White and scarlet rose. The War of the Scarlet and White Roses in England

History Report

on the topic:

"The War of White and Scarlet Roses".

Did the job:

6th grade student "B"

GBOU "School No. 883"

Moscow SZAO

Latyntsev Mikhail

2017-11-25

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The Wars of Roses

THE WAR OF THE RED AND WHITE ROSES.

THE WAR OF THE ROSE AND WHITE (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: Lancaster (in the coat of arms of a scarlet rose) and Yorks (in the coat of arms of White Rose).

Causes:

The causes of the war were the difficult economic situation in England (the crisis of a large patrimonial economy and the fall 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 Cad uprising in 1451 (see Cad Jack uprising) and with it the forces opposed to feudal anarchy. The Lancasters 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.

The course of the war:

The rivalry between the two dynasties in England resulted in a civil war that began in 1455. Since the last months of the Hundred Years War, two branches of the Plantagenet family - Yorks and Lancasters - have fought for the throne of England. The War of the Two Roses (the York coat of arms had a white rose, and the Lancaster had a scarlet) put an end to the Plantagenet rule.
1450
England was going through hard times. King Henry VI Lancaster was unable to calm the differences and strife between large aristocratic families. Henry VI grew up weak-willed and sickly. Under him and his wife, Margaret of Anjou, the Dukes of Somerset and Suffolk were endowed with unlimited power.
In the spring of 1450, the loss of Normandy was a signal of collapse. Internecine wars are multiplying. The state is collapsing. Condemnation and then murder of Suffolk does not lead to peace. Jack Cad raises an uprising in Kent and moves to London. The royal forces defeat Cad, but the anarchy continues.
The king's brother Richard, Duke of York, who at that time was in exile in Ireland, is gradually strengthening his position. Returning in September 1450, he tries with the help of Parliament to reform the government and eliminate Somerset. Henry VI responded by dissolving Parliament. In 1453, the king lost his mind as a result of a strong fright. Taking advantage of this, Richard York achieved the most important position - the protector of the state. But sanity returned to Henry VI, and the duke's position was shaken. Not wanting to part with power, Richard York gathers armed detachments of his followers.
Lancasters vs Yorks
York enters into an alliance with the earls of Salisbury and Warwick, who are armed with a strong army, which in May 1455 defeats the royal troops in the town of St. Albans. But the king takes the initiative again for a while. He confiscates the property of York and his supporters.
York abandons the army and flees to Ireland. In October 1459, his son Edward occupies Calais, from where the Lancasters try unsuccessfully to dislodge them. There he gathers a new army. In July 1460, the Lancasters were defeated at Northampton. The king is in prison and York is declared heir by Parliament.
At this time, Margaret of Anjou, determined to protect the rights of her son, gathers her loyal subjects in the north of England. Surprised by the royal army at Wakefield, York and Salisbury perish. The Lancaster army moves south, devastating everything in its path. Edward, son of the Duke of York, and the Earl of Warwick, having learned of the tragedy, hurried to London, whose inhabitants greeted their army with joy. They defeated the Lancasters at Towton, after which Edward was crowned as Edward IV.
Continuation of the war
Having taken refuge in Scotland and supported by France, Henry VI still has supporters in the north of England, but they are defeated in 1464 and the king is imprisoned again in 1465. It seems that everything is over. However, Edward IV is facing the same thing as Henry VI.
The Neville clan, led by the Earl of Warwick, who elevated Edward to the throne, is starting a fight against the clan of Queen Elizabeth. The king's brother, the Duke of Clarence, is jealous of his power. Warwick and Clarence mutiny. They defeat the troops of Edward IV, and he himself is captured. But, seduced by various promises, Warwick releases the captive. The king does not fulfill his promises, and the struggle between them flares up with renewed vigor. In March 1470, Warwick and Clarence take refuge with the King of France. Louis XI, being a subtle diplomat, reconciles them with Margaret of Anjou and the House of Lancaster.
He did this so well that in September 1470, Warwick, supported by Louis XI, returned to England already a supporter of the Lancasters. King Edward IV flees to Holland to his son-in-law Charles the Bold. At the same time, Warwick, nicknamed the "kingmaker", and Clarence restore Henry VI to the throne. However, in March 1471, Edward returns with an army financed by Charles the Bold. At Barnet, he wins a decisive victory - thanks to Clarence, who betrayed Warwick. Warwick is killed. The southern Lancastrian army is defeated at Tewkesbury. In 1471, Henry VI died (and possibly killed), Edward IV returned to London.
Union of two roses
Problems arise again after the king's death in 1483. Edward's brother, Richard of Gloucester, who hates the queen and her supporters, orders the killing of the king's children in the Tower, London, and takes possession of the crown under the name of Richard III. This act makes him so unpopular that the Lancasters regain hope. Their distant relative Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, son of the last representative of the Lancasters and Edmond Tudor, whose father was a Welsh captain, bodyguard of Catherine of Valois (widow of Henry V), whom he married. This secret marriage explains the interference in the discord of the Welsh dynasty.
Richmond, along with supporters of Margaret of Anjou, weaves a web of conspiracy and lands in Wales in August 1485. The decisive battle took place on August 22 at Bosworth. Betrayed by many of his entourage, Richard III was assassinated. Richard ascends the throne as Henry VII, then marries Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. The Lancasters are related to the Yorks, the war of the Scarlet and the White Rose ends, and the king builds his power on the union of the two branches. He introduces a system of strict control of the aristocracy. After the accession of the Tudor dynasty, a new page is being written in the history of England.

Effects:

The War of the Scarlet and White Roses was the last rampage of feudal anarchy before the establishment of absolutism in England. It was conducted with terrible bitterness and was accompanied by numerous murders and executions. Both dynasties were exhausted and perished in the struggle. The war brought strife, oppression of taxes, theft of the treasury, the lawlessness of large feudal lords, the decline of trade, direct robberies and requisitions to the population of England. 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 class increased, which became the mainstay of Tudor absolutism.

Confrontation of the Scarlet and White Roses.
In the middle of the 15th century, a difficult time came in the life of Britain. The difficulties of the economic situation were exacerbated by the defeat in the Hundred Years' War. In addition, the number of those dissatisfied with the king in the lower strata of society multiplied. What led to the peasant uprising in 1450 - 1451. These reasons served as a pretext for the start of an internecine bloody war that lasted another 30 years.
Subsequently, this war became known as the War of the Scarlet and White Roses. This name was due to the symbolism of the main opposing forces, originating from one royal dynasty of the Plantagenets. The ruling dynasty of the Lancasters, led by Henry VI, on whose coat of arms there was a scarlet rose, competed with another noble English dynasty, the Yorks. The coat of arms of this dynasty was a white rose. Henry VI and the Lancastrian dynasty were mainly supported by Wales, Ireland and many barons of the northern part of Britain. The York dynasty, on the other hand, enlisted the support of the feudal lords of the richer south-eastern part of England.
During the reign of the Scarlet Rose Dynasty, the Dukes of Suffolk and Somerset had great power. The Duke of York, Richard, who was the brother of King Henry VI, returned from exile in 1450. Seeing the state of affairs, he tries to weaken the influence of these dukes with the help of Parliament. But the king dissolves parliament. Taking advantage of the temporary clouding of the mind of Henry VI, in 1453 Richard becomes the de facto ruler of England, having received the title of protector. After a while, sanity returns to the king. Not wanting to give up power, Duke Richard enlists the support of the earls of Warwick and Salisbury.
Soon the rivalry between scarlet and white roses develops into an open confrontation. In May 1455, the first Battle of St. Albans took place. The king's troops were outnumbered and defeated. In 1459-1460, several more battles took place, in which the initiative passed either to the supporters of the Lancasters, or to the supporters of the Yorks. In the summer of 1460, the Battle of Northampton took place, in which the Yorks again won. As a result of the battle, King Henry VI was captured, and Richard became his heir and protector of the throne. Not wanting to put up with this, the king's wife Margaret of Anjou gathers supporters loyal to the crown and six months later defeats the troops of the white rose in the battle of Wakefield. In this battle, Richard dies and his son Edward takes his place.
After several small battles at Mortimer's Cross, St. Albans, Ferrybridge, the largest battle of the entire War of the Scarlet and White Rose takes place. Near Touton on March 24, 1461, from 30 to 40 thousand people converged on each side. Edward of York inflicted a crushing defeat on the army of the scarlet rose, defeating most of the Lancastrian army. Some time later, he was crowned, proclaiming the king of England by Edward IV. Margaret of Anjou and her husband retreated to Scotland. But after several defeats, Henry VI is again captured.
In 1470, active hostilities resumed. The king's younger brother the Duke of Clarence and his former ally the Earl of Warwick rise in rebellion against Edward. After spending a short time in captivity, Edward IV flees to Burgundy, under the protection of his son-in-law Charles the Bold. The Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick, with the assistance of King Louis XI of France, return the crown to Henry VI, taking an oath of allegiance to him.
Returning a year later with an army hired by Charles the Bold, Edward IV enlists the support of the traitor Clarence and wins the battles of Barnet (March 12) and Tewkesbury (April 14). Warwick dies at Barnet, and Henry's only son Prince Edward at Tewkesbury. After a while, Henry VI himself dies. Thus ends the Lancaster family.
The reign of Edward IV remains calm and the fighting subsides. But after his death in 1483, his brother Richard of Gloucester, having convicted his son Edward of illegitimacy, usurps the throne, taking the name of Richard III. Soon Henry Tudor, who was a distant relative of the Lancaster dynasty, landed in 1485 with an army of French mercenaries on the shores of Britain in the region of Wales. Having suffered a defeat from Henry Tudor, Richard III himself dies in battle. And Henry is proclaimed the ruler of England by Henry VII. Another York attempt to recapture the throne ends in defeat at the Battle of Stoke Field. This event ended the War of the Scarlet and White Roses.

