On the 17th of July 1453, the English forces in southern France suffered a catastrophic defeat at Castillon, ending the Hundred Years' War and shifting the balance of power in Europe. This military disaster triggered a complete mental breakdown in King Henry VI, who failed to recognize his newborn son, Edward, and entered a catatonic state that left the kingdom without a functioning monarch. Henry VI, crowned at age seven and known for his piety and aversion to violence, had become an ineffectual ruler whose mental instability revived his cousin Richard, Duke of York, in his claim to the throne. The lack of central authority led to a continued deterioration of the unstable political situation, which polarized around long-standing feuds between the more powerful noble families, in particular the Percy-Neville feud and the Bonville-Courtenay feud, creating a volatile political climate ripe for civil war. To ensure the country could be governed, a Regency Council was established and, despite the protests of Margaret of Anjou, was led by Richard of York, who was appointed Lord Protector and Chief Councillor on the 27th of March 1454. York appointed his brother-in-law, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, to the post of Chancellor, backing the Nevilles against their chief adversary, Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. In backing the Nevilles, York gained a key ally, Salisbury's son Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, one of the wealthiest and most powerful magnates in the kingdom. York removed Somerset from his position and imprisoned him in the Tower of London. In 1455, Henry made a surprise recovery from his mental instability, and reversed much of Richard of York's progress. Somerset was released and restored to favor, and York was forced out of court into exile. However, disaffected nobles, chiefly the Earl of Warwick and his father the Earl of Salisbury, backed the claims of the rival House of York to control of the government. Henry, Somerset, and a select council of nobles elected to hold a Great Council at Leicester on the 22nd of May, away from Somerset's enemies in London. Fearing that charges of treason would be brought against them, York and his allies gathered an army to intercept the royal party at St Albans, before they could reach the Council. York's revolt began with the capture of Henry VI at the First Battle of St Albans, where York's men found the monarch hiding in a local tanner's shop, abandoned by his courtiers and advisors. Despite the paucity of casualties on either side, many of York and the Neville family's most influential foes were killed, including Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland, and Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron de Clifford. With the king in his custody and many of his key rivals dead, York was again appointed Lord Protector by Parliament, and the Yorkist faction regained their position of influence.
On the 2nd of February 1461, Edward, Earl of March, decisively defeated the Lancastrian armies at Mortimer's Cross, and the captured Owen Tudor, husband to Henry V's widow Catherine of Valois, was executed by his troops. As dawn broke across the field, a meteorological phenomenon known as parhelion occurred, giving the appearance of a trio of suns rising. Edward calmed his frightened troops by convincing them it represented the Holy Trinity, and therefore evidence of divine blessing upon their cause. Edward would later take the heraldic symbol of the sunne in splendour as his personal device, a badge that would become central to his identity. In the north, having defeated and killed Richard, Margaret's troops and the victorious Lancastrians moved south, while Warwick, with the captive Henry in tow, moved his forces to meet them astride the ancient Roman road of Watling Street at St Albans. Warwick's forces were well-entrenched, but were ultimately defeated in the Second Battle of St Albans on the 17th of February. Henry was freed by the Lancastrians, and knighted his young son Edward of Westminster, who in turn knighted thirty Lancastrian leaders. Warwick and his troops marched to rendezvous with the Yorkist troops in the Marches under Edward, fresh from their victory at Mortimer's Cross. Although the Lancastrians had the strategic advantage after St Albans, the Lancastrian cause was unpopular in London, and the citizenry refused entry to Margaret's troops. Warwick and Edward, seizing the initiative, marched rapidly to London, where Edward was proclaimed Edward IV of England by a hastily gathered assembly. Edward was a more attractive prospect as a monarch for the people of England; contemporaries such as Philippe de Commines describe him as energetic, handsome, affable, and struck an imposing sight in full armour and resplendent clothing, a deliberate move on the part of his supporters to contrast him with Henry, whose physical and mental frailties had fatally undermined his support. To cement his position, Edward and Warwick moved north to confront the Lancastrians. Warwick, leading the Yorkist vanguard, inconclusively clashed with the Lancastrians at Ferrybridge on the 28th of March, at which Warwick was wounded, and the Lancastrian commanders, the Barons Clifford, and Neville (a distant relative of Warwick), were killed. Edward engaged the Lancastrians' main army the following day on the 29th of March near Towton, Yorkshire. The battle that followed was the largest and bloodiest ever fought on English soil, and resulted in a decisive triumph for Edward which broke the power of the Lancastrians in the north. The lynchpins of Lancastrian control in the royal court were either killed or fled the country; Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, was killed, Andrew Trollope, one of the most astute Lancastrian field commanders, was also killed, while James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond, was captured and executed. Henry, Margaret, and their son Prince Edward fled north to Scotland. Edward returned to London for his coronation, while Warwick remained in the north to pacify further Lancastrian resistance. The Battle of Towton confirmed to the English people that Edward was the uncontested ruler of England, at least for the time being; as a result, Edward used this opportunity to employ a bill of attainder to forfeit the titles of 14 Lancastrian peers and 96 knights and minor members of the gentry. Edward was formally crowned King of England on the 28th of June 1461 in Westminster Abbey.
