The Stories Behind 9 Of History’s Deadliest Family Feuds

The Wars Of The Roses

Public DomainThe Wars of the Roses were a series of conflicts spanning several decades for control of the English throne.

The Wars of the Roses pitted two English Houses against one another for the throne. The conflict was mainly between House Lancaster and House York, each of whom claimed the throne through descent from the sons of Edward III.

The name was attributed to this series of civil wars due to the emblems each house wore: the white rose by the Yorks and the red rose by the Lancastrians.

The conflict arose following the death of Henry VI, a king who had displayed little interest in politics and was largely considered to be a weak ruler. Henry’s lack of leadership essentially launched his realm into anarchy, and groups of frustrated citizens revolted against the king and his taxes.

Led by a man named Jack Cade, the frustrated townsfolk marched to London and presented the king with a list of demands known as the “Complaint of the Poor Commons of Kent.” One of these demands would ultimately set the stage for the 30 years of conflict that followed.

One of Cade’s demands was to recall Richard, Duke of York, from Ireland to England. Richard of York, coincidentally, was a great-grandson of King Edward III and, therefore, had a competing claim to the English throne.

Though the revolt was crushed, Henry believed the whole thing had been an elaborate ploy set in motion by none other than Richard of York himself to seize the throne. Despite the lack of any real evidence, this belief sparked the Wars of the Roses.

Then, on May 22, 1455, Richard of York and the Earl of Warwick, Richard Neville, marched against Henry at St. Albans. Negotiations failed, and a brief, vicious battle ensued, leaving Henry wounded and the Duke of Somerset, Edmund Beaufort, dead.

For the next three decades, the Houses of York and Lancaster would compete for the throne through a series of bloody battles, ultimately ending with the ascension of the Lancastrian Henry Tudor to the English throne, establishing a long legacy of Tudors to come.