War of the Scarlet and White Roses(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 arms of a scarlet rose) and the Yorks (in the arms of a white rose).

Causes of the war

The causes of the war were the difficult economic situation in England (the crisis of a large patrimonial economy and the fall 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 uprising of Jack Cad in 1451 and, together with it, the forces opposed to feudal anarchy. The Lancasters 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 imbecile King Henry VI 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 adherents, he defeated the enemy at Blore Heath (September 23, 1459) and North Hampton (July 10, 1460); during the last, 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, wife of Henry VI, with her followers unexpectedly attacked him at Wakefield (December 30, 1460). Richard was utterly defeated and fell in battle. The 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 Mortimers Cross (February 2, 1461) and Toughton (March 29, 1461). Henry VI was deposed; he and Margarita fled to Scotland. The winner became King Edward IV.

Edward IV

However, the war continued. In 1464 Edward IV defeated the Lancastrians in the north of England. Henry VI was captured and imprisoned in the Tower. The desire of Edward IV to strengthen his power and limit the freedom of the feudal nobility led to an uprising of his former supporters, led by Warwick (1470). Edward fled from England, Henry VI in October 1470 was restored to the throne. 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 killed, Henry VI was again deposed in April 1471 and died (presumably killed) in the Tower on May 21, 1471.

End of the war

After the victory, in order to strengthen his power, Edward IV began brutal reprisals against both the representatives of the Lancaster dynasty and 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 power was seized by the younger brother of Edward IV, 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 along with his younger brother Richard (August (?) 1483). Attempts by Richard III to consolidate his power caused uprisings of the feudal magnates. Executions and confiscations of property turned supporters of both factions against him. Both dynasties, Lancaster and York, 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 unhindered through Wales and joined with 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. Having married the daughter of Edward IV, Elizabeth, heiress of the Yorks, he combined scarlet and white roses in his coat of arms.

The results of the war

The War of the Scarlet and White Roses was the last rampage of feudal anarchy before the establishment of absolutism in England. It was conducted with terrible bitterness and was accompanied by numerous murders and executions. Both dynasties were exhausted and perished in the struggle. The war brought strife, oppression of taxes, theft of the treasury, the lawlessness of large feudal lords, the decline of trade, direct robberies and requisitions to the population of England. 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 class increased, which became the mainstay of Tudor absolutism.

T. A. Pavlova

YORKS (Yorks), a royal dynasty in England in 1461-85, a side branch of the Plantagenet dynasty. The House of York descended in the male line from Edmund, 1st Duke of York, fifth son of Edward III, and in the female line from Lionel, 1st Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III. In the 1450s opposition to Henry VI Lancaster was led by Edmund's grandson, Richard York, who announced his claims to the throne. The conflict between the supporters of the Yorks and the Lancasters resulted in a long and bloody civil war, called the War of the Scarlet and White Roses (there was a white rose on the coat of arms of the Yorks, and scarlet on the coat of arms of the Lancasters), during which a significant part of the English aristocracy died (several large noble houses completely ceased to exist). Richard York died December 30, 1460 at the Battle of Wakefield. And his eldest son, Edward IV, after the battle of Towton became the first king of this dynasty.

Edward reigned until 1483, with an interval of eight months (in 1470-1471), when the rebellious Richard Neville sent him into exile, restoring Henry VI Lancaster to the throne. Edward IV's son, twelve-year-old Edward V, was king in name only: immediately after the death of his father, the young king was sent by his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to the Tower. Declared illegitimate, he was removed from the throne in favor of the younger brother of Edward IV, Duke of Gloucester, who was crowned Richard III. In 1485, at the Battle of Bosworth, Richard died, and his army was defeated by the army of the new pretender to the English crown, Henry Tudor, the leader of the Lancastrian party.

In 1486, wanting to gain a foothold on the throne, Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, thus uniting the two houses. The last claimant to the throne from the York dynasty, Edward, Earl of Warwick (son of the Duke of Clarence, another brother of Edward IV, who was executed for treason), was captured by Henry and eventually executed in 1499.

E. V. Kalmykova

LANCASTER(Lancaster), a royal dynasty in England in 1399-1461, a branch of the Plantagenets.

The House of Lancaster is a junior branch of the Plantagenet dynasty and is descended from John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward III. In 1362 John of Gaunt married Blanca, daughter of Henry, 1st Duke of Lancaster, after whose death (1362) he succeeded to the title. John of Gaunt was married three times: the second marriage was concluded (1372) with Constance of Castile, daughter of King Pedro I (this marriage allowed Lancaster to claim the crown of Leon and Castile), the third wife of the duke (since 1396) was Catherine Swinford. Numerous descendants of John of Gaunt from all three marriages claimed the English crown, as they were all descended from Edward III.

In 1399, shortly after the death of John of Gaunt, his eldest son, Henry Bolingbroke, assumed the English throne under the name of Henry IV, deposing the last Plantagenet king, Richard II. In 1413, Henry IV was succeeded by his eldest son, Henry V, who in turn passed the throne to his only child, Henry VI, in 1422. For certain reasons, Henry VI could not be a strong sovereign (he inherited bouts of insanity from his maternal grandfather): at his court, two powerful parties fought for power, led by Queen Margaret of Anjou and Richard, Duke of York. The latter had quite legitimate grounds to claim the crown himself. In 1461, the son of Richard York, with the support of Richard Neville, succeeded in seizing the throne. In 1470, the same Richard Neville returned the crown to Henry, which he finally lost eight months later, along with his life. Henry VI's only son, Edward, died at the Battle of Tewkesbury. After the death of King Henry and Prince Edward, the House of Lancaster was headed by Henry Tudor, descended from the son of John of Gaunt and Catherine Swynford. Having won the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, Henry Tudor, crowned as Henry VII, not only finally returned the crown to the Lancastrian house, but also was able to end the civil war by marrying the heiress of the House of York, Princess Elizabeth.

E. V. Kalmykova

Power always breeds rivalry. The Middle Ages passed under the sign of endless duels between barons, dukes, kings and emperors. And it often happened that the starting point of such a confrontation was not the lands - they will be added - but the power itself, the right of supremacy in the complex hierarchical system of society. For this, for centuries, the closest relatives and distant relatives, who had at least a relative right to be in power, cut each other's throats. The struggle of different royal families for the throne with the help of weapons, deceit, bribery and betrayal - dynastic wars. It is difficult to name a country that this misfortune would not have visited. Often, dynastic feuds were only a pretext, and the real reason was the deep contradictions between various social strata, the interests of which were expressed by one or another noble family. This happened in Byzantium at the end of the 12th century, when the young Alexei II was on the throne, and Maria of Antioch, hostile to the interests of the country, became regent. In connection with the unpopularity of the regent, unrest arose, taking advantage of which, a representative of the side branch of the ruling house of Komnenos, Andronicus, came to power. The offended nobles called the Normans, who overthrew Andronicus and put Isaac II Angel on the throne. He, in turn, was deprived of the throne by his own brother (the Byzantines were generally famous for their cunning). But this strife did not result in a confrontation between the armies of the warring parties, as in other states. For example, in Russia in 1420-1450. in battles, his uncle, Yuri Dmitrievich, and then his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka disputed the right to the Grand Duke's throne from Vasily II.

Behind the dynastic occasion sometimes hid the long-standing rivalry not of social strata, but of entire states. This was the Hundred Years War. Its reasons lay in the contradictions between the two countries, and the reason was purely dynastic - the claims of the English king, the grandson of the French king Philip IV the Handsome, to the French throne.

But the most famous of the dynastic feuds was, perhaps due to its romantic name, the War of the Scarlet and White Roses that broke out in the 15th century. in England. The troubles and strife that preceded it began even earlier, at the end of the 14th century. The ruined lords tried to support the outgoing power with the help of weapons. They gathered armed detachments (in fact, real gangs) from relatives, vassals and mercenaries and began to terrorize their weak neighbors, rob on the roads. It was almost impossible to find justice for powerful lords. It cost them nothing not only to start a fight during the trial of one of the "comrades-in-arms", but also to bring a retinue armed with clubs to parliament. So did the barons, and the princes of the blood who had aspirations to the throne, who were willingly supported by noble robbers who expected to benefit from a change in ruler. In 1399, the Lancaster dynasty was firmly established on the English throne: the son of Duke John of Lancaster took the throne from his cousin Richard II Plantagenet and became King Henry IV Lancaster. However, he failed to rule calmly: unable to cope with the baronial unrest that did not stop throughout his reign, exhausted by a serious illness - leprosy, Henry IV in 1413 transferred the crown to his son. Henry V - young, talented, lucky - during his not too long reign managed to take part in the Hundred Years War, defeat the French at the Battle of Agincourt and make peace, according to which the king of England actually became the heir to the French throne. But Henry V did not have time to raise his heir. When he died of an accidental fever, his son was only ten months old. Henry VI grew up amid incessant quarrels of relatives and guardians vying for power and influence. The reign of a child king, as well as a king who did not have time to acquire a direct heir, is a fertile time for those who would like to become an heir themselves. Under Henry VI, Duke Richard of York (grandson of Edmund York, Henry IV's uncle), the owner of vast estates, a decisive and powerful magnate with a huge number of supporters, began to claim the throne. Richard York, not without reason, was feared and tried to keep away from the royal court. However, this was not easy to do. Henry VI grew up weak-willed and sickly, the favorite of his wife, the energetic Margaret of Anjou, ran the affairs.