The Kingmaker's Betrayal
In October 1464, four months before Warwick discovered the truth, Edward had secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of a Lancastrian noble. Elizabeth had twelve siblings, some of whom married into prominent families, turning the Woodvilles into a powerful political establishment independent of Warwick's control. The move demonstrated that Warwick was not the power behind the throne as many had assumed and the marriage was criticized by Edward's Privy Councillors, who felt that marriage to a woman who was the daughter of neither a duke nor an earl was unbefitting a man of royal blood. Warwick attempted to restore his lost influence by accusing Elizabeth and her mother Jacquetta of Luxembourg of witchcraft, a ploy which failed but did not break the relationship between Warwick and Edward. Edward's choice of bride plagued him politically for the rest of his reign. Politically, it opened Edward up to accusations that Warwick had been deceiving the French into believing the king was committed to the marriage proposal. Elizabeth's family began to ascend to positions of great importance; Edward's father-in-law, the Earl Rivers, was appointed as Lord High Treasurer, and supported the king's position for a Burgundian alliance. Without Warwick's knowledge, Edward had already concluded a treaty in secret with Burgundy in October 1467, while leaving Warwick to continue with doomed negotiations with the French court. In 1467, Edward removed Warwick's brother, the Archbishop of York, from his office of Lord Chancellor, while the king refused to entertain a marriage proposal between Warwick's eldest daughter, Isabel, and Edward's brother, George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence. For various reasons, Clarence greatly resented his brother's interference. In 1468, Edward retook Jersey from the French. In April 1469, a rebellion broke out in Yorkshire under a leader known only as Robin of Redesdale. A second pro-Lancastrian revolt broke out the following month, which demanded the restoration of Henry Percy as Earl of Northumberland. The revolt was quickly crushed by the earl, John Neville, though he made little attempt to quell Redesdale's actions. Warwick and Clarence had spent the summer assembling troops, officially to suppress the revolt but in early July they traveled to Calais, where Clarence and Isabel were married in a ceremony overseen by Warwick. They returned to London, where they assembled their troops, ostensibly to remove 'evil councillors' from the king's company and re-establish good governance and moved north to link with the Yorkshire rebels. Privately, Warwick hoped to depose Edward and install the nineteen-year-old Clarence on the throne. Redesdale defeated royal troops at Edgcote on the 26th of July 1469; although Redesdale was reportedly killed, the two royal commanders, William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and Humphrey Stafford, 1st Earl of Devon, were both captured and executed. Elizabeth Woodville's father, Lord Rivers, and brother Sir John Woodville were apprehended and murdered. After the battle, Edward was taken captive by George Neville and held at Middleham Castle. It soon became clear to the rebels that neither Warwick nor Clarence enjoyed significant support, and unable to quell the growing disorder, Edward was released in September of that year and re-assumed his duties as king. In March 1470, Warwick and Clarence exploited political instabilities to incite the 1470 Lincolnshire Rebellion, hoping to lure Edward north where he could be taken by Warwick's men. On the 12th of March 1470, Edward routed the Yorkist rebels at the Battle of Losecoat Field and captured the rebel leader, the Baron Willoughby, who named Warwick and Clarence as the 'partners and chief provokers' of the rebellion. Physical evidence also came to light which proved the complicity of the two men, who fled to France in May. Willoughby was beheaded and his lands seized. Seeking to capitalize on Warwick's disfavour with the king, Louis XI of France arranged a reconciliation between Warwick and his bitter rival, Margaret of Anjou, with the objective to restore Henry to the throne. As part of the arrangement, Warwick agreed to marry his daughter Anne to Edward of Westminster, Margaret and Henry's son and heir apparent; while the marriage was solemnised, it may not have been consummated, as Margaret was hoping to find a better match for her son once he became king. Staging a diversionary uprising in the north, Warwick and Clarence launched a two-pronged invasion of England at Dartmouth and Plymouth on the 13th of September 1470. Warwick's brother, the Marquess of Montagu, joined him, bitter with the king that his support for the crown during the preceding revolts did not result in the restoration of his earldom. Edward rushed south to meet the invasion, while Montagu's forces advanced from the north, and the king found himself surrounded. With few options, Edward, his younger brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and several hundred retainers fled to Flanders on the 2nd of October, then part of the Duchy of Burgundy, his ally. The Readeption of Henry VI restored him as king, a throne which Warwick was now indisputably in effective control of. In November, Edward was attainted, and his brother Clarence was awarded the title of Duke of York. Burgundy was ruled by Charles the Bold, husband of Edward's sister Margaret. Charles rendered precious little assistance to his