Middle Ages 1067-1485 100 years war - War of the Roses
100 Years War - Battle of Crecy 26th August 1346
Detailed information on knights
100 Years War Battle of Agincourt 25th October 1415
The War of the Roses - Battle of St Albans May 22nd 1455 to Battle of Stoke field 16th June 1487.
Wars of the Roses
The Civil war between the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York is in every sense the darkest period of English history within the time in which its outlines are clearly marked by documentary evidence. We are no longer enlighted, as in previous, but less advanced times, by such excellent writers as Bede, Malmesbury and Matthew Paris.
A few strokes of Comines furnish a more vivid light than the scanty information of our own meagre and unskilful writers. This defect in historical materials is owing, in part, to peculiar circumstances in the the progress of the English literature and language. The Wars of the Roses fill a space between the cessation of Latin annalists and the rise of English historians. Men of genius ceased to write in a language of which the employment narrowed their power over the opinions and applause of their countrymen.
During this period, they may be said to have paused before exercising their powers of writing in their native tongue, although this was daily becoming more fitted for this purpose by its successful employment in the contests of the bar and the senate. The nature of the Civil War itself, which was merely peronal; the multiplicity of its obscure and confused incidents; the frequent instances of success without ability, and of calamity befalling the unknown and uninteresting; the monstrous cruelty of each party, which robbed horror itself of its sway over the soul; together with the unsafe and unsteady position of most individuals, repelled men of letters from relating the inglorious misfortunes of themselves and of their country. More obvious causes contributed towards the same effect. The general war often broke out in local corruptions and provincial commotions, which no memory could follow.
The alternations of victory and defeat followed each other so rapidly, and reverses of fortune were so sudden and startling, that men knew not what next might happen.
Moreover, the dissolution of the monasteries in the following century caused the dispersion or destruction of many libraries, and many of the later histories must have perished. From such particulars as survive, the attempt may be made to weave a consecutive narrative.
I hope the photographs on these pages will help to illustrate, these times.
Shortly after the Cade insurrection, the Duke of York returned from Ireland, the government of which country had been entrusted to him, and busily occupied himself among his numerous adherents on the Welsh border, preparing for the impending strife. He wrote letters to the King, demanding a reformation of abuses, and especially the dismissal of certain obnoxious counsellors. Nothing was yet publicly said respecting the claims of the Duke to the throne, for the time was not favourable, and accordingly the burden of the complaints made by his partisans was the incompetency of the government and favouritism shown by the Duke of Somerset and others. Between this nobleman and the Duke of York, the most violent animosity existed, which broke out on various occasions and on divers grounds. Somerset had just returned from France, and his presence was hailed by the Queen and her party as a counterpoise to the Duke of York. But Somerset was laden with the odium attaching to the loss of the French provinces, and was an object of great unpopularity. In the Parliament a motion was made, but not adopted, to recognize the Duke of York's heirship to the throne, as the King had no children. Another motion was adopted, requesting the King to remove the Duke of Somerset and others of his advisers, and attainting the memory of the Duke of Suffolk; but the King refused his assent to the last, and evaded the first by saying that he needed the presence of the lords whose conduct was complained of.
Legal persecutions became inadequate to the feelings of the enraged leaders and their partisans. York, in the middle of winter, circulated proclamations, complaining of the conduct of the King's counsellors; and assembled a large force in the Marches of Wales, as he declared, only for the public welfare. The King, astonished at the sudden commotion, raised a powerful force, and in the middle of February, 1452, with Somerset and other lords, advanced to meet the duke. To escape an immediate collision, for which he thought his present strength unequal, York avoided the King's line of march, and passing on towards the metropolis, crossed the Thames at Kingston, and proceeded into kent, where he was sure of receiving considerable reinforcements.
On a heath near Dartford he encamped, and fortified himself with trenches and artillery.
The King marched after him, and pitched his tent at Blackheath, but his friends, averse from risking an immediate contest, caused two bishops to be sent to York, to enquire the cause of his rebellious semblance. The duke asserted, that he had no intention to injure the King, but aimed to remove from him the evil counsellors, whom he called "the blood-suckers of the nobility, the plunderers of the clergy, and the oppressors of the commonalty," and again arraigned Somerset. Doubting his ability to subdue York by force, the King affected to put the accused under restraint; and this acqiescence he dissolved his army on the 1st of March an came unguarded to the royal tent.
As he entered it, he beheld Somerset at liberty near the King, and felt that he was betrayed. He charged the obnoxious favourite with treason, bribery, and oppression; who retorted the epithet of traitor, and accused him of meditating a seizure of the crown.
York was now in his power and compelled to ride as a prisoner before the King to London, where Henry held a council to deliberate on their mutual arraigment.
The discussions were interrupted by rumours that the Earl of March, son of the imprisoned duke, was marching with a large army to release his father.