In 1450, taking advantage of the unrest in the country, Richard York arbitrarily left the post of Viceroy of Ireland, returned to England and began a show of force, managing, however, to show loyal feelings to Henry VI. The Duke and his supporters directed the main blow against the Duke of Somerset, who enjoyed unlimited power under the royal couple. The House of Commons, which supported York, insisted on his expulsion, but Henry VI showed enviable firmness. Then, in 1451, one of the deputies of parliament directly proposed that Richard York be proclaimed heir to the throne (the king had no children for a long time). In response, Henry VI dissolved Parliament and imprisoned the defiant MP in the Tower. From that moment on, an open confrontation began between the Yorks, in whose coat of arms a white rose was depicted, and the Lancasters, in whose coat of arms there was a scarlet rose: the war of the Scarlet and White Roses. This rivalry resulted in a bloody thirty-year slaughter.

In August 1453, Henry VI, as a result of a strong fright, was damaged in his mind. Taking advantage of this, Richard York achieved for himself the most important position - the protector of the state. But sanity returned to Henry VI, and the duke's position was shaken. Not wanting to part with power, Richard York gathered armed detachments of his followers. He decided that death on the battlefield is better than death on the scaffold. In 1455, in the town of St. Albans, a battle took place between the troops of the duke and the king in the narrow streets. The outcome of the battle was decided by the young supporter of York, the Earl of Warwick, who, breaking through the fences and gardens with his people, hit the royal troops from the rear. In half an hour it was all over. Many Lancasters - supporters of the king, including the Duke of Somerset, died. The king himself was in the hands of Richard of York. The relatives of the dead seigneurs burned with revenge. Thus began the war of the Scarlet and White Roses. After the battle, supporters were clearly identified on each side: the Yorks were supported by the more developed south-eastern regions of England, London merchants, townspeople - those who were interested in establishing a strong royal power. The Lancasters were supported by the independent feudal lords of Northern England. However, considerations of momentary personal gain, fear of revenge and greed gave rise to a huge number of traitors and defectors during this war.

After the defeat at St. Albans, Henry VI was again seized by madness, and Queen Margaret led the fight against Richard York. At the end of 1460, she managed to take revenge - in a fierce battle in front of the gates of her Wakefield castle, Richard York died. Together with him, his 17-year-old son and many barons devoted to him died. With the survivors, the Queen dealt with unfeminine cruelty. The head of the deceased York, topped with a crown of gilded paper, was exhibited over the gates of the city of York as a warning to the new pretenders to the throne. The tragedy at Wakefield was soon learned by the eldest son of the deceased Duke of York, Earl Edward March and Warwick, who had once distinguished himself in a street fight, and now the leader of the Yorkists, a talented commander, orator and diplomat. They hurried to London, whose inhabitants were in a panic at the news of the approach of the army of Queen Margaret, her soldiers mercilessly plundered the cities that came across on the way. The York army was greeted with joy. Here Warwick aptly raised the issue of Edward March's claim to the throne. The Londoners agreed to proclaim him King Edward IV. On March 3, 1461, a deputation of lords and noble burgesses asked the Earl of March to accept the crown. But the solemn coronation of the 19-year-old king took place only after he, having defeated the Lancastrian troops in another battle, occupied York, cruelly avenged his father, drove Queen Margaret and Henry VI, who was with her, to Scotland and subjugated the north of the country.

The reign of Edward IV lasted 22 years (1461-1483). The first years of the young king, placing the brunt of power on the faithful Warwick (nicknamed the "maker of kings"), spent time in feasts and tournaments. But soon the royal rake turned into a smart, active ruler. Here he began to disagree with Warwick over relations with France: Warwick was in favor of an alliance with King Louis XI, and Edward was in favor of an alliance with his rival Charles of Burgundy. Disagreements culminated in a complete rupture between the king and the "kingmaker". Warwick led a rebellion against Edward. The king's army was defeated, he himself became a prisoner of Warwick. Edward was not stingy with promises to regain his freedom, and Warwick soon released his prisoner. But the king was not at all going to fulfill his promises, and the struggle between him and his former associate flared up with renewed vigor. Gradually, Warwick became closer to the Lancastrians, even concluded an agreement with Queen Margaret. In 1470, he decided to create, or rather, recreate his next king. Henry VI, insane, infirm, not long before wandering unconsciously along the roads of England with mendicant monks, then imprisoned in the Tower, was released by Warwick and proclaimed king. For half a year, Warwick could again rule autocratically. But in the spring of 1471, Edward IV, in a battle near the city of Barnet, defeated the troops of the rebellious earl. Warwick was killed. The unfortunate Henry VI also soon died (or was killed, because his death happened at the right time). The Lancasters did not have a single possible contender for the throne. Only a distant relative of the House of Lancaster, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who had taken refuge in France, survived. However, the bloody strife did not stop there.