brother-in-law, something Edward would never forget. However, unfortunately for Warwick and Clarence, Henry's new regime was precariously unstable; Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset, held Warwick responsible for his father's death in 1455, and the ensuing internal disputes eventually left Warwick and Clarence politically isolated. With the backing of Flemish merchants, Edward landed at Ravenspurn in Yorkshire on the 14th of March 1471, supported by the Earl of Northumberland. Edward was joined by troops under Sir William Parr and Sir James Harrington, a move which convinced Clarence, who was politically disadvantaged by his agreement with the Lancastrians, to abandon Warwick and Henry and join his brother. Edward's army made rapidly for London, where they took the by now feeble king Henry prisoner and sent him to the Tower of London. Poor weather contained French troops under Margaret and Edward of Westminster on the continent, preventing Warwick from being reinforced. Despite this and Clarence's defection, Warwick marched in pursuit of Edward's growing army, and the two sides met in battle at Barnet on the 14th of April 1471. Poor visibility due to thick mist and the similarity of Edward's heraldic sun to the Earl of Oxford's star led to the Lancastrians attacking their own men, and, coupled with Edward's determined attack, Warwick's army was destroyed. During the rout, Warwick was unhorsed and killed, along with his brother John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu, while Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, was apprehended and imprisoned in the Tower of London. In 1475, Exeter would be sent on a Yorkist expedition to France, where he was reputed to have fallen overboard while at sea, and drowned without any witnesses. Warwick's defeat and death was a catastrophic blow for the Lancastrian cause, and the Neville family's political influence was irrevocably broken.
The Last Yorkist King
On the 9th of April 1483, Edward IV died, leaving his twelve-year-old son Edward V to succeed him. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's eldest son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V. Arrangements were made for Edward V's coronation on the 22nd of June 1483. Before the king could be crowned, the marriage of his parents was declared bigamous and therefore invalid. Officially illegitimate, their children were barred from inheriting the throne. On the 25th of June, an assembly of lords and commoners endorsed a declaration to this effect and proclaimed Richard as the rightful king. He was crowned on the 6th of July 1483. Edward and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, called the 'Princes in the Tower', were not seen in public after August and accusations circulated that they had been murdered on King Richard's orders, after the Tudor dynasty established their rule a few years later. There were two big rebellions against Richard during his reign. In October 1483, a revolt was led by staunch allies of Edward IV and Richard's former ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. Then, in August 1485, Henry Tudor and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, landed in southern Wales with a contingent of French troops and marched through Pembrokeshire, recruiting soldiers. Henry's forces defeated Richard's army near the Leicestershire town of Market Bosworth. Richard was slain, making him the last English king to die in battle. Henry Tudor ascended the throne as Henry VII. Richard III, King of England and Lord of Ireland from the 26th of June 1483 until his death in 1485, was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. Richard was created Duke of Gloucester in 1461 after the accession of his brother King Edward IV. In 1472, he married Anne Neville, daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick. He governed northern England during Edward's reign, and played a role in the invasion of Scotland in 1482. When Edward IV died in April 1483, Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's eldest son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V. Richard's allies, particularly Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and the powerful and wealthy Baron William Hastings, the Lord Chamberlain, urged Richard to bring a strong force to London to counter any move the Woodville family might make. Richard departed Yorkshire for London, where he intended to meet the young king at Northampton and travel to London together. Following Edward IV's death, the Dowager Queen Elizabeth instructed her brother, Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, to escort her son Edward V to London with an armed escort of 2,000 men. However, upon reaching Northampton, Richard discovered that the king had already been sent onward to Stony Stratford in Buckinghamshire. In response, and to forestall any Woodville family attempts on his person, on the 30th of April 1483, Richard had Earl Rivers, Edward's half-brother Richard Grey, and Edward's chamberlain Thomas Vaughan arrested and sent to the north. Richard and Edward journeyed to London together, where the young king took up residence at the Tower of London on the 19th of May 1483, joined the following month by his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York. The disappearance of the Princes in the Tower became one of the most enduring mysteries of English history, with Richard's responsibility for their deaths remaining a subject of intense debate among historians and the public alike.
