First Battle of St. Albans - Wars of the Roses - St. Albans Wars of the Roses Wars of the Roses: First Battle of St. Albans Henry VI. Public Domain Updated August 04, 2015. First Battle of St. Albans - Conflict & Date: The First Battle of St. Albans was fought May 22, 1455, during the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485). Armies & Commanders approx. 2,000-3,000 men First Battle of St. Albans - Background: The antagonism between the Houses of Lancaster and York commenced in 1399 when Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster overthrew his unpopular cousin King Richard II. A grandson of Edward III , through John of Gaunt, his claim to the English crown was relatively weak compared to his Yorkist relations. Ruling until 1413 as Henry IV, he was forced to put down several uprisings to maintain the throne. On his death, the throne passed to his son, Henry V.

A great warrior known for his victory at Agincourt , Henry V only lived until 1422 when he was succeeded by his nine-month old son Henry VI. For most of his minority, Henry was surrounded by unpopular advisors such as the Duke of Gloucester, Cardinal Beaufort, and the Duke of Suffolk. During Henry VI's reign, the French gained the upper hand in the Hundred Years' War and began pushing English forces from France. A weak and ineffective ruler, Henry was heavily advised by the Duke of Somerset who desired peace. This position was countered by Richard, Duke of York who wished to continue fighting. A descendent of Edward III's second and fourth sons, he possessed a strong claim to the throne. By 1450, Henry VI began experiencing bouts of insanity and three years later was judged unfit to rule. This resulted in a Council of Regency being formed with York at its head as Lord Protector. Imprisoning Somerset, he worked to expand his power but was forced to step down two years later when Henry VI recovered. First Battle of St. Albans - Forces Mobilize: Resuming the throne, Henry again fell under the influence of his advisors.

Seeking to eliminate York as a threat, Queen Margaret of Anjou had him removed from court. Departing, York increasingly began to fear that he would be arrested for treason. This came to a head in 1455 when he received a summons to appear before the King's council to answer allegations against him. Fearing the outcome, York began raising troops from among his supporters in the north. Assembling his men, he started moving south towards London. En route, he was joined by the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, both members of the allied Neville family. The addition of their forces brought York's army to between 5,000 and 7,000 men. In response to York's actions, Henry formed a small army of 2,000-3,000 men, with the Duke of Somerset in command, and began marching north. First Battle of St. Alban - The Armies Meet: Departing London, Henry was surprised by the speed of York's advance and directed his army to occupy the fortified town of St. Albans on the morning of May 22. Shortly thereafter, York's forces arrived outside the town and began deploying to the east.

Despite the aggressive stances assumed by both sides, neither Henry nor York was eager to engage in combat. York desired that his name be cleared and certain Lancastrian advisors removed. Badly outnumbered, Henry and Somerset wished to escape from militarily weak position. As a result, much of the morning was spent in negotiations as messengers travelled back forth between the two camps. After three hours of talks, York proved unable to convince Henry of his peaceful intentions and the King became increasingly angry in regard to the Duke's demands. First Battle of St. Albans - A Short, Violent Clash: Around midday, York grew tired of the impasse and directed his forces to assault St. Albans via the Sopwell and Shropshire Lane gates. Charging forward, they found both gates barricaded by Henry's men. Repeated assaults failed to break through and casualties began to mount. Assessing the situation, Warwick led the Yorkist reserves in search of another way into St. Albans. Moving through gardens and back roads, he was able to enter the town and approached its marketplace. Here, Yorkist forces found the Lancastrian reserves. Caught by surprise, they were not prepared for battle when Warwick's men charged forward.

Quickly shattering the enemy's forces, Warwick pressed his attack. With the Lancastrian reserves fleeing, the troops at the gates were also forced to withdraw. First Battle of St. Alban - Aftermath: As the battle swirled through the streets, Somerset was killed and Henry captured. In the fighting, the King was slightly wounded in the neck. While a minor clash in regard to numbers engaged, the First Battle of St. Albans marked the opening of the Wars of the Roses and had a substantial political impact. Taking possession of Henry, York reclaimed his position at court and was made Lord High Constable of England. As the King again slipped into another bout of insanity, York also became regent with the title of Lord Protector in November 1455. Following Henry's recovery the following year, York was forced from his posts by Margaret and sent to Ireland. Fighting resumed in earnest in 1459 when the two sides clashed at Blore Heath and Ludford Bridge.

The Wars of the Roses | British History Breaks The Wars of the Roses Wars of the Roses: 1455 – 87 A climate ripe for change: Throughout the middle ages the process of deciding monarchs via dynastic lineage was an adequate if not capricious method. On occasion it could lead to complete social chaos; the Wars of the Roses, also known as the Cousins' war, was such an occasion. The concept of divine rule, which had been accepted for centuries, meant that people could not question the Kings’ absolute authority without committing blasphemy. Changing such a system could never happen overnight, but a culmination of events in the 14th and 15th Century would bring about that change. Following the Black Death, which swept over Britain in 1348 killing between 30 – 50% of the country’s population, belief in the old social order slowly began to be questioned. Frustrated with the attempts to raise taxes from the penniless, the Peasants Revolt of 1381 forced Barons to concede to their tenant’s demands for higher wages, as the supply of labour fell.

The subsequent wage increase led to a redistribution of wealth, economic growth and societal advancement amongst those at the foot of mediaeval society. The feudal system was in its death throes. A panicked nobility vied for influence and leverage. Not exactly helping matters was the mental health and erratic leadership of the Lancastrian King, Henry VI. After inheriting the throne in 1422, Henry’s reign coincided with disaster in the hundred year’s war and a marginalisation of Yorkist influence in court. With many Barons questioning Henry’s suitability as King and with so many suitable candidates for his replacement, war was inevitable. The particular problem of succession had emerged from the rule of Edward III. Unusually, Edward had many children that survived to adulthood. The sons inherited titles and the daughters married nobility which created many powerful magnates, each of whom autonomously ruled their own dukedom. Each could also claim to have their own line to the throne. Prelude to war: In the late 14th century, the first Grandson of Edward II, Richard II reigned for 22 years but had no children to succeed him. Instead, he nominated his nephew Roger Mortimer as his heir.

When Mortimer died before he could become King, the throne was usurped by Richard’s cousin Henry IV. By the time the throne passed to Henry IV’s grandson Henry VI, the young king was just 9 months old! Led by quarrelsome advisors, it was under Henry VI’s unsurprisingly ineffective rule that the French captured most of the English territories in France, during the period that became known as the Hundred Years war. This proved catastrophic for England. Barons lost large amounts of income from the loss of their continental holdings and looking to compensate for the loss of prestige, they enlarged their maintenance with soldiers returning from France. Loyalties and division lines were drawn up between the emerging claims to the throne, with each Baron a powerful micro-army in their own right. On opposite sides of the divide stood the claimants from the House of York and the current King from the Lancastrian House. Despite the names representing the Dukedoms of the North, loyalties were split across the entire country with the nobility jockeying for positions of influence. As discord with the King grew, England fragmented. The additional complication of Henry VI being victim of bouts of mental illness did not help his cause.

During one such bout, a Royal Council was established by Richard of York to rule while the King recovered. With Yorkist power having been stripped away under the Lancastrian king Richard maximised this time to redress this grievance. Yet when Henry recovered in 1455 it was his wife, Margaret of Anjou who emerged as defacto ruler of the Lancastrians. Richard was promptly driven out of court and fearing execution for treason, he fled and readied for hostilities. Commencement of hostilities: Looking to remove the King’s inept Lancastrian councillors once and for all, Richard of York marched on London. The first engagement of the war came at St Albans in a relatively small affair. The King’s Lancastrian army suffered a defeat and Henry VI was captured. With defeat, the King had relapsed into mental illness. Once again, Richard of York, Henry’s distant cousin, became Lord Protector. In the aftermath there were attempts on both sides to reconcile, yet the question of succession once again became an issue. Henry VI and Margaret’s young son Edward was the Lancastrian candidate to inherit the throne whereas Richard was the Yorkist candidate.

When Henry recovered he relieved Richard of his position and set about consolidating his own. Henry’s recovery and intervention in power politics must have been frustrating for the Yorkists for all sorts of reasons but none more so than the matter of the French naval threat in the English Channel. Richard of York’s ally the Earl of Warwick had been particularly capable in dealing with the threat while the Lancastrians fumbled. Warwick intervenes: By 1459 the Lancastrians were back in full control of affairs in England. Angry at the Lancastrian King’s lack of assistance against the French, Warwick started raiding the English coast. Then, in 1460, Warwick and his army crossed the channel with Papal backing. They engaged Lancastrian forces at the battle of Northampton and won a resounding victory. The Yorkists again found the King hiding in a state of mental disrepair and with him as their prisoner, travelled back to London. Upon learning the news, Richard of York travelled to London with the intention of claiming the throne. Richard arrived at London and misjudging the situation, headed straight to claim the throne. Warwick was stunned.

He had no intention of removing Henry VI from the throne, merely in replacing his councillors. Richard had to make detailed arguments based on genealogy that he and not Henry was the legitimate King. A compromise was reached. Henry would remain King but his son Edward was disinherited. Richard would become monarch upon Henry’s death. Meanwhile, Henry’s wife Maragret of Anjou fled North with their son Edward. There, she was able to pull together a coalition of supporters. The Yorkists marched north to meet the Lancastrian threat. The resulting battle of Wakefield was a complete rout in favour of the Lancastrians. Richard Duke of York was captured and executed along with his 17 year old son. Victory for the house of York: Richard’s eldest son Edward was now the Yorkist candidate for the throne. With Jasper Tudor’s army arriving from Wales to finish the job, Edward raised his army and met the Lancastrians in Herefordshire. The result was a hard won victory for young Edward against wily Jasper. However, a war on two fronts was too much to maintain and at the second battle of St Albans, the Lancastrians won another victory and in doing so, recovered Henry VI.

The Yorkist’s retreated to London. Having made his way to London, Edward was crowned King in an impromptu ceremony; then he and Warwick reorganised their forces and marched north to face the Lancastrians at Towton. It would prove the bloodiest day on English soil with no quarter given. The Yorkists won a decisive victory leaving tens of thousands of dead on the battlefield. The surviving Lancastrians fled to Wales and locked themselves behind their castle walls. Henry and Margaret were forced to flee to Scotland. Edward IV was officially coronated in 1461. The Yorkists had won. Mopping up operations continued until 1468 with Harlech Castle the last to fall after a seven year siege. In 1465, while he was campaigning in Northern England, Henry VI was captured a third time. Warwick's rebellion: In 1464 Edward IV took his private life into his own hands, an action that his uncle Warwick did not approve of, nor attempt to accept. As far as Warwick was concerned Edward's marriage should have been a strategic International partnership, instead Edward married English-born Elizabeth Woodville in a secret ceremony.

The Woodville’s had always been loyal to the Lancastrians and their presence in court caused much resentment. Edward became increasingly authoritarian and by 1469, unable to stomach his old enemies having such influence, Warwick rebelled. Warwick attacked Edward’s forces at the Battle of Edgecote Moor where he won a sound victory. Edward was captured and for a time Warwick had two kings in his custody. England went into open revolt with old scores being settled everywhere. With few nobles ready to support Warwick’s seizure of power, Edward and Warwick publicly reconciled. It was however, merely for show. Within days, Edward had declared Warwick a traitor and forced him into exile in France. In desperation, he allied himself with his former mortal enemy Margaret of Anjou and together, they invaded England in 1470. King Edward was away suppressing further rebellion in the North so rapidly securing support enroute, Warwick quickly took London, parading Henry VI around as the return of the rightful King. Warwick’s own brother commanded a large army for Edward and with the news of the fall of London, he switched sides. Edward was shocked and after scattering his army he fled into exile in Burgundy.