Edward IV ruled for another 12 years. By the end of his reign, he became a sickly, lethargic, flabby man, although he was not at all old. As the will of the king weakened, the role played by his younger brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, increased. In all rebellions and troubles, he remained faithful to Edward. Richard was a talented administrator, a capable commander. Nature deprived him of a beautiful appearance, but this lack was compensated by his will and a lively mind. From birth he was lopsided. Richard, by exhausting physical exercises, achieved the fact that this flaw became almost imperceptible. Edward IV died unexpectedly in 1483. His 12-year-old son was to succeed him. The boy king needed a regent. The relatives of Queen Elizabeth, the widow of Edward IV, numerous and greedy, were not loved equally by lords and townspeople. Having arrested the Queen's relatives, Duke Richard of Gloucester announced to the frightened little King Edward V that he would now be his guardian. It was a real coup d'état. Edward V and his younger brother Richard ended up in the Tower. Shortly thereafter, Richard of Gloucester staged his "calling to the throne" and was crowned on July 6, 1483 under the name of King Richard III.

Richard III is associated with the image created by Shakespeare of an evil hunchbacked dwarf, hated by everyone and accompanied by a crowd of ghosts of the people he killed. Indeed, the young sons of Edward IV were killed in the Tower on his orders. Probably, Richard had a hand in the murder in 1471 of King Henry VI. But in fact, he was no more bloodthirsty than any of the rulers of that time. Richard of Gloucester, who grew up amid bloody troubles, took a direct part in them along with other heroes of the Wars of the Roses. He was a warrior, he had to kill more than once in battle with his own hands - and therefore he could look at the blood quite indifferently. Richard III was a man of his time and a king of his time. And not the worst king. His reforms - the prohibition of violent requisitions, the streamlining of legal proceedings, the protection of the interests of the English merchant class - were popular with the people. No wonder it was the "bloodthirsty villain" Richard III who was considered by the English as almost the only king who put the interests of the state above his own.

However, the reign of Richard III did not last long. Already in 1483, a new wave of rebellions started by the surviving supporters of the Lancasters began. Henry Tudor, who was hiding in France, attempted to invade England, but was forced to flee. Anticipating that this would not be the end of the matter, Richard began to prepare for new performances. He raised troops, saved up funds. Henry Tudor really did not keep himself waiting: on August 7, 1485, he landed in Wales. Richard's army turned out to be much smaller than he expected: many barons betrayed him. Opponents met at Bosworth. Here, even his warriors left Richard, demoralized by the betrayal of one of the king's generals. Richard III did everything that depended on his personal courage. He refused to run when offered a horse, declaring that he would die a king, fought until he had enough strength, and was hacked to death with an axe. Here, on the battlefield, Henry Tudor was proclaimed king of England.

The War of the Scarlet and White Roses is over. For 30 years, she claimed almost a quarter of the population of England, 80 representatives of royal blood, a huge number of feudal families. The nobility, leading its lineage from the Normans who once conquered England, was completely exterminated. She was replaced by new nobles. Henry Tudor, who was crowned as Henry VI, founded a new dynasty. Scarlet and White roses - Lancasters and Yorks - were exhausted and decayed. But two warring flowers were united by Henry VII on one coat of arms - the coat of arms of Tudor England.

Wars of the Scarlet and White Roses- a series of armed conflicts between factions of the English nobility in -1487 in the struggle for power between supporters of the two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty.

Causes of the war

The reason for the war was the dissatisfaction of a significant part of English society with the failures in the Hundred Years War and the policies pursued by the wife of King Henry VI, Queen Margaret and her favorites (the king himself was a weak-willed person, moreover, sometimes fell into complete unconsciousness). The opposition was led by Duke Richard of York, who demanded for himself first a regency over the incapacitated king, and later the English crown. The basis for this claim was that Henry VI was the great-grandson of John of Gaunt, the third son of King Edward III, and York was the great-grandson of Lionel, the second son of this king (in the female line, in the male line, he was the grandson of Edmund, the fourth son of Edward III), in addition, Henry VI's grandfather Henry IV seized the throne in , forcibly forcing King Richard II to abdicate - which made the legitimacy of the entire Lancaster dynasty dubious.