The Tudor Rose Unites
On the 22nd of August 1485, Henry Tudor defeated and killed Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last battle of the Wars of the Roses. Henry Tudor, a descendant of Edward III through Lady Margaret Beaufort and a veteran Lancastrian, returned from exile with an army and assumed the English throne as Henry VII. He united the rival houses through marriage with Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's eldest daughter and heir. The wars concluded in 1487, with Henry VII's defeat of the remaining Yorkist opposition at Stoke Field. The House of Tudor would rule England until 1603, a period that saw the strengthening of the monarchy and the end of the medieval period in England. The name 'Wars of the Roses' refers to the heraldic badges associated with the two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet fighting for control of the English throne; the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster. Embryonic forms of this term were used in 1727 by Bevil Higgons, who described the quarrel between the two roses and by David Hume in The History of England (1754, 1761): The modern term Wars of the Roses came into common use in the early 19th century following the publication of the 1829 novel Anne of Geierstein by Sir Walter Scott. Scott based the name on a scene in William Shakespeare's play Henry VI, Part 1 (Act 2, Scene 4), set in the gardens of the Temple Church, where a number of noblemen and a lawyer pick red or white roses to symbolically display their loyalty to the Lancastrian or Yorkist faction respectively. During Shakespeare's time, the conflict was simply referred to as the 'civil wars'. The Yorkist faction used the symbol of the white rose from early in the conflict, but the red rose of Lancaster was introduced only after the victory of Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. After Henry's victory and marriage to Elizabeth of York, the heir of Edward IV, the two roses were combined to form the Tudor rose, to symbolise the union of the two claims. The use of the rose itself as a cognizance stemmed from Edward I's use of 'a golden rose stalked proper'. Often, owing to nobles holding multiple titles, more than one badge was used: Edward IV, for example, used both his sun in splendour as Earl of March, but also his father's falcon and fetterlock as Duke of York. Badges were not always distinct; at the Battle of Barnet, Edward's 'sun' was very similar to the Earl of Oxford's Vere star, which caused fatal confusion in the fighting. Many participants wore livery badges associated with their immediate liege lords or patrons. The wearing of livery was confined to those in 'continuous employ of a lord', thus excluding, for example, mercenary companies. For example, Henry Tudor's forces at Bosworth fought under the banner of a red dragon, while the Yorkist army used Richard III's personal device of a white boar. While the names of the rival houses derive from the cities of York and Lancaster, the corresponding duchy and dukedom had little to do with these cities. The lands and offices attached to the Duchy of Lancaster were primarily located in Gloucestershire, North Wales, Cheshire, and, ironically, in Yorkshire, while the estates of the Duke of York were spread throughout England and Wales, with many in the Welsh Marches. The conflict was largely brought to an end upon the union of the two houses through marriage, creating the Tudor dynasty that would subsequently rule England. The Wars of the Roses were rooted in English socio-economic troubles caused by the Hundred Years' War (1337, 1453) with France, as well as the quasi-military bastard feudalism resulting from the powerful duchies created by King Edward III. The mental instability of King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster revived his cousin Richard, Duke of York's interest in a claim to the throne. Warfare began in 1455 with York's capture of Henry at the First Battle of St Albans, upon which York was appointed Lord Protector by Parliament. Fighting resumed four years later when Yorkists led by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, captured Henry again at the Battle of Northampton. After attempting to seize the throne, York was killed at the Battle of Wakefield, and his son Edward inherited his claim per the controversial Act of Accord. The Yorkists lost custody of Henry in 1461 after the Second Battle of St Albans, but defeated the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton. The Yorkist Edward was formally crowned in June 1461. In 1464, Edward married Elizabeth Woodville against the advice of Warwick, and reversed Warwick's policy of seeking closer ties with France. Warwick rebelled against Edward in 1469, leading to Edward's imprisonment after Warwick's supporters defeated a Yorkist army at the Battle of Edgcote. Edward was allowed to resume his rule after Warwick failed to replace him with his brother George of Clarence. Within a year, Warwick launched an invasion of England alongside Henry VI's wife Margaret of Anjou. Edward fled to Flanders, and Henry VI was restored as king in 1470. Edward mounted a counter-invasion with aid from Burgundy a few months later, and killed Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. Henry was returned to prison, and his sole heir later killed by Edward at the Battle of Tewkesbury, followed by Henry's own death in the Tower of London, possibly on Edward's orders. Edward ruled unopposed for the next twelve years, during which England enjoyed a period of relative peace. Upon his death in April 1483, he was succeeded by the twelve-year-old Edward V, who reigned for 78 days until being deposed by his uncle Richard III. Richard assumed the throne amid controversies regarding the disappearance of Edward IV's two sons. He was met with a short-lived but major revolt and a wave of Yorkist defections. Amid the chaos, Henry Tudor, a descendant of Edward III through Lady Margaret Beaufort and a veteran Lancastrian, returned from exile with an army and defeated and killed Richard at Bosworth Field in 1485. Tudor then assumed the English throne as Henry VII and united the rival houses through marriage with Elizabeth of York, Edward IV's eldest daughter and heir. The wars concluded in 1487, with Henry VII's defeat of the remaining Yorkist opposition at Stoke Field. The House of Tudor would rule England until 1603, a period that saw the strengthening of the monarchy and the end of the medieval period in England.