Queen Margaret, and her friends became alarmed, and the ambassadors at the same juncture arriving from Bordeaux, to promise a revolt of Gascony, in favour of the english, if a protecting force was sent thither, the council determined not to risk a civil war, but to let York go. After swearing an oath of allegiance and future fidelity, in public, at St Paul's, he went immediately to his castle of Wigmore, in Wales; and Somerset rose higher in favour with both the king and queen.
In 1453, symptoms of insanity appeared in King Henry, which could not long be concealed, although great pains were taken to do so by the queen and her confidants.
The archbishop of Canterbury who was dying at this time, the lords made it the occasion for the insisting on a deputation being admitted to King Henry to confer with him on the filling up of the chancellorship, which the archbishop had also held. The true object was to ascertain Henry's capacity for governing, and in their report the deputation stated,
"The bishop of Chester read to him part of his instruction: to his statment they could get no answer nor sign for none of their prayers or desires. After dinner they moved him again for an answer; but they could have none. From that place they willed the king to go into another chamber, and he was led between two men to the chamber where he lieth;
and there they stirred him a third time, but they could have no answer,word nor sign, and therefore with sorrowful hearts came their way."
This imbecility or idiocy was, doubtless, inherited from Charles of France, through his daughter Catherine, and it was such as to deprive Henry not only of reason, but of his bodily senses and the use of his limbs.
On the report being made to Parliament, a measure was passed appointing the Duke of York Protector, until such time as the king should be restored, but expressly limiting his authority. In a few months, the king was partially restored, and resumed the functions of goverment, or rather, the queen's faction seized upon a temporary season of lucidity to displace the Duke of York, who again retired to his great patrimonial estates, where measures were concerted by the powerful lords attached to his interests, including the Duke of Norfolk and the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, the last named nobleman being the one usually styled " The king-maker," by historians of a later period, from the prominent part taken by him in the sudden reversal of fortune of Henry VI. and Edward IV.
A force of three thousand men was collected, at the head of which the confederate lords set out for the metropolis, but as soon as tidings of this reached the court, the Duke of Somerset assembled a body of nearly four thousand men, and with the king, marched along the North road to meet his rival. The two armies encountered at St Alban's, where the first battle in the War of the Roses took place on May 22nd 1455. Although inferior in numbers, the Yorkists were successful, owing to the vigour of their attack and to the loss of the Lancastrian leaders early in the day. The Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Northumberland, and Lord Clifford, were slain, and other prominent noblemen among the roylists were disabled.
King Henry himself received a wound in the neck from an arrow, and was obliged to seek refuge in the house of a tanner, where he was found by the Duke of York, who treated him with every mark of outward respect, and bade him rejoice that the traitor Somerset had met with his deserts.
Fotheringhay Village - Home of the House of York
Links
Battle of the War of the Roses - First Battle of St Albans - 22 May 1455
Men at Arms with polearms.
Wars of the roses Northampton July 10th 1460
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Wars of the roses Wakefield 30th December 1460
Wars of the roses Second St Albans 17th February 1461
Wars of the roses Towton 29th March 1461
The largest battle ever fought on english soil.
Wars of the roses Barnet 14th April 1471
At this battle, the Earl of Warwick, was killed. A very powerful man, he was called the king maker, he was destroyed by his ambition.
Wars of the roses Tewkesbury 4th May 1471
The Princes in the Tower of London
Reputed to have been murdered by Richard to become king.
Wars of the roses Bosworth 22nd August 1485
Combatants were Henry Tudor and King Richard the third.
The death of King Richard the third
This is how King Richards body was transported to Leicester, muddy, bloodly and mutilated.
After being lost for 527 years, King Richard the Thirds, remains have been found. This was announced Feb 4th 2013, by the University of Leicester.
After being lost for 527 years, King Richard the Thirds, remains have been found. This was announced Feb 4th 2013, by the University of Leicester.
Henry Tudor won the Battle of Bosworth
A new dynasty had been founded.
War of the Roses - Battle of Stoke Field 16th June 1487
This was the last battle of the war of the roses, it resulted in the defeat of the last yorkist army.It is somtimes known as East Stoke, which is several miles from Newark in Nottinghamshire.
The yorkist leaders were Lord Lovell and John De la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, whom Richard the 3rd, had recognized as his heir presumptive.
Lord Lovell, was one of Richard the 3rds great friends, after the battle he was seen swimming his horse across the river trent, he then disappeared, he either drowned crossing the river, or starved to death in a cellar, beneath his house. A skeleton of a man was found there in 1708.
The yorkist leaders were Lord Lovell and John De la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, whom Richard the 3rd, had recognized as his heir presumptive.
Lord Lovell, was one of Richard the 3rds great friends, after the battle he was seen swimming his horse across the river trent, he then disappeared, he either drowned crossing the river, or starved to death in a cellar, beneath his house. A skeleton of a man was found there in 1708.
In depth Battles Http://www.britishbattles.com/
