1. Wars of the Roses
1455–1487

2. Contens What were The wars of the Roses? The situation before war
The first battles
Edward IV's victory
2 Lancastrian revolts
The period
Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Yorkist victories in 1471
Princess in the tower
The last battles and Henry Tudor
Battles – time line
Battles - map
The Royals
Books

3. What were The wars of the Roses?
the Wars of the Roses were a series of civil wars - between adherents of the House of Lancaster and the House of York
both houses were branches of the Plantagenet royal house
the name "Wars of the Roses" - badges associated with the two royal houses, the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White rose of York

4. What were The wars of the Roses?
Badges
the white rose of York
the red rose of Lancaster

5. The situation before war
the antagonism started with the overthrow of King Richard II in 1399.
Henry Bolingbroke was crowned as Henry IV. He was tolerated as king since Richard II's government had been highly unpopular.
Henry IV - died in 1413
after Henry IV‘s death
- 8 month son
- instructions how to command till he will be full aged
Richard II
Henry IV

6. The situation before war
Henry V - great soldier
- military success
main power - Lancaster‘s branch Beaufort
reasons of the war :
- bad condition of economy
- bad ending of the 100 year‘s war
Henry V

7. The first battles St.Albans - on 22nd May 1455 - Richard Duke of York
- small force toward London
- the first open conflict
The Battle of Blore
- on September 23, 1459
- a large Lancastrian army failed
- the Earl of Salisbury (York)
The Battle of Ludford Bridge - shortly after the Battle of Blore
- combined Yorkist armies X much larger Lancastrian force
- Yorkist leaders fled
- York himself fled back to Ireland
- Edward, Earl of March (York's eldest son, later Edward VI), Salisbury, and Warwick fled to Calais
- The Lancastrians - total control

8. The first battles The Battle of Northampton - on 10 July 1460
- proved disastrous for the Lancastrians
- the Yorkist army under the Earl of Warwick
- with the King Henry the Yorkists returned to London.
The Battle of Wakefield
- The Duke of York with the Earl of Salisbury X
Margaret of Anjou
- Margaret's army outnumbered Richard's by more than two to one
- Richard was slain
The Second Battle of St Albans – 1461
- the Queen won the Lancastrians' most decisive victory yet
“Yorkist forces fled they left behind King Henry, who was found unharmed, sitting quietly beneath a tree“
- Henry knighted 30 Lancastrian soldiers

9. Edward IV's victory The Battle of Towton - 1461 - the biggest battle
- 20,000 men being killed during the battle
- the greatest recorded single day's loss of life on English soil
- Edward and his army won
- Henry and Margaret - were waiting in York with their son Edward
→ fled north when they heard of the outcome
In June 1461
- Edward IV's official coronation
- rapturous welcome from his supporters
- Edward was able to rule in relative peace
for ten years
Edward IV

10. 2 Lancastrian revolts In 1464 - Lancastrian revolts in the North
The Battle of Hedgeley Moor
- on April 25
Battle of Hexham
- on May 15
→ both revolts were put down by Warwick's brother, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu

11. The period
The period deterioration in the relationship between King Edward and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick - "the Kingmaker".
This had several causes:
Edward married Elizabeth Woodville in secret in 1464.
Edward's preference for an alliance with Burgundy (over France),
Edward's reluctance to allow his brothers George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to marry Warwick's daughters, Isabel Neville and Anne Neville.

12. Richard, Duke of Gloucester
In Warwick had formed an alliance with Edward's brother George →
the Battle of Edgecote Moor - Warwick defeated and held Edward at Middleham Castle in Yorkshire → Edward had to summon a parliament at York
1) Edward would be declared illegitimate
2) the crown would thus pass to George, Duke of Clarence
country was in turmoil and Edward was able to call on the loyalty of his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and the majority of the nobles
Richard arrived at the head of a large force and liberated King Edward
Warwick and Clarence were declared traitors and forced to flee to France
In France - a marriage was arranged :
Warwick's daughter Anne Neville + Margaret's son, the former Prince of Wales, Edward of Westminster → Warwick invaded England in the autumn of 1470

13. Yorkist victories in 1471 The Battle of Barnet - in 1471
- was fought in thick fog
- some of Warwick's men attacked each other by mistake
- Warwick's army fled
- he himself was cut down trying to reach his horse.
The Battle of Tewkesbury – Margaret‘s army, commanded by Duke of Somerset, was destroyed
- prince Edward of Westminster, the Lancastrian was killed
- Henry VI -no heirs
-was murdered shortly afterwards
Tewkesbury

14. Princess in the tower
the restoration of Edward IV in 1471 is sometimes seen as marking the end of the Wars of the Roses
when he died suddenly in 1483, political and dynastic turmoil erupted again
at the time of Edward's premature death, his heir, Edward V, was only 12 years old
Edward's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester → captured the young king Edward V and kept him in the Tower of London he was later joined by his younger brother
Richard alleged Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville as illegal
-alleged the two boys illegitimate
Richard named as King Richard III
princess
Richard III

15. The last battles and Henry Tudor
Henry VII
The Battle of Bosworth Field - in the summer of 1485 Henry Tudor (claim to the throne was through his mother, Margaret Beaufort, a descendant of Edward III ) defeated Richard
-Henry became King Henry VII of England and Richard was slain during the battle
- Henry then strengthened his position by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV
-symbols of the red and white roses into the new emblem of the red and white Tudor Rose
many historians consider the accession of Henry VII to mark the end of the Wars of the Roses
The Battle of Stoke in 1487, Lambert Simnel - close physical resemblance to the young Earl of Warwick
-Henry defeated forces led by John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln

16. Battles – time line

17. Battles - map

18. The Royals

19. Books