White roses against red roses. What does it mean? The War of the Roses was an English civil war that lasted thirty years. The two sides were noble houses, York and Lancaster. Each felt they had a claim to the English throne. So how did this conflict happen, and how did it end? Let's explore this article to learn about the most important battles, a map of the conflict, and a timeline!
What about the getting of the garland, keeping it, losing and winning it again? It hath cost more English blood than twice the winning of France.
–William Shakespeare, Richard III.
Origins of the War of the Roses
The houses of York and Lancaster were both descended from King Edward III (1312-1377). He had four sons who lived to adulthood with his queen Philippa of Hainault. However, his eldest son, Edward the Black Prince, died before his father, and according to the law of the land, the crown passed to the Black Prince's son, who became Richard II (r. 1377-1399). However, Richard's kingship was not popular with Edward's other son, John of Gaunt (1340-1399).
John instilled his dissatisfaction with not inheriting the throne in his son, Henry of Bolingbroke, who overthrew Richard II to become King Henry IV in 1399. Thus the two branches of the War of the Roses were born–those descended from Henry IV became the Lancasters, and those descended from Edward III's elder son Lionel, Duke of Clarence (Richard II had no children), became the Yorks.
Wars of the Roses Flags
The Wars of the Roses are called such because each side, York and Lancaster, chose a different color of rose to symbolize them. The Yorks used the white rose to represent them, and the Lancasters chose red. Tudor King Henry VIII took Elizabeth of York as his queen when the Wars ended. They combined the white and red roses to make the Tudor Rose.
Fig. 1 Metal plaque showing the Red Lancaster Rose flag
Causes of the War of the Roses
King Henry V conquered France in a decisive victory in the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. He died suddenly in 1422, leaving his one-year-old son as King Henry VI (1421-1471). However, unlike his hero father, Henry VI was weak and mentally unstable, quickly squandering England's victory and causing political unrest. The king's weakness caused those closest to him to doubt his ability to rule England effectively.
Two opposite factions in the nobility appeared. On the one hand, Henry's cousin Richard, Duke of York, openly objected to the monarchy's domestic and foreign policy decisions.
Richard, Duke of York (1411-1460)
Richard descended from an elder son of Edward III than King Henry VI, which meant that his claim to the throne was stronger than Henry's. Richard disagreed with the king's decision to yield to France's demands to relinquish conquered territory and marry a French princess to end the Hundred Years War.
Fig. 2
Richard, Duke of York, taking leave of his Mother
In 1450, he became the opposition movement leader against the king and his government. He said he did not want to replace the king but became Protector of the Realm in 1453 after Henry had a mental breakdown.
However, Richard had a formidable opponent in Henry VI's queen, Margaret of Anjou (1430-1482), who would stop at nothing to keep the Lancastrians in power. She formed the royalist party around her weak husband, and the clash between York and Lancaster began.
Margaret of Anjou was a shrewd political player in the War of the Roses, earning the title "She-Wolf of France" from William Shakespeare. She married Henry VI as part of a treaty with France to end the Hundred Years War and controlled the Lancastrian government for much of her reign. Seeing Richard of York as a challenge to her husband's rule, in 1455, she called a Great Council of government officials and did not invite Richard or his family. This snub sparked the thirty-year War of the Roses between the Yorks and the Lancasters.
Fig. 3 Plucking Red and White Roses by Henry Payne
Wars of the Roses Map
Even though the War of the roses involved the whole kingdom, not every region of England saw the same grade of violence. Most battles happened south of the Humber and north of the Thames. The first and last battles were the Battle of St. Alban (May 22, 1455) and the Battle of Bosworth (August 22, 1485).
Fig. 4 War of the Roses Map
War of the Roses Timeline
Let us take a look at the timeline
| Battle | Why it happened | Who won? | Results |
| May 22, 1455: The First Battle of St. Albans. | Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou resisted Richard of York's protectorship | Stalemate | Henry VI was captured, Richard of York was renamed Protector, but Queen Margaret seized government control, excluding the Yorkists |
| October 12, 1459: The Battle of Ludford Bridge | The Yorkist Earl of Warwick engaged in piracy to pay his troops, which infuriated the crown. Instead of answering the charges against him, his men attacked the royal household. | Lancaster | Queen Margaret seized lands and property from the Yorkists. |
| July 10, 1460: The Battle of Northampton | Yorkists seized the port and town of Sandwich | York | The Yorkists captured Henry VI. Many Lancastrian forces joined the Yorkists, and Queen Margaret fled. Richard of York was again declared Protector. |
| December 30, 1460: The Battle of Wakefield | The Lancasters fought against Richard of York's position as Protector and the Parliament's Act of Accord, which made Richard's, not Henry's son after Henry VI died. | Lancaster | Richard of York was killed in battle |
| March 9, 1461: Battle of Towton | Revenge for Richard of York's death | York | Henry VI was deposed as king and replaced by Richard of York's son, Edward IV (1442-1483). Henry and Margaret fled to Scotland |
| June 24, 1465 | The Yorkists searched for the king in Scotland | York | Henry was captured by the Yorkists and imprisoned in the Tower of London. |
| May 1, 1470 | The coup against Edward IV | Lancaster | Edward IV's advisor, the Earl of Warwick, changed sides and forced him off the throne, restoring Henry VI. The Lancastrians took power |
| May 4, 1471: Battle of Tewkesbury | Yorkists fought back after Edward IV's overthrow | York | The Yorkists captured and defeated Magaret of Anjou. Shortly afterward, Henry VI died in the Tower of London. Edward IV again became king until he died in 1483. |
| June 1483 | Edward IV died | York | Edward's brother Richard seized control of the government, declaring Edward's sons illegitimate. Richard became King Richard III (1452-1485). |
| August 22, 1485: The Battle of Bosworth Field | Richard III was unpopular because he stole power from his nephews and probably killed them. | Tudor | Henry Tudor (1457-1509), the last Lancastrian, defeated the Yorkists. Richard III died in battle, making Henry King Henry VII the first king of the Tudor dynasty. |
War of the Roses: A Summary of the End
The new King Henry VII married Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York (1466-1503). This alliance merged the York and Lancaster houses under a shared banner, the Tudor Rose. Although there would still be power struggles to maintain the Tudor dynasty's power during the new king's reign, the War of the Roses was over.
Fig. 5 Tudor Rose
War of the Roses - Key takeaways
- The War of the Roses was an English civil war between 1455 and 1485 over control of the English throne.
- The noble houses of York and Lancaster both shared King Edward III as an ancestor, and much of the fighting was over who had the better claim to the crown.
- The major players for the Yorkist side were Richard, Duke of York, his son who became King Edward IV, and Edward's brother, who became King Richard III.
- The major Lancastrian players were King Henry VI, Queen Margaret of Anjou, and Henry Tudor.
- The War of the Roses ended in 1485 when Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, then married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York to combine the two noble houses.
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