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Wars of the Roses

 

St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle

In 1422 Henry the Fifth died of dysentery at the age of thirty five, leaving a two year old son, Henry the Sixth as king This situation threw England into a crisis that wasn't resolved until 1485. A complex struggle developed between the descendents of two sons of Edward the Third, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Edmund, Duke of York. These are the houses of York and Lancaster, represented by a white and red rose respectively. The young Henry the Sixth, a Lancastrian, had his age and temperament against him, and he was eventually deposed by his cousin Edward the Fourth, a Yorkist, following the Battle of Mortimer's Cross in 1461. The factions around Henry and Edward continued to struggle, and with the help of Richard Neville the Earl of Warwick, Henry reclaimed his crown in 1470. This event is recalled in a famous poem Astrophil and Stella, by the Elizabethan poet Sir Philip Sidney. Sidney says that Edward the Fourth was his favourite king, because he gave up his throne for love. Rather than accept a political marriage with a French princess, being organised by Warwick, Edward insisted on marrying the woman he loved, Lady Elizabeth Grey. This marriage led to Warwick moving against him. But in less than a year Edward took the throne back and had Henry the Sixth executed.

Edward the Fourth died in 1483, leaving his thirteen year old son Edward the Fifth as heir to the throne. Edward reigned for only two months before being deposed by his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The Duke had Edward and his younger brother Richard imprisoned in the Tower of London, and they were never seen again. People turned up in years to come claiming to be the "princes in the tower", but the boys were almost certainly executed. Richard became Richard the Third on the 26th of June 1483

Meanwhile a Welshman named Owain ap Maredadd ap Tudwr ap Goronwy, known to history as Owain Tudor, had been causing a stir in France. Owain had joined Henry the Fifth's army in France, and had later served in the household of Henry the Fifth's wife Catherine de Valois. To general consternation Owain, who was basically a servant, married his boss, Henry's widow Catherine. This caused a great scandal, but Owain and Catherine remained together and had five children. Their eldest son Edmund Tudor married Margaret Beaufort, a descendent of Edward the Third, and their son Henry Tudor came to the conclusion that he had a claim to the English throne. Following a failed first attempt Henry gathered his forces, and in 1485 landed in Milford Haven to stake his claim. Richard gathered his forces at Nottingham Castle. On the 22nd of August 1485 at Bosworth Field near Leicester the armies of Henry and King Richard met. The scene was famously described by Shakespeare in his play Richard the Third , and Richard's final cries for a horse to get him out of trouble are words so famous that many people have forgotten where they come from. "My kingdom for a horse" called Richard, and it does seem as though he was unhorsed when he was finally killed, his crown, according to rumour, later being found on a thorn bush.

Henry succeeded to the throne as Henry the Seventh, the first of the Tudor kings. He married Elizabeth of York, Edward the Fourth's daughter, linking the houses of Lancaster and York, ending the Wars of the Roses.