War of the Roses
For my research project I chose the war of the roses because it is interesting and relates to us and where we live. I visited York, England this past Thanksgiving and learned some background on this during our trip. York, England is about 3 hours north of London and is an interesting medieval city with small narrow streets and modern living at the same time.
The war of the roses started on May 22, 1455 with the battle of St. Albans and ended on June 16, 1487 with the battle of Stoke. King Henry VI and the Duke of Somerset, Edmund Beaufort, tried to keep the Duke of York, Richard IV, out of politics. King Henry VI became ill and Richard IV took over power and by the time King Henry VI became healthy again, Richard IV did not want to give back the power. There were prewar conflicts after King Edward III died; Richard II came to power on the throne and King Henry V rose to power after the 100 year war. King Henry V died shortly after and his son Henry VI succeeded him and became king of both England and France at the age of 9 months. The Duke of York Richard IV, grandson of Richard II and great grandson of Edward III; was considered next in line for the throne although King Henry VI and the Duke of Somerset, Edmund Beaufort tried to keep him out of politics. When King Henry became ill in 1454 the Nevilles stormed Somerset’s council with a few other Lords and elected the Duke of York, Richard IV, as Protector until the king became healthy again. Richard IV was considered next in line for the throne until the birth of Edward of Lancaster.
Upon King Henry VI becoming well again, he attempted to take back the throne from Richard IV, but Richard IV didn’t want to be lose power since he was no longer next in line for the throne. Richard IV then took a poison of Captain of Calais, but was later unfairly dismissed by King Henry VI and replaced by the Duke of Somerset, Edmund Beaufort. The Duke of Somerset began his appointment by foolishly attacking and capturing the French town of Fougeres. This broke the truce with France and almost reopening the 100 year war. At this time the Duke of York returned to England with an army demanding that the Duke of Somerset be put on trial for his actions in France, but was stopped by the kings royal army and was arrested. The Duke of Somerset latter surrendered several towns to France to stop the rehashing of the 100 year war.
After Richard IV’s dismissal of power in the early months of 1455, Richard IV traveled north and got an army together. In May, Richard IV received a summons to attend the king’s council but expected it was a trap. He instead marched south with an army of several thousand men. The King set out with a slightly smaller army on 21st of May in an attempt to stop them from getting to the city of St. Albans. Henry occupied the town of St. Albans and the Yorkists arrived and formed up opposite the town to the East. With little warning, the Yorkists charged the town of St. Albans through two narrow roads which resulted in a lot of Yorkists casualties. The Yorkists eventually broke down the gate to the city of St. Albans taking the town and killing Richard IV’s longtime rival, the Duke of Somerset, Edmund Beaufort. (Weir, Origins of the Conflict, 2012)
The war of the roses started with the battle of St. Albans and ended with the battle of Stoke which lasted 32 years. The battle of Towton was one of the most important battles during this war and is considered the bloodiest battle ever fought on British soil. Casualties are believed to have been in the twenty thousand ranges. King Henry VI was defeated and captured by the Yorkists and spent 7 years in the Tower of ‘Kingmaker’. Edward IV, son of Richard IV, became the new king of England and one year later the elderly King Henry VI was murdered at the hands of Richard V Duke of Gloucester Richard IV’s son. (Weir, Battle of St Albans, 2012)
Four years prior to the battle of Towton, the Battle of Wakefield, occurred and it had looked as though the Yorkists were going to dominate this war. During the Battle of Wakefield the Yorkists received a devastating blow with the loss of their leader, Richard IV, and other commanders during this battle. The Yorkist seamed defeated until the capture of King Henry VI. The deciding factor in the war was during the battle of Edecote Moor when the Yorkists made a new alliance with France and the King of England was also on their side. The new alliance with France and the power of the king would prove to be the deciding factor in this war and would win the war for the Yorkists. (Weir, Battle of Wakefield, 2012)
During the Battle of Bosworth Field King Edward IV died of an illness and his son Edward V became King at the age of 12. Richard V, the Duke of Gloucester, held the throne until Edward the V became of age. This battle took place in a small town called Market Bosworth and was the second to last battle of the war. (Weir, Battle of Bosworth, 2012) The last battle was the Battle of Stoke; however there is some dispute by historians that this wasn’t really a battle just a meeting between the armies. (O'Neal, Battle of Stokes Field , 2012) Henry VII of England held the throne for the House of Lancaster and had tried to gain the acceptance of the Yorkist faction by his marriage to their heiress, Elizabeth of York, but did not have as strong as a claim to power as Edward V, Elizabeth’s cousin. Edward V would become the next king of England despite Henry VII claim to power. (Crue, King Edward V, 2012) In visiting the region of York, I saw that how the city had built a lookout building over a large hill. The city was walled and very walkable. We spent 3 days there and enjoyed the small crowded streets. The City of York England is a bit larger than York, Pennsylvania with a population of 181,000. I recommend everyone visiting York England and seeing how York and Lancaster Pennsylvania became cities in the United States and are named the red rose and white rose cities directly from the War of the Roses so many years ago.