The Wars of the Roses: England's Deadly Game of Thrones

Origins

At its heart, the War of the Roses was a dynastic struggle between two branches of the Plantagenet family: the Lancastrians, symbolised by a red rose, and the Yorkists, represented by a white rose.

The House of Lancaster seized the throne in 1399 when Henry IV deposed Richard II. This marked the start of the Lancastrian reign, but Henry IV’s claim to the throne was contested from the outset. His successors, Henry V and Henry VI, ruled over an increasingly unstable kingdom, exacerbated by disastrous losses in the Hundred Years' War with France. By the time Henry VI ascended to the throne in 1422, he was an ineffective ruler, plagued by mental illness, and heavily reliant on advisors. 

Meanwhile, the House of York, led by Richard, Duke of York, argued that his lineage and leadership qualities made him a more legitimate and capable ruler than the weak and incompetent Henry VI. His challenge set the stage for open conflict.

The First Battle

On May 22nd, 1455, Richard, Duke of York, gathered his forces and marched south to confront King Henry VI's army at St. Albans. After a short fight, Henry VI was wounded by an arrow to the shoulder and taken captive. In the aftermath, a shaken Henry appointed Richard as his principal advisor, more out of fear than genuine trust. 

Henry's bleeding; he's wounded. He's taken through the streets where all of these people have been killed. It's so psychologically damaging that he's just not going to come back from it.

Lauren Johnson, historian and author of The Shadow King – the Life and Death of Henry VI

An agreement was soon reached: Henry VI would be released from captivity and allowed to remain king on the condition that Richard of York would be named his heir. However, this settlement enraged Henry's wife, Queen Margaret of Anjou, who was determined to secure the throne for their son, Edward of Westminster. Defying the terms of the accord, she raised an army to defend her husband's claim and ensure their son's succession. In response, Richard, viewing this as a blatant violation of the agreement, assembled his own forces to confront her.

On December 30th, 1460, Richard of York was killed at the Battle of Wakefield. However, his death did not mark the end of Yorkist aspirations. His eldest son (confusingly also called Edward) inherited his claim to the throne and swiftly took up the cause. In March 1461, Edward defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton, one of the largest and bloodiest battles of the Wars of the Roses. A few months later, on June 28th, 1461, Edward Plantagenet fulfilled his father’s ambition when he was officially crowned King Edward IV of England.

An Uncertain Rule

Edward IV's reign began promisingly but soon faced complications. Seeking to strengthen ties with France, Edward's trusted ally, the Duke of Warwick, arranged for him to marry the French king’s daughter. However, Warwick was humiliated when he learned that Edward had already secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner, thwarting the diplomatic marriage and straining their alliance.

Warwick switched over to the Lancastrian side and soon enjoyed a decisive victory. In 1470, Lancastrian armies forced King Edward IV to seek shelter abroad. Henry VI was restored to the throne once more, though in name only - behind the scenes, Warwick and Queen Margaret were the true rulers, guiding the king's hand. 

However, this Lancastrian resurgence was short-lived. In 1471, Edward returned to England with an army, defeating Warwick at the Battle of Barnet and decisively crushing the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury. During this latter battle, Henry VI and Margaret’s seventeen-year-old son, Edward, was killed - the Lancastrian line of succession had been severed.

A Twist in the Tale

On April 9th, 1483, King Edward IV died, leaving the crown to his 12-year-old son, Edward V. Due to his young age, his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was appointed his protector. However, Edward V never officially ruled. Richard declared Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville invalid, making their children illegitimate. He then seized the throne for himself, becoming King Richard III. Edward V and his younger brother disappeared from public view shortly after, confined to the Tower of London. Known as the ‘Princes in the Tower,’ their fate remains a mystery, though it is suspected that Richard III had them killed.

Richard III quickly became an unpopular monarch, facing multiple uprisings. The boldest of these came from Henry Tudor, a Welsh nobleman with a tenuous, though legitimate, claim to the throne. 

He is a charismatic figure. There is something in him - in the same way that there was with Edward before - that people put their trust in him. He has hundreds of English exiles, with completely opposing political opinions, united behind him.

Lauren Johnson, historian and author of The Shadow King – the Life and Death of Henry VI

Henry VII 

Henry quickly amassed an army and confronted Richard III in Leicestershire on 22 August 1485, in what would become known as the Battle of Bosworth Field. Richard III was killed in the battle, and his crown was passed to Henry VII. In January 1486, Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, uniting the rival houses of York and Lancaster. This marriage laid the foundation for a new royal dynasty—the Tudors. The emblem of the new Tudor dynasty combined the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York into the iconic Tudor Rose, symbolising the end of the conflict.

A Royal Discovery

In August 2012, over 500 years after the Battle of Bosworth, archaeologists made a remarkable discovery beneath a car park in Leicester: a skeleton bearing multiple battlefield injuries.

The bones revealed several wounds from daggers and swords, including a significant gaping hole in the skull. DNA testing confirmed that these were the remains of King Richard III. The royal remains were interred beneath a new tomb in Leicester Cathedral in a service fit for a king, officiated by the Bishop of Leicester and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Richard III was the last king of England to die in battle and the final victim of the Wars of the Roses to be laid to rest.