. He and his brother, who was next in line to the throne, were taken to the Tower of London, where they disappeared.

Their uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, seized the throne and became Richard III, the new king of the House of York.

Richard’s claim to the throne was that Edward V was actually illegitimate. In June 1483, Parliament issued the Titulus Regius, which formalized these claims and affirmed Richard’s right to the throne as the legitimate heir of the Yorkist line.

In a previous episode, I covered this story, known as the Princes in the Tower.

Richard III was not a popular king, and rumors circulated that he killed his nephew, the king, and usurped the throne.

By this point, the Lancastrian line was almost extinguished during the Wars of the Roses.

After Henry VI’s son, Edward of Westminster, was defeated and died in 1471, the de facto Lancastrian heir became Henry Tudor.

Henry Tudor’s claim to the throne was tenuous, traced through an illegitimate line descending from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster.

However, he was the last man standing on the Lancaster side by this point.

Following years in exile in Brittany and France, Henry Tudor capitalized on the growing discontent with Richard III’s rule, including the suspicions surrounding the disappearance of the “Princes in the Tower.” With support from Lancastrian loyalists, disaffected Yorkists, and French assistance, Henry launched an invasion of England in 1485.

This culminated on August 22, 1485, at the Battle of Bosworth Field near the town of Leicestershire.

Henry Tudor’s forces, numbering around 5,000 men, faced Richard III’s royal army, estimated at 10,000–12,000. Key to the battle’s outcome was the defection of Sir William Stanley and his forces, who sided with Henry during the conflict.

Despite initial successes, Richard III’s decision to lead a direct charge at Henry personally proved fatal. He was unseated from his horse and killed in the melee, making him the last English king to die in battle.

With Richard’s death, Henry’s forces emerged victorious.

Henry Tudor’s victory at Bosworth marked the end of the Wars of the Roses.

As Henry VII he consolidated power by marrying Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV, uniting the warring Houses of Lancaster and York.

This marriage of the two factions was symbolized by the creation of the Tudor Rose, which combined the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York.

Henry VII’s reign ushered in a new era of political stability, ending decades of civil strife. Through careful governance, strategic marriages, and suppression of rebellions, Henry established the Tudor dynasty, which ruled England until 1603, transforming the monarchy into a more centralized and powerful institution.

The War of the Roses wasn’t just a seminal event in the history of England and its development as a modern country. It also had a profound cultural impact.

Shakespeare wrote more plays about this period of history and the lead-up to it (nine) than he did for any other.

Richard II
Henry IV Parts 1 and 2
Henry V
Henry VI parts 1, 2, and 3,
Richard III
and the anonymous play that is often attributed to him, Edward III.

A great miniseries released by the BBC in 2012 and 2016 called The Hollow Crown is a big-budget production of all of these plays except for Edward III.

The cast is a massive who’s who of British actors. I highly recommend the series as it puts Shakespeare in a context that makes more sense than seeing it on a stage. I highly recommend it if you can find it.

The War of the Roses was a pivotal conflict in English history, marking the end of the medieval era and laying the groundwork for the rise of the Tudor dynasty. It was significant for resolving the dynastic struggle between the rival Houses of Lancaster and York, ultimately leading to the establishing of a more centralized monarchy under Henry VII.

This unification brought political stability after decades of civil war, weakened the power of the feudal nobility, and set the stage for the Renaissance and the Reformation in England.