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The Scarlet and White Rose War
1455-1485
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THE WAR OF THE ROSES
The War of the Roses is an internecine war of feudal clans for the English throne.
Two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty fought - Lancaster (coat of arms with a scarlet rose) and York (coat of arms with a white rose).
The war, which lasted thirty years (1455-1485), brought to power a distant relative of the Lancastrians, Henry VII Tudor.
After marrying the York heiress Elizabeth, Henry VII combined the scarlet and white rose in his coat of arms and founded the ruling Tudor dynasty.
THE WAR OF THE ROSES 1455-85, an internecine war in England, for the throne between two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty the Lancasters (in the coat of arms of the scarlet rose) and the Yorks (in the coat of arms of the white rose).
The death in the war of the main representatives of both dynasties and a significant part of the nobility facilitated the establishment of Tudor absolutism.
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The Wars of Roses (1455-85), bloody internecine conflicts between feudal cliques in England, which took the form of a struggle for the throne between two lines of the royal Plantagenet dynasty: the Lancasters (in the coat of arms of the scarlet rose) and the Yorks (in the coat of arms of the white rose).
Causes of the war
The reasons for the war were the difficult economic situation of England (the crisis of a large patrimonial economy and a drop in its profitability), the defeat of England in the Hundred Years ' War (1453), which deprived the feudal lords of the opportunity to plunder the lands of France; the suppression of the Jack Cade uprising in 1451 (see Cade Jack's uprising) and, together with it, the forces that opposed feudal anarchy.
The Lancastrians relied mainly on the barons of the backward north, Wales and Ireland, the Yorks — on the feudal lords of the economically more developed south east of England.
The middle nobility, merchants and wealthy citizens, interested in the free development of trade and crafts, the elimination of feudal anarchy and the establishment of firm power, supported the Yorks.
Under the feeble minded King Henry VI of Lancaster (1422-61) , the country was ruled by a clique of several large feudal lords, which aroused discontent in the rest of the population.
Taking advantage of this discontent, Richard, Duke of York, gathered his vassals around him and went with them to London.
At the Battle of St. Albans on May 22, 1455, he defeated the supporters of the Scarlet Rose.
Soon removed from power, he again rebelled and declared his claims to the English throne.
With an army of his followers, he won victories over the enemy at Blore Heath (September 23, 1459) and North Hampton (July 10, 1460); during the latter, he captured the king, after which he forced the upper house to recognize himself as the protector of the state and heir to the throne.
But Queen Margaret, the wife of Henry VI, with her followers unexpectedly attacked him at Wakefield (December 30, 1460).
Richard was completely defeated and fell in battle.
His enemies cut off his head and put it on the wall of York in a paper crown.
His son Edward, with the support of the Earl of Warwick, defeated the supporters of the Lancastrian dynasty at Mortimer's Cross (February 2, 1461) and Towton (March 29, 1461).
Henry VI was deposed; he and Margaret fled to Scotland.
The winner was King Edward IV.
Edward IV
However, the war continued.
In 1464, Edward IV defeated the Lancastrian supporters in the north of England.
Henry VI was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
The desire of Edward IV to strengthen his power and restrict the freedoms of the feudal nobility led to an uprising of his former supporters led by Warwick (1470).
Edward fled from England, Henry VI was restored to the throne in October 1470.
In 1471, Edward IV, at Barnet (April 14) and Tewkesbury (May 4), defeated the army of Warwick and the army of Henry VI's wife Margaret, who landed in England with the support of the French king Louis XI.
Warwick was assassinated, Henry VI was deposed again in April 1471 and died (presumably murdered) in the Tower of London on 21 May 1471.
The end of the war
After the victory, in order to strengthen his power, Edward IV began brutal reprisals both with representatives of the Lancastrian dynasty, and with the rebellious Yorks and their supporters.
After the death of Edward IV on April 9, 1483, the throne passed to his infant son Edward V, but the power was seized by Edward IV's younger brother, the future king Richard III, who first declared himself the protector of the infant king, and then deposed him and ordered him to be strangled in the Tower together with his younger brother Richard (August (?) 1483).
Richard III's attempts to strengthen his power caused rebellions of feudal magnates.
Executions and confiscation of property restored supporters of both groups against him.
Both the Lancastrian and Yorkist dynasties united around Henry Tudor, a distant relative of the Lancasters, who lived in France at the court of King Charles VIII.
On August 7 or 8, 1485, Henry landed at Milford Haven, passed through Wales unhindered, and joined his supporters.
From their combined army, Richard III was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth on August 22, 1485; he himself was killed.
Henry VII, the founder of the Tudor dynasty, became king.
After marrying Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth, the heiress of York, he combined the scarlet and white roses in his coat of arms.
Results of the war
The War of the Roses was the last rampant feudal anarchy before the establishment of absolutism in England.
It was conducted with terrible ferocity and was accompanied by numerous murders and executions.
In the struggle, both dynasties were exhausted and died.
The war brought strife to the population of England, the oppression of taxes, the plundering of the treasury, the lawlessness of large feudal lords, the decline of trade, direct looting and requisitioning.
During the wars, a significant part of the feudal aristocracy was exterminated, numerous confiscations of land holdings undermined its power.
At the same time, land holdings increased and the influence of the new nobility and the merchant merchant layer increased, which became the mainstay of Tudor absolutism.
Literature:
Jones W. G. York and Lancaster (1399-1485).
London, 1914.
Goodman A.
The wars of the Roses: Military activity and English society, 1452-1497.
London, 1981.
Ross C.
The wars of Roses: a concise history.
London, 1986.
The wars of the Roses: From Richard II to the fall of Richard III at Bosworth field seen through the eyes of their contemporaries.
/ Ed. by Hallam E. London, 1988.
Pollard A. J.
The wars of the Roses.
London, 1988.
Read more:
England in the XV century (chronological table).
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CHRONOS has been in existence since January 20, 2000,
Editor Vyacheslav Rumyantsev
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