Origin of Scarlet and White Roses

The oft-repeated claim that the Scarlet Rose was the coat of arms of the Lancasters, while the White Rose was the coat of arms of the Yorks, is incorrect. Being great-great-grandsons of Edward III, the heads of both parties had very similar coats of arms. Henry VI wore the Plantagenet family coat of arms (consisting of the arms of England - three leopards on a scarlet field and France - three lilies on a blue field), and the Duke of York wore the same coat of arms, only with a superimposed title. Roses were not coats of arms, but distinctive badges (badges) of two warring parties. Who exactly used them for the first time is not known exactly. If the White Rose, symbolizing the Virgin, was used as a distinctive sign by the first Duke of York Edmund Langley in the 14th century, then nothing is known about the use of Aloy by the Lancastrians before the start of the war. Perhaps it was invented in contrast to the emblem of the enemy. Shakespeare in the chronicle "Henry VI" cites a scene (probably fictional) in which the Dukes of York and Somerset, who quarreled in London's Temple Garden, invited their supporters to pick a white and a red rose, respectively.

Major events of the war

The confrontation turned into a stage of open war in when the Yorkists celebrated the victory at the First Battle of St. Albans, shortly after which the English Parliament declared Richard York the protector of the kingdom and heir to Henry VI. However, at the Battle of Wakefield, Richard York died. The party of the White Rose was led by his son Edward, who was crowned in London as Edward IV. In the same year the Yorkists won victories at Mortimer's Cross and at Towton. As a result of the latter, the main forces of the Lancastrians were defeated, and King Henry VI and Queen Margaret fled the country (the king was soon caught and imprisoned in the Tower).

Active hostilities resumed when the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence (younger brother of Edward IV) who went over to the side of the Lancastrians returned Henry VI to the throne. Edward IV with his other brother the Duke of Gloucester fled to Burgundy, from where they returned to. The Duke of Clarence again went over to his brother's side - and the Yorkists won victories at Barnet and Tewkesbury. In the first of these battles, the Earl of Warwick was killed, in the second, Prince Edward, the only son of Henry VI, was killed, which, together with the death (probably murder) of Henry himself that followed in the same year in the Tower, was the end of the Lancastrian dynasty.

Edward IV - the first king of the York dynasty - reigned peacefully until his death, which followed unexpectedly for everyone in 1483, when his son Edward V became king for a short time. However, the royal council declared him illegitimate (the late king was a great hunter of women and, in addition to his official wife, was secretly engaged to one or more women; in addition, Thomas More and Shakespeare mention rumors in society that Edward himself was the son of not the Duke of York, but a simple archer), and Edward IV's brother Richard of Gloucester was crowned in the same year as Richard III. His short and dramatic reign was filled with struggles against overt and covert opposition. In this struggle, the king was initially lucky, but the number of opponents only increased. The forces of the Lancastrians (mostly French mercenaries), led by Henry Tudor (great-great-grandson of John of Gaunt in the female line) landed in Wales. In the battle that took place at Bosworth, Richard III was killed, and the crown passed to Henry Tudor, who was crowned as Henry VII, the founder of the Tudor dynasty. In the Earl of Lincoln (nephew of Richard III) tried to return the crown to the Yorks, but was killed in the battle of Stoke Field. Hugo de Lanois was also executed with abuse.

The results of the war

The War of the Scarlet and White Roses actually drew a line under the English Middle Ages. On the battlefields, scaffolds and in prison casemates, not only all the direct descendants of the Plantagenets perished, but also a significant part of the English lords and chivalry.

Notes

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See what the "War of the Scarlet and White Roses" is in other dictionaries:

This term has other meanings, see the Civil War in England. The War of the Scarlet and White Roses Representation of an unreliable scene ... Wikipedia

War of the Scarlet and White Roses- Wars of the scarlet and white roses ... Russian spelling dictionary

War of the Scarlet and White Roses- (in England, 1455-1485) ... Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language

War of the Scarlet and White Roses Date 1455 1485 Place England Result Victory of the Lancasters and their henchmen. The liquidation of the Middle Ages in England ... Wikipedia

A long (1455 85) internecine war of feudal cliques, which took the form of a struggle for the English throne between two lines of the royal Plantagenet dynasty (See Plantagenets): Lancasters (See Lancasters) (in the coat of arms of a scarlet rose) and Yorks ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Scarlet and White Rose War- (1455 1485) struggle for the English. the throne between the two side lines of queens, the Plantagenet dynasty, the Lancasters (in the coat of arms a scarlet rose) and the Yorks (in the coat of arms a white rose). The confrontation between the Lancasters (the ruling dynasty) and the Yorks (the richest ... ... Medieval world in terms, names and titles

The civil war, which went down in history as the Wars of the Scarlet and White Roses, took place between Yorkshire and Lancashire, whose symbols were the white and scarlet roses. It lasted for 30 long years and caused enormous damage to the population and ruin of the lands on which this population lived. So many representatives of the aristocracy were exterminated during the war that Henry VII had to re-create this social stratum. Henry VII was the king who brought peace and prosperity to the kingdom, unlike his predecessor, the usurper Richard III, who stole the throne through deceit and a series of low murders. At that time, a large bow dominated the battlefield, and among the warriors - knights and heavily armed horsemen, covered from head to toe with bulky plate armor, riding war horses, also clad in armor.