Return of the King: Edward gathered his resources and with the assistance of his brother in law Charles of Burgundy, he landed with his forces in Yorkshire. This time, the initiative would solely be with him. Edward met Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. His victory was overwhelming. Both Warwick and his brother were killed in battle and their heads put on public display. Meanwhile, Margaret of Anjou had landed in England with her now 17 year old son Edward. Raising support amongst the Lancastrians in Wales she led an army across the Severn River but was met by the Yorkists at the battle of Tewkesbury. The Lancastrians were defeated and young Edward slain. A broken spirited Margaret was led into captivity but she would not join her husband there. With no further heir or claim, Henry VI was murdered in his cell. The villainy of Richard III: Edward IV ruled peacefully for the next 12 years until 1483 when unexpectedly, he died. On his deathbed, Edward named his brother Richard as Lord Protector until his eldest son, Edward V came of age. Richard arranged for Edward V and his younger brother to be secured in the Tower of London until he could return to London.

While away, Richard organised for many of his enemies to be executed without trial and while touring the North of England, the two young Princes disappeared, in all likelihood murdered. The question of who gave the order to carry out the murders has become one of histories most renowned mysteries. What is known is that Richard was now cleared to be declared King Richard III. With widespread discontent at Richard’s ascent to the throne, the Lancastrian line now fell to Henry Tudor. On August 1st 1485, Henry sailed to Pembrokeshire with a force of exiles and Frenchmen. Richard’s armies in Wales flocked to Henry Tudor’s banner and marching west, he met Richard in battle at Bosworth Field. Henry's victory was decisive with Richard being slain by Henry's bodyguard, Rhys ap Thomas. Determined to end hostilities, the new Lancastrian King married the oldest daughter of Edward IV, Elizabeth of York, effectively uniting the two houses and bringing the Wars of the Roses to an end. For good measure, Henry executed further claimants whenever possible.

The glory of the Tudors: The end of the Wars signalled the start of the Tudor dynasty but its importance in history goes much deeper than a mere regime change. In the new age of the Tudors, there was greater stability as parliament became the main force used for running the country and the somewhat erratic abuse of power by the nobility was curbed. As such, there was greater centralised government and improved bureaucracy. The emerging merchant class were able to benefit from this new system with the result being a greater political and economic inclusiveness by a larger portion of the population. In effect, the changes heralded an end to mediaeval England and the start of the Renaissance period; as well as being unquestionably, one of the most fascinating periods in British history.

Connections to Places Old Swan & Minster Mill Set alongside the river Windrush in the Cotswolds, with the grace & allurement of a time long forgotten Roses, Wars of the Encyclopedia > History > Modern Europe > British and Irish History Roses, Wars of the Roses, Wars of the, traditional name given to the intermittent struggle (1455–85) for the throne of England between the noble houses of York (whose badge was a white rose) and Lancaster (later associated with the red rose). About the middle of the 15th cent. Richard, duke of York , came to the fore as leader of the opposition to the faction (William de la Pole , duke of Suffolk; Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset ; and the queen, Margaret of Anjou ) that controlled the weak Lancastrian king Henry VI . The Yorkists gained popular support as a result of discontent over the failure of English arms in the Hundred Years War and over the corruption of the court, discontent reflected in the rebellion of Jack Cade in 1450. Also in that year Suffolk was murdered, and the duke of York forced the king to recognize his claim as heir to the throne.

In 1453 the king became insane, and the birth of a son to Margaret of Anjou displaced York as heir. The duke was appointed protector, but when the king recovered in 1454, York was excluded from the royal council. He resorted to arms. The opposing factions met (1455) at St. Albans—usually taken as the first battle of the Wars of the Roses. Somerset was killed, leaving Queen Margaret at the head of the defeated royal party, and York again served as protector for a short period (1455–56). By 1459 both parties were once more in arms. The following year the Yorkists defeated and captured the king at the battle of Northampton. The duke of York hurried to London to assert his claims to the throne, which were, by laws of strict inheritance, perhaps better than those of the king himself. A compromise was effected by which Henry remained king and York and his heirs were declared successors. Queen Margaret, whose son was thus disinherited, raised an army and defeated (1460) the Yorkists at Wakefield.

York was killed in this battle, and his claims devolved upon his son Edward, but Richard Neville, earl of Warwick , became the real leader of the Yorkist party. Margaret's army rescued the king from captivity in the second battle of St. Albans (Feb., 1461), but Edward meanwhile secured a Yorkist victory at Mortimer's Cross, marched into London unopposed, and assumed the throne as Edward IV . The Lancastrians, after their defeat at Towton (Mar., 1461), continued (with Scottish aid) to raise resistance in the north until 1464. The deposed Henry was captured (1465) and put into the Tower of London. Although the Lancastrian cause now seemed hopeless, a quarrel broke out between Warwick and Edward IV after the latter's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in 1464. Warwick and the king's brother George, duke of Clarence , allied against Edward, fled to France (1470), and there became reconciled with Margaret of Anjou. Supported by Louis XI of France, they crossed to England and restored Henry VI to the throne.

Edward fled, but with the aid of Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, returned to England in 1471, regained London, and recaptured Henry. In the ensuing battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury (1471), Warwick and Henry's son, Edward, were killed. Margaret was imprisoned. Soon thereafter Henry VI died, probably slain at the orders of Edward IV. After 12 relatively peaceful years, Edward IV was succeeded (1483) by his young son Edward V , but soon the boy's uncle Richard, duke of Gloucester, usurped the throne as Richard III . Opposition to Richard advanced the fortunes of Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, now the Lancastrian claimant. In 1485, Henry landed from France, defeated and killed Richard at Bosworth Field, and ascended the throne as Henry VII . Henry VII's marriage to Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth, united the houses of Lancaster and York. Except for various efforts during Henry's reign to place Yorkist pretenders on the throne, the Wars of the Roses were ended.

It is generally said that with them ended the era of feudalism in England, since the nobles who participated suffered heavy loss of life and property and were too weak, as a class, to contest the strong monarchy of the Tudors. The middle and lower classes were largely indifferent to the struggle and relatively untouched by it. See E. F. Jacob, The Fifteenth Century (1961); P. M. Kendall, The Yorkist Age (1962, repr. 1965); S. B. Chrimes, Lancastrians, Yorkists, and Henry VII (1964); J. R. Lander, The Wars of the Roses (1965); C. D. Ross, Wars of the Roses: A Concise History (1976); E. Hallam, ed., Wars of the Roses (1988) and Chronicles of the Wars of the Roses (1988); A. J. Pollard, Wars of the Roses (1995); A. Weir, Wars of the Roses (1995); S. Gristwood, Blood Sisters: The Women behind the War of the Roses (2013).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) International War and Military projects Portal Top Surnames history Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York (whose heraldic symbols were the "red" and the "white" rose, respectively) for the throne of England. They were fought in several sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1485, although there was related fighting both before and after this period. The final victory went to a relatively remote Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor, who defeated the last Yorkist king Richard III and married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York to unite the two houses. The House of Tudor subsequently ruled England and Wales for 117 years.

Henry of Bolingbroke had established the House of Lancaster on the throne in 1399 when he deposed his cousin Richard II and was crowned as Henry IV. Bolingbroke's son Henry V maintained the family's hold on the crown, but when Henry V died, his heir was the infant Henry VI. The Lancastrian claim to the throne descended from John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, the fourth son of Edward III. Henry VI's right to the crown was challenged by Richard, Duke of York, who could claim descent from Edward's third and fifth sons, Lionel of Antwerp and Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York. Richard of York, who had held several important offices of state, quarrelled with prominent Lancastrians at court and with Henry VI's queen, Margaret of Anjou. Although armed clashes had occurred previously between supporters of York and Lancaster, the first open fighting broke out in 1455 at the First Battle of St Albans. Several prominent Lancastrians died, but their heirs continued a deadly feud with Richard. Although peace was temporarily restored, the Lancastrians were inspired by Margaret of Anjou to contest York's influence.

