Wars of the Roses

The Battle of Wakefield took place in Sandal Magna near Wakefield, in West Yorkshire in Northern England, on 30 December 1460. It was a major battle... of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing forces were a Lancastrian army, loyal to the captive King Henry VI, his Queen, Margaret of Anjou, and their seven year-old son Edward, Prince of Wales on one side, and the army of Richard, Duke of York, the rival claimant to the throne, on the other. The Duke of York was killed and his army was destroyed. The House of Lancaster was established on the throne of England in 1399, when Henry Bolingbroke, the Duke of Lancaster, deposed his unpopular cousin King Richard II, and was crowned Henry IV. Throughout his reign, he was troubled by doubts over the legitimacy of his rule, and there were several revolts against him. His son, Henry V inherited the throne after these had been suppressed, and he enhanced the prestige of the dynasty by good government and victories over the French, notably at Agincourt. However, Henry V died in 1422 and his only son became King Henry VI when only nine months old. He grew up to be an ineffective king, and prone to spells of mental illness.
more

The Battle of Towton was fought during the English Wars of the Roses on 29 March 1461, near the village of the same name in Yorkshire. It was the... "largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil". According to chroniclers, more than 50,000 soldiers from the Houses of York and Lancaster fought for hours amidst a snowstorm on that day, which was a Palm Sunday. A newsletter circulated a week after the battle reported that 28,000 died on the battlefield. The engagement brought about a monarchical change in England—Edward IV displaced Henry VI as King of England, driving the head of the Lancastrians and his key supporters out of the country. Contemporary accounts described Henry VI as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, such as the War of the Roses. He suffered from periods of insanity while his inherent benevolence eventually required his wife, Margaret of Anjou, to assume control of his kingdom, which contributed to his own downfall.
more

The Battle of Stoke Field may be considered the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, since it was to be the last engagement in which a Lancastrian... king faced an army of Yorkist supporters, under the pretender Lambert Simnel. However, there is some dispute whether the Battle of Stoke Field was the last battle in the Wars of the Roses, as a number of historians consider the Battle of Bosworth, two years previously, as the real last remaining battle in the Wars of the Roses. Despite being the final major conflict between York and Lancaster , it was one of the costliest in terms of life, as there was a mutual agreement that there would be a policy of no quarter for those left standing. Later in Henry's reign emerged another pretender to the throne, Perkin Warbeck, however this was resolved without resorting to arms. Henry VII of England held the throne for the House of Lancaster , and had tried to gain the acceptance of the Yorkist faction by his marriage to their heiress, Elizabeth of York, but his hold on power was not entirely secure.
more

The Battle of Barnet was a decisive engagement in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict of 15th-century England. The military action, along with... the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV. On 14 April 1471 near Barnet, then a small town north of London, Edward led the House of York in a fight against the House of Lancaster, which backed Henry VI for the throne. Leading the Lancastrian army was Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, who played a crucial role in the fate of each king. Historians regard the battle as one of the most important clashes in the Wars of the Roses, since it brought about a decisive turn in the fortunes of the two houses. Edward's victory was followed by fourteen years of Yorkist rule over England. Formerly a key figure in the Yorkist cause, Warwick defected to the Lancastrians over disagreements about Edward's nepotism, secret marriage, and foreign policy. Leading a Lancastrian army, the earl defeated his former allies, forcing Edward to flee to Burgundy. The Yorkist king persuaded his host, Charles the Bold, to help him regain the English throne.
more