A familiar picture, perhaps not containing a word of truth.

Edward IV, king of England from 1464-83. He seized the throne with the help of the Duke of Warwick, whom he later killed in battle. In the same year, on his orders, Henry VI was killed in prison. The moral principles of Edward VI were very confused and unstable, greed is huge. The way he arranged his wedding completely discredited him. He achieved financial independence from Parliament through a brief war with France in 1475. Subsequently, he received from Louis XI an annual subsidy of 20,000 crowns.

In the 16th century, the history of England was rewritten to please Henry Tudor in order to help establish the Tudor dynasty on the throne after a period of unrest that followed the Wars of the Roses. As a result, many widely held but completely wrong opinions regarding the events of this war have survived to this day. Before I venture to a general conclusion, I would like to address the deep-rooted misconceptions outlined at the beginning of the chapter.

A civil war is a war in which the citizens of a country kill their own compatriots. By this definition, the War of the Roses may well be classified as a civil war. In fact, this war was a manifestation of the dynastic struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster and affected only the aristocratic families of these houses, as well as their adherents and successors. These campaigns were more of a protracted power struggle between two political parties than a civil war. Both parties recognized the need to unite the kingdom and the existing system of government, represented by the king, the Council and the Parliament. None of the parties sought to destroy or weaken royal power, as was the case during the civil wars on the continent. Each of the factions only wanted to gain power in the Council and thereby rule the country.

Thus the wars were waged by the great barons, chiefly of the frontier regions, with the help of private armies not in the public service. The conflicts of large feudal lords to some extent differed from other wars of the era, both internal (civil) and external, in that the barons tried not to touch ordinary people, as they needed supporters who supported their struggle against other feudal lords; and also because they were interested in the prosperity of the kingdom. Philippe de Comyn notes in his memoirs: “The English did not kill anyone after winning a battle, much less ordinary people. On the contrary, each of the opposing sides tried to win the favor of the commoners. King Edward told me that, finally convinced of his victory at the end of the battle, he, jumping on his horse, shouted an order to spare the common people and put to death noble knights. Of the latter, few managed to escape. The English kingdom had one advantage over other kingdoms: the countryside, as a rule, was not devastated, the inhabitants were not destroyed, the buildings were not destroyed or burned. All troubles fell mainly on the lot of soldiers and nobility.

It is believed that the War of the Roses lasted for 30 years: from 1455 to 1485. This figure can be divided into three periods of conflict peaks: 1455-64, 1469-71, 1483-87. The actual campaign time is 428 days. The confrontation broke through with another fight, after which everything calmed down very quickly. The longest trip from Wakefield to Toughton lasted 4 months. Even Edward's campaign to seize the throne took only 2 months from his landing at Ravenspur to the Battle of Tewkesbury.

Taking into account the above facts, it can be understood that the long bloody battles and other horrors associated with the civil war were not characteristic of the War of the Roses. Modern historians believe that the notion of plundered lands devastated by the civil war was entrenched in history through the efforts of Tudor supporters. They created this image in order to enhance the contrast between the devastation that reigned in the country before the accession of Henry VII to the throne, and the peace and prosperity that came to the land of England under the new king.

The aristocracy suffered greatly. Although it is still a question: is it so strong? Yes, many knights were killed. But their families were not destroyed, as is often claimed. The old nobility actually survived the war. K.B. McFarlane gives a figure of 25 percent, indicating the rate of extinction of noble families. Of course, 25 percent is a high death rate. Undoubtedly, the nobility was dying out. Such a great decline was due to the absence of male heirs, as well as the fact that many lives were claimed by the war. Noble families really suffered severely: of the 16 surnames of dukes and earls that existed in the last decade of the reign of Henry VII, only two remained unscathed - William, Earl of Arundel, who did not take part either in the war or in the political struggle, and Ralph Neuville, the second duke Westmorland.

There is also confusion over the names of the two parties - Yorks and Lancasters. At that time, the York dynasty had the most supporters in the midlands of England, and the Lancasters dominated Yorkshire! It is important to remember that Yorks and Lancasters are the names of two rival dynasties that have little to do with place names. We should not be confused by the confrontation between two modern English counties of the same name, which in no way relates to the events described.

It should be noted that even the name of the war is wrong. The noisy quarrels of the great barons of that period were given such a resounding name many years later. The name was probably coined by Sir Walter Scott in the 19th century. Shakespeare's play "Henry VI" played its role in rooting the delusion. There is a famous scene in it, where the warring representatives of the nobility gather red and white roses in the garden of the Temple.

Discord between noble families continued. One of the most confusing circumstances was that families often became allies of yesterday's rivals by marrying representatives of the opposite side, after which titles and estates passed into the hands of recent enemies through heirs. I hope that the brief description of the events offered here and the famous figures who took part in them will help to understand who fought with whom, where, when and for what.