Fighting resumed more violently in 1459. York and his supporters were forced to flee the country, but one of his most prominent supporters, the Earl of Warwick, invaded England from Calais and captured Henry at the Battle of Northampton. York returned to the country and became Protector of England, but was dissuaded from claiming the throne. Margaret and the irreconcilable Lancastrian nobles gathered their forces in the north of England, and when York moved north to suppress them, he and his second son Edmund were killed at the Battle of Wakefield in December 1460. The Lancastrian army advanced south and recaptured Henry at the Second Battle of St Albans, but failed to occupy London, and subsequently retreated to the north. York's eldest son, Edward, Earl of March, was proclaimed King Edward IV. He gathered the Yorkist armies and won a crushing victory at the Battle of Towton in March 1461.

After Lancastrian revolts in the north were suppressed in 1464 and Henry was captured once again, Edward fell out with his chief supporter and advisor, the Earl of Warwick (known as the "Kingmaker"), and also alienated many friends and even family members by favouring the upstart family of his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, whom he had married in secret. Warwick tried first to supplant Edward with his younger brother George, Duke of Clarence, and then to restore Henry VI to the throne. This resulted in two years of rapid changes of fortune, before Edward IV once again won complete victories at Barnet (April 1471), where Warwick was killed, and Tewkesbury (May 1471) where the Lancastrian heir, Edward, Prince of Wales, was executed after the battle. Henry was murdered in the Tower of London several days later, ending the direct Lancastrian line of succession. A period of comparative peace followed, but King Edward died unexpectedly in 1483.

His surviving brother, Richard of Gloucester, first moved to prevent the unpopular Woodville family of Edward's widow from participating in the government during the minority of Edward's son, Edward V, and then seized the throne for himself, using the suspect legitimacy of Edward IV's marriage as pretext. Henry Tudor, a distant relative of the Lancastrian kings who had inherited their claim, defeated Richard at Bosworth in 1485. He was crowned Henry VII, and married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, to unite and reconcile the two houses. Yorkist revolts, directed by John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln and others, flared up in 1487 under the banner of the pretender Lambert Simnel, who claimed to be Edward, Earl of Warwick (son of George of Clarence), resulting in the last pitched battles. Although most of the surviving descendants of Richard of York were imprisoned, sporadic rebellions continued until 1497 when Perkin Warbeck, who claimed to be the younger brother of Edward V, one of the two disappeared Princes in the Tower, was imprisoned and later executed.

Source Add profiles to this project Add collaborators to this project Add Profiles 9 Things You Should Know About the Wars of the Roses - History in the Headlines 9 Things You Should Know About the Wars of the Roses May 22, 2015 By Evan Andrews Share this: 9 Things You Should Know About the Wars of the Roses Author 9 Things You Should Know About the Wars of the Roses URL Google On May 22, 1455, Richard, Duke of York engaged the forces of King Henry VI of England at the First Battle of St. Albans. The clash is now considered the traditional start date of the Wars of the Roses, a 30-year period of sporadic warfare and constant political intrigue between the rival Houses of York and Lancaster, both of whom laid claim to the English throne. Their intermittent struggle resulted in the capture, disappearance or death of scores of English nobles and would-be kings, and eventually gave rise to a new royal dynasty that ruled for more than a century. Explore nine key facts about the bloody feud that permanently altered the course of British history. 1. The Yorks and Lancasters were descended from the same family.

The Houses of York and Lancaster both traced their lineage to the sons of Edward III of the House of Plantagenet, who ruled as England’s king from 1327 until 1377. The Yorks were descended from the female relatives of Edward’s second and fourth sons, while the Lancasters were related to Edward’s third son, John of Gaunt. This complicated family tree ensured that both factions had a legitimate case for their royal lineage, though by modern standards the Yorkists’ claim was undoubtedly stronger. Nevertheless, when the Wars of the Roses first kicked off, the Lancasters had been entrenched on the throne since 1399, when Henry IV usurped power from his cousin Richard II. King Henry VI, who was dogged by mental illness for much of his life. (Credit: National Portrait Gallery) 2. Fallout from the Hundred Years’ War helped spark the unrest. The Wars of the Roses might never have happened if not for the tenuous state of English politics in the 1450s.

The realm was still reeling from its recent defeat in the last phase of the Hundred Years’ War with France, which had drained royal coffers, fractured the nobility and sent legions of unemployed soldiers flooding into the countryside. The sorry state of affairs was compounded by the weak and witless reign of the Lancasterian King Henry VI, who suffered from a mental illness that often rendered him nearly catatonic. Richard, Duke of York was made protector of the realm during one of Henry VI’s spells, and was reluctant to step down even after the King had recovered. The conniving and jockeying for power that ensued eventually led to 1455’s First Battle of St. Albans, the first armed confrontation between York and Lancaster-aligned armies. 3. Neither side used a rose as its sole symbol. The Wars of the Roses take their name from the color of the roses—red for Lancaster and white for York—that each house supposedly used as their emblem. This legend took root after William Shakespeare and others wrote about it, but most modern historians maintain that neither side was identified solely by a floral symbol.

The white rose was just one of many badges used by the Yorks, and the red rose of Lancaster was likely not adopted until the 1480s, when the conflict was nearly over. The name “Wars of the Roses,” meanwhile, wasn’t coined until the 19th century. The struggle was better known to contemporaries as the “Cousins’ Wars.” Margaret of Anjou 4. Queen Margaret of Anjou was the Lancasters’ most skilled strategist. Although the Lancasters were nominally aligned behind King Henry VI, his ill health ensured that he was never a major player in the Wars of the Roses. The de facto leader of the Lancaster faction was instead his beautiful and cunning queen, Margaret of Anjou. Margaret masterminded many of the Lancasters’ alliances, and was responsible for raising an army that killed Richard of York and freed Henry VI from capture. She was later forced into exile in France after the Lancasters were ousted from power, but continued plotting and eventually helped orchestrate a 1470 invasion of England that briefly restored her husband to the throne. As brutal as she was brilliant, Queen Margaret showed little mercy to her rivals, most of whom she considered traitors.

In one famous episode, she even allowed her 7-year-old son to choose the method of execution for two captured Yorkists, and complied when the boy decreed that they should “have their heads taken off.” 5. Both sides gained and lost power multiple times. The Wars of the Roses saw the Yorks and Lancasters play musical chairs with the English throne. Richard, Duke of York nearly unseated the Lancastrian King Henry VI in 1460, only to be killed in battle a few months later. York’s son Edward IV, meanwhile, crushed the Lancasters in battle and claimed the throne before being briefly deposed in 1470. He quickly won back his kingship and ruled for several years of relative peace, but his sudden death in 1483 launched yet another period of infighting that saw his heirs murdered and the Yorkist Richard III and the Lancastrian Henry Tudor both elbow their way into power. In total, the Wars resulted in five different rulers in the span of only 25 years, three of whom were killed or executed by their rivals. Edward IV 6. The Wars included one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on English soil.

Despite dragging on more than 30 years, the Wars of the Roses only amounted to a few months of actual fighting and less than 20 significant battles. The most gruesome of these came in March 1461, when the Yorkist forces of Edward IV met Margaret of Anjou’s Lancastrians near the village of Towton. The ensuing battle, fought amidst a blinding snowstorm, may have involved as many as 80,000 men. The two sides began by exchanging punishing volleys of arrows before clashing in fierce hand-to-hand combat. The fighting went on for 10 exhausting hours—contemporary chroniclers claimed a nearby river ran red with blood—but the Yorkists eventually routed the Lancastrians, allowing Edward IV to tighten his grip on the throne. While estimates of casualties at the Battle of Towton vary, it may have claimed as many as 40,000 lives—more than in any battle ever fought in Britain. 7. Many key figures switched allegiances over the course of the conflict. Double-crossing was rampant during the Wars of the Roses, and many key battles turned on acts of treachery.

The most extraordinary defection came in 1470, courtesy of the Earl of Warwick, a popular nobleman and power broker nicknamed the “Kingmaker.” Warwick was originally a staunch supporter of Richard, Duke of York, and had helped propel the Duke’s son Edward IV to the throne. But after the King and the “Kingmaker” had a falling out, Warwick joined Edward’s brother, the Duke of Clarence, in leading a rebellion against him. The coup failed, so Warwick and Clarence fled to France, where they partnered with their former archenemy, the exiled Lancastrian Queen Margaret of Anjou. These unlikely allies managed to briefly unseat King Edward during an invasion of England, but their triumph turned to defeat after Clarence defected back to the Yorkists and Warwick died in battle. Margaret of Anjou was later captured and Henry VI and his son were killed, leaving the House of Lancaster in ruins. Edward and Richard, the "Princes in the Tower." 8. The Wars led to one of the most perplexing disappearances in British history. After the Yorkist King Edward IV died in 1483, the crown passed to his eldest son, Edward V.

Since Edward was only 12 years old, his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester was made protector of the realm until he came of age. Edward and his younger brother Richard of Shrewsbury were sent to live in the Tower of London, but they turned from honored guests into prisoners after their uncle and his allies invalidated their deceased father’s marriage and declared them illegitimate. The Duke usurped the throne and was crowned King Richard III shortly thereafter, and the two “Princes in the Tower” vanished without a trace. The skeletons of a pair of children were later found underneath one of the Tower’s staircases in 1674, leading many historians to conclude that Richard III had the boys killed. The remains have never been authenticated, however, and the Princes’ true fate remains a mystery. The death or Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. (Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images) 9. The Wars reached their climax at 1485’s Battle of Bosworth Field. Richard III’s power grab alienated his Yorkist allies, some of whom eventually flocked to the banner of Henry Tudor, an exiled nobleman and distant relative of the Lancasters who had made a claim to throne.

Tudor landed in England in 1485 and rallied his supporters, and on August 22, he confronted Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. The clash ended in a decisive Tudor victory, and Richard III was killed during the fighting by a vicious blow to the head. Tudor was immediately crowned King Henry VII, launching a new Tudor Dynasty that flourished until the early 17th century. He went on to unite the Yorks and Lancasters once and for all by marrying Elizabeth of York, Edward the IV’s daughter. To symbolize the end of the Wars of the Roses, he also adopted a new “Tudor rose” emblem that incorporated both the white rose of the Yorks and the red of the Lancasters. Tags About the Wars of the Roses | Richard III & Henry VII Experience Richard III & Henry VII Experience Henry VII experience at Micklegate Bar About the Wars of the Roses The series of conflicts that wracked the kingdom of England between 1455 and 1487 are today collectively known as the Wars of the Roses.

Although the first clashes were fought for control of the king, the saintly but weak-minded Henry VI, by the time of Towton the kingdom itself was at stake, with two kings vying for the throne. The first six years of the conflict, between the First Battle of St Albans and the Battle of Towton, witnessed a blood feud as horrible as any seen in English history, immortalised by Shakespeare in his play Henry VI. The two opposing factions that fought the Wars of the Roses are today characterised as ‘Yorkist’ and ‘Lancastrian’, though it is doubtful that they would have referred to themselves in these terms. Similarly, neither army fought under the emblem of a single rose: the adoption of a white rose for the Yorkists (and later for Yorkshire itself) and a red rose for the Lancastrians (and Lancashire) is a much later development. In fact Yorkshire (and the city of York) was overwhelmingly Lancastrian in its allegiances.

The Lancastrians take their name from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, whose son (Henry IV), grandson (Henry V) and great-grandson (Henry VI) had reigned in succession from 1399, the year in which Henry IV succeeded his cousin, Richard II. The Yorkists are named after the House of York, the dynasty established by Richard, Duke of York, whose sons eventually ruled as Edward IV and Richard III. All were descended from King Edward III (d. 1377), and were therefore related by blood. The closeness of the family ties between some of the main protagonists in the Wars can only have increased the horror and bitterness of the struggle.

Question: What was the first battle in the Wars of the Roses in England in 1455?
Answer: Battle of St Albans