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Introduction

The cwil wars known as the Wars of the Roses werefought bełween Yorkshire and Lancashire, identijied by white and red roses respectioely, and lasted thirly bloody years, injiicting great damage to the land and its people and killing so many of the aristocracy that a new nobility had to be created in the reign of Henry VII—a good king who brought peace and prosperity to his kingdom, unlike his predecessor, the usurper Richard III, who stole the throne by deceit and foul murders. On the battlefields the longbow reigned supreme, while the knights and men-at-arms waddled around encased entirely in cumbersome piąte armour, or rode great horses also wearing piąte armour.

A familiar story perhaps: yet containing not a word of truth.

In the i6th century English history was rewritten to please Henry Tudor, or at Ieast to avoid his displeasure, and to assist in settling the Tudor dynasty firmly on the throne after the turmoil of the Wars of the Roses. Conseąuently, a number of popular but quite erroneous beliefs about these wars survive to this day. Before venturing into a generał summary of the wars, I should like to deal with the misconceptions outlined in the opening paragraph.

A civil war is one in which men fight and kill their countrymen, and in this respect the Wars of the Roses might properly be called a civil war. But these wars were in reality a dynastie struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster, and involved only the aristocratic families of these houses and their followers. Rather than a civil war, these campaigns represented a prolonged struggle for power between two political parties, both of which accepted the unity of the kingdom and the existing system of government by King, Council and Parliament. Neither party sought to destroy or divide the royal authority of the kingdom, as was the case with civil wars on the Continent; but rather to obtain power

Edward IV, King of England 1461- 83, won the throne with the aid of the Duke of Warwick, whom he later killed in battle. He had Henry VI murdered in prison in the same year. Edward⁵s morals were dubious, his marriage disreputable, and his greed inordinate. He gained financial independence from Parliament by a brief French war in 1475, which brought in an annual subsidy thereafter of 20,000 crowns from Louis XI. (National Portrait Gallery)

over the Council and through it to govern the country.

Thus the wars were fought by the great barons, particularly the feuding ‘Marcher’ barons of the border regions, with the aid of their private armies. To some extent at least they differed from other wars of the era, civil or international, in that the ordinary people of the country were left as undisturbed as possible, for the victors wished to control a thriving kingdom with a populace which would support them against their rivals. As Philippe de Commyne noted in his memoirs: