The War of the Scarlet and White Roses summary. Scarlet and White Rose Massacre

War of the Scarlet and White Roses - a series of armed dynastic conflicts between factions of the English nobility in 1455-1485 in the struggle for power between supporters of the two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty - Lancaster and York. Despite the established chronological framework of the conflict in historical literature, some war-related clashes took place both before and after the war. The war ended with the victory of Henry Tudor of the House of Lancaster, who founded a dynasty that ruled England and Wales for 117 years. The war brought significant destruction and disaster to the population of England; a large number of representatives of the English feudal aristocracy died during the conflict.
Causes of the war
The causes of the war were heavy economic situation England, the defeat of England in the Hundred Years' War, which deprived the feudal lords of the opportunity to plunder the lands of France; suppression of Jack Cad's rebellion in 1451 and with it the forces opposing feudal anarchy. The Lancastrians relied mainly on the barons of the backward north, Wales and Ireland, the Yorkies - on the feudal lords of the economically more developed southeast of England. The middle nobility, merchants and wealthy townspeople, interested in the free development of trade and crafts, the elimination of feudal anarchy and the establishment of firm power, supported the Yorks. Under King Henry VI Lancaster, the country was ruled by a clique of several large feudal lords, which aroused discontent among the rest of the population. Taking advantage of this discontent, Richard, Duke of York, gathered his vassals around him and went with them to London. At the Battle of St. Albans on May 22, 1455, he defeated the supporters of the Scarlet Rose. Soon removed from power, he again rebelled and declared his claims to the English throne. With an army of his followers, he won victories over the enemy at Bloor Heath and North Hampton; during the latter he captured the king, after which he forced the upper house to recognize himself as protector of the state and heir to the throne. But Queen Margaret, the wife of Henry VI, and her followers unexpectedly attacked him at Wakefield. Richard was completely defeated and fell in battle. His enemies cut off his head and displayed it on the wall of York wearing a paper crown. His son Edward, with the support of the Earl of Warwick, defeated the supporters of the Lancastrian dynasty at Mortimers Cross and Towton. Henry VI was deposed; he and Margaret fled to Scotland. The winner became King Edward IV.
The war continued. In 1464, Edward IV defeated Lancastrian supporters in the north of England. Henry VI was captured and imprisoned in the Tower. Edward IV's desire to strengthen his power and limit the freedoms of the feudal nobility led to an uprising of his former supporters, led by Warwick. Edward fled England, Henry VI was restored to the throne in October 1470. In 1471, Edward IV, at Barnet and Tewkesbury, defeated the army of Warwick and the army of Henry VI's wife Margaret, who landed in England with the support of French king Louis XI. Warwick was killed, Henry VI was again deposed in April 1471 and died in the Tower on May 21, 1471. After the victory, in order to strengthen his power, Edward IV began brutal reprisals against both representatives of the Lancastrian dynasty and the rebellious Yorks and their supporters. After the death of Edward IV on April 9, 1483, the throne passed to his young son Edward V, but power was seized by Edward IV's younger brother, the future king Richard III, who first declared himself protector of the young king, and then deposed him and ordered him to be strangled in the Tower along with his younger brother. brother Richard. Attempts by Richard III to consolidate his power caused revolts of feudal magnates. Executions and confiscations of property turned supporters of both groups against him. Both dynasties, Lancastrian and York, united around Henry Tudor, a distant relative of the Lancastrians, who lived in France at the court of King Charles VIII. On 7 or 8 August 1485, Henry landed at Milford Haven, marched unopposed through Wales and joined forces with his supporters. Richard III was defeated by their combined army at the Battle of Bosworth on August 22, 1485; he himself was killed. Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty, became king. Having married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth, heiress of York, he combined scarlet and white roses. Results of the war

War Scarlet and White Roses was the last rampant of feudal anarchy before the establishment of absolutism in England. It was carried out with terrible cruelty and was accompanied by numerous murders and executions. Both dynasties were exhausted and died in the struggle. For the population of England, the war brought strife, oppression of taxes, theft of the treasury, the lawlessness of large feudal lords, a decline in trade, outright robberies and requisitions. During the wars, a significant part of the feudal aristocracy was exterminated, and numerous confiscations of land holdings undermined its power. At the same time, land holdings increased and the influence of the new nobility and merchant class, which became the support of Tudor absolutism, increased.
Names and symbols
Name " war of the roses"was not used during the war. Roses were the distinctive badges of the two warring parties. It is not known exactly who used them for the first time. If the White Rose, symbolizing the Virgin Mary, was used as a distinctive sign by the first Duke of York Edmund Langley in the 14th century, then nothing is known about the use of Scarlet by the Lancastrians before the start of the war. Perhaps it was invented to contrast with the emblem of the enemy. The term came into use in the 19th century, after the publication of the story “Anne of Geierstein” by Sir Walter Scott. Scott chose the title based on a fictional scene in William Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part I, where the opposing sides choose roses of different colors in the Church of the Temple. Although roses were sometimes used as symbols during the war, most participants used symbols associated with their feudal lords or protectors. For example, Henry's forces at Bosworth fought under the banner of the red dragon, while the army of York used Richard III's personal symbol, the white boar. Evidence of the importance of rose symbols was heightened when King Henry VII combined the factions' red and white roses into a single red and white Tudor Rose at the end of the war. The names of the rival factions have little to do with the cities of York and Lancaster, or the counties of Yorkshire and Lancashire, even though cricket or rugby league matches between the two counties are often described using the War of the Roses cliché. In fact, the provinces and castles held by the Dukes of Lancaster were mainly in Gloucestershire, North Wales and Cheshire, while York's domains were widespread throughout England, although many were in the Welsh Marches.
The conflict was attended mainly by representatives of the English feudal aristocracy with detachments of their servants and supporters, as well as a small number of foreign mercenaries. Support for the opposing sides was largely determined by dynastic factors. The so-called system of “bastard feudalism” was one of the main factors influencing the decline in the authority and influence of royal power and the escalation of the armed conflict. Service to the lord in exchange for lands and gifts remained important, but was determined not by feudal tradition, but by the feudal lord’s support for any of the opposing factions, which, in turn, patronized him for this. The transition to the service of feudal lords to large magnates due to personal ambitions, thirst for profit and profitable marriages gave rise to the growth of betrayals and betrayals, which often decided the outcome of many battles. The armies of the parties were represented by numerous feudal detachments of professional warriors, as well as detachments of warriors called to war by special royal orders, which gave the right to the bearer of the document to convene and arm warriors on behalf of the king or a major magnate. Warriors from the lower social strata were mainly archers and bilmen. Warriors traditionally fought on foot; cavalry was used only for reconnaissance and collection of provisions and forage, as well as for movement.

Main events of the war
The confrontation reached the stage of open war in 1455, when the Yorkists celebrated victory at the First Battle of St. Albans, shortly after which the English Parliament declared Richard of York protector of the kingdom and heir to Henry VI. However, in 1460, Richard York died at the Battle of Wakefield. The White Rose party was led by his son Edward, who was crowned Edward IV in London in 1461. In the same year, the Yorkists won victories at Mortimer Cross and Towton. As a result of the latter, the main forces of the Lancastrians were defeated, and King Henry VI and Queen Margaret fled the country. Active fighting resumed in 1470, when the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence, who had sided with the Lancastrians, returned Henry VI to the throne. Edward IV and his other brother, the Duke of Gloucester, fled to Burgundy, from where they returned in 1471. The Duke of Clarence again went over to his brother’s side - and the Yorkists won victories at Barnet and Tewkesbury. In the first of these battles, the Earl of Warwick was killed, in the second, Prince Edward, the only son of Henry VI, was killed, which, together with the death of Henry himself in the Tower that followed in the same year, became the end of the Lancastrian dynasty.
Edward IV - the first king of the York dynasty - reigned peacefully until his death, which followed unexpectedly for everyone in 1483, when his son Edward V became king for a short time. However, the royal council declared him illegitimate, and his brother Edward IV's Richard of Gloucester was crowned the same year as Richard III. His short and dramatic reign was filled with struggles against open and hidden opposition. In this fight, the king was initially favored by luck, but the number of opponents only increased. In 1485, Lancastrian forces led by Henry Tudor landed in Wales. In the Battle of Bosworth, Richard III was killed, and the crown passed to Henry Tudor, who was crowned Henry VII, the founder of the Tudor dynasty. In 1487, the Earl of Lincoln tried to return the crown to York, but was killed at the Battle of Stoke Field.
End of the war
After the victory, in order to strengthen his power, Edward IV began brutal reprisals against both representatives of the Lancastrian dynasty and the rebellious Yorks and their supporters. After the death of Edward IV on April 9, 1483, the throne passed to his young son Edward V, but power was seized by Edward IV's younger brother, the future king Richard III, who first declared himself protector of the young king, and then deposed him and ordered him to be strangled in the Tower along with his younger brother. brother Richard. Attempts by Richard III to consolidate his power caused revolts of feudal magnates. Executions and confiscations of property turned supporters of both groups against him. Both dynasties, Lancastrian and York, united around Henry Tudor, a distant relative of the Lancastrians, who lived in France at the court of King Charles VIII. On 7 or 8 August 1485, Henry landed at Milford Haven, marched unopposed through Wales and joined forces with his supporters. Richard III was defeated by their combined army at the Battle of Bosworth on August 22, 1485; he himself was killed. Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty, became king. Having married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth, heiress of York, he combined scarlet and white roses in his coat of arms.
Results of the war
The War of the Scarlet and White Roses was the last rampant of feudal anarchy before the establishment of absolutism in England. It was carried out with terrible cruelty and was accompanied by numerous murders and executions. Both dynasties were exhausted and died in the struggle. For the population of England, the war brought strife, oppression of taxes, theft of the treasury, the lawlessness of large feudal lords, a decline in trade, outright robberies and requisitions. During the wars, a significant part of the feudal aristocracy was exterminated, and numerous confiscations of land holdings undermined its power. At the same time, land holdings increased and the influence of the new nobility and merchant class, which became the support of Tudor absolutism, increased.

War of the Scarlet and White Roses

1453–1483

Hundred Years' War dynastic war for the French throne, exhausted England, and the dynastic conflicts that followed over the English throne were completely meaningless. The War of the Roses did not break out as a result of fundamental differences, such as those that divided Henry II and Thomas Becket or King John the Landless and his barons. It was a power struggle between the rival heirs of Edward III's two sons, John of Gaunt and Lionel, Duke of Clarence. The House of Lancaster, whose symbol was the Scarlet Rose, had by 1450 remained on the throne for half a century after John of Gaunt's eldest son, Henry Bolingbroke, had usurped power in 1399 and removed the Black Prince's son, Richard II. Bolingbroke became Henry IV, after whom the crown passed alternately to his son Henry V and grandson Henry VI. Although the rights of the House of Lancaster were based on the initial usurpation of power, they were still recognized by Parliament and for quite a long time no one challenged them.

The power of the House of York went back to Philippa, daughter of the Duke of Clarence, son of Edward III, who was older than John of Gaunt. Philippa married into the powerful Mortimer family of the Welsh March, who became the Earls of March and Dukes of York (White Rose). These rights were not compromised by usurpation, but they were seriously undermined by the fact that it was a question of kinship through the female line and these rights had not previously been claimed. In England, the Salic law, which prevented inheritance through the female line, was usually observed, but sometimes it was temporarily waived based on political expediency, as did the supporters of the Yorks this time. The truth was that none of the contenders had a good enough reason to take the throne.

Not only the opposing parties, but also all influential families in the country were drawn into the bloody conflicts that followed. The Nevilles, Earls of Warwick, whose estates were in the midlands and north of the country, became related to the Mortimers through marriage, and the Yorks united with them in a close alliance in London. The Nevilles' opponents in the northeast were the Percys, Dukes of Northumberland, whose loyalty, like that of their Scots neighbors, did not inspire much confidence. Lancashire and the north-west were dominated by the Earls of Stanley, while in East Anglia and the south the Dukes of Norfolk, who traditionally supported the king, enjoyed enormous influence.

Since the Norman Conquest these families had enjoyed a somewhat unclear independence from the crown. They owned castles and estates, sometimes located in several counties, and had corresponding incomes. They could, if they wished, raise their own army, which freed the king from the need to maintain his own army when he needed to go on a military campaign outside the country, but at the same time deprived him of a military force that would be loyal to him personally if he decided to fight within the country. The War of the Roses was essentially a war between these families and over their interests. During battles, archers often received orders: “Aim for the lords, spare the commoners.” Once the dispute was resolved, the victors usually, but not always, took the enemy's rank and file under their wing. When the main ones characters conflict, they died in battle, their sons took their place, seeking to avenge the death of their fathers, and the war gradually turned into a blood feud akin to the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. By the end of the war, the troops of each side were sometimes commanded by teenagers. Murders and confiscations decimated the English aristocracy on a scale not seen in England until the First World War. In Herwood Chapel in Yorkshire, heavy stone statues of 15th-century warriors lie on the graves, like ships at anchor, silent witnesses to that brutal massacre.

The unexpected return of sanity to King Henry VI at Christmas 1454 was the reason for York's removal from court. But he wasn't going to give up without a fight. While the young queen was busy restoring the Duke of Somerset to power, York and Warwick gathered their huge armies in the Midlands and marched towards the capital. The Lancastrian troops under the command of Somerset came forward to stop the enemy. The armies clashed in May 1455 on the streets of the town of St. Albans. York and Warwick defeated the Lancastrians, and Somerset died in battle. Thus the first blood was shed in this war.

York became Lord Constable of England and returned to London as regent for the incapacitated king. Margaret fled and led the Lancastrian forces in the north of the country. It was there that she won an important victory over York's supporters at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460. In that battle, an irreparable tragedy occurred in the York camp: the Duke of York, the only person who was able to curb the growing chaos in the country, died. Margaret of Anjou hung his severed head on the gates of York, wearing a paper crown on it, with the words: “Let York survey her city.”

Now Civil War flared up with new strength, the sons of Somerset and York were eager to avenge their fathers. 18-year-old Edward, the new Duke of York, defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimer's Cross, more than repaying the brutality shown by the enemy at Wakefield. Margaret was victorious at the Second Battle of St. Albans, horrifying friend and foe alike when she forced her 7-year-old son to sentence the captured aristocrats to death. But when young York approached London with a huge army, the queen and her husband wisely fled to Scotland, an ally of her homeland France.

In 1461 young York entered London accompanied by his powerful cousin and mentor, the Earl of Warwick. He was warmly welcomed by crowds of townspeople. Despite his young age, York could be considered a real giant at that time: his height was 193 centimeters. He proclaimed himself Edward IV (1461–1470 and 1471–1483) and the legal heir of Edward III. Having seized the throne, he went north to fight the Lancastrian army, which had regrouped and received significant reinforcements from Scotland, where Margaret of Anjou was located. The armies met at Towton, between York and Leeds. This battle was one of the bloodiest battles in the history of England and one of the few at the site of which full-scale excavations were carried out. Approximately 75,000 men took part in the battle, about 10% of the entire male population capable of holding weapons. The Lancastrians were again defeated, and York's supporters declared that no one would be spared. 28,000 people died, and the queen and her husband fled to the Scots, who were always ready to provide her with refuge. Now, instead of York supporters, the heads of Lancastrian supporters were hung on the city gates.

At this moment the senseless war could be stopped. In just ten years, a third of England's 150 noble families were destroyed or lost their lands. York became king in less than twenty years, and Henry VI, who lost his throne, lived in exile. But the indomitable Margaret of Anjou remained, “in whose veins flowed the blood of Charlemagne.” Showing herself to be a ruthless and merciless leader and a calculating and shrewd commander, she managed to resurrect the old alliance of Scotland with her native France. Henry, who was still nominally king, accompanied Margaret everywhere, and her infant son and legal heir, Prince Edward of Lancaster, remained her trump card. Supported by small French troops, she continued to fight York supporters in the north of England, and loyal forces still held the castles of Alnwick, Bamburgh and Dunstanburgh in Northumberland. By 1464, Edward managed to occupy Dunstanburg, bombarding it with powerful guns, after which only picturesque ruins remained of the castle; they can still be seen on the Northumberland coast. This time Margarita fled to France.

In London, it turned out that King Edward IV was not yet fully mature for his role. He infuriated Warwick's closest adviser and assistant by secretly marrying the lowly noblewoman Elizabeth Woodville, although Warwick was at that time conducting cautious negotiations in France about a possible dynastic marriage for the king. Elizabeth, a beauty with “seductive dragon eyes” (as large eyes half-covered by heavy eyelids were called in those days), became the first English queen, and of humble origins at that. Warwick considered himself the king's friend and protector, so he felt deeply insulted. He was even more angry when Edward granted peerages to eight representatives of the Woodville family, who immediately flocked to court and began to threaten the influence of the House of Neville, of which Warwick was a representative.

As a result of this crisis, in 1469 Warwick decided to commit the loudest betrayal in English history. He left the king and went to France to join the camp of his recent opponents and Margaret of Anjou. This betrayal cost York's supporters dearly, both militarily and politically. Warwick married his daughter, Anne Neville, to Margaret's son, heir to the throne Prince Edward, and persuaded the king's brother, the Duke of Clarence, to also join him in France. Warwick's defection to the French side tipped the scales in favor of the Lancastrians, and when Warwick and Margaret landed in England in 1470, Edward fled into exile, this time under the protection of France's enemy, the Duke of Burgundy. Henry VI reigned again in London under the protection of Warwick, who was rightly called the “kingmaker.”

York, who took refuge in Burgundy, like Margaret in Paris, was not going to accept defeat. In April 1471 he returned with a new army and met Warwick's army at Barnet, north of London. Here, in a desperate battle, he defeated his former mentor. During the battle, the battlefield was covered in thick fog, in which Warwick lost his bodyguards and was captured by enemy soldiers. They raised the visor and cut his throat before Edward could save him. The warriors were so enraged by Warwick's betrayal that Edward had to intervene to prevent his corpse from being torn to pieces, and then transport the remains to St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Warwick's life, like his death, turned out to be inextricably linked with the War of the Roses. The man called the “kingmaker” was eventually destroyed by one of those he created. According to his biographer Paul Kendell, “he left no significant mark on the history of the English state. He was an unprincipled adventurer."

Edward needed to put an end to the Lancastrians once and for all. He gathered a new army and moved troops to the west of the country, where Margaret fled, and there, in May 1471, he defeated the queen at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Prince Edward, Margaret's son and heir to Henry VI, died in this battle. The winners spared no one. The killings continued even in the nave of Tewkesbury Abbey Church, which was so desecrated that it had to be rededicated. These bloody events were immortalized by Shakespeare in the opening lines of Richard III: “So the sun of York transformed / Into good summer the winter of our troubles.”

According to the author, these words are spoken by Edward IV's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester. He immediately married the 15-year-old widow of the prince killed in battle, Anne Neville, thus uniting the Gloucester possessions in the Welsh March with the Neville lands in the central counties and the north of England. Overnight, Gloucester became the largest landowner and heir to the Earl of Warwick. On May 22, 1471, Edward IV arrived in London to restore the throne to the House of York. Margaret of Anjou was his prisoner. That same night, Henry VI is assassinated in the Tower. It is believed that the only person who was with the prisoner at that time could have done this was Richard Gloucester. A witness to almost half a century of chaos into which the country plunged, the old king died insane, or, as one of the chronicles said, “from melancholy and sadness.”

King Edward IV revived the chivalric traditions that distinguished the court of his predecessor Edward III. The ceremony of awarding the Order of the Garter resumed - the majestic Chapel of St. George was completed especially for this purpose. Windsor Castle. The king collected a library and in 1476 invited the pioneer printer William Caxton to London, who published Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. The War of the Scarlet and White Roses helped many people get rich. Merchants had to provide for the armies, and, unlike in France, military conflict did not prevent the development of trade. Cloth merchants in the City of London soon became so influential that they could lobby for legislation to determine what cloth should be worn by members of each social class. Thus, lords could wear brocade and sable, knights were supposed to wear silk and satin, and the townspeople had the right to wear only wool that was produced in England.

But although peace brought prosperity, some wounds did not heal. In 1478, Edward's brother, the traitor Duke of Clarence, an ally of the dishonest Warwick, was killed in the Tower. It was said that he was “drowned in a barrel of malvasia,” perhaps a reference to his alcoholism. Later, in 1483, Edward died of apoplexy at the age of just forty, leaving his 12-year-old son by Elizabeth as heir, Edward V. The only candidate for regent was his uncle Gloucester. It was with his direct participation that the War of the Roses entered its bloody final stage.