War of the Roses 1455 - 1487

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by Mandy Barrow Primary Homework Help The War of Roses The Wars of the Roses were a series of civil wars fought in medieval England from 1455 to 1487. For thirty - two years, a bitter struggle for the English throne was waged between two branches on the same family, the House of York and the House of Lancaster, both descended from Edward lll. The War of the Roses began in 1455, when many barons resented the way that the Lancaster family had seized the throne in 1399 and felt that Henry V, IV or VI were not the rightful kings. (Henry IV, the first Lancastrian King, came to the English throne by force. He made his cousin Richard ll, abdicate, and then seized the crown himself.) According to the barons, the York family, cousins of the Lancasters, were truly entitled to reign. The Battle of Stoke is considered by most people as the final conflict in the Wars of the Roses. Each house was represented by a rose. The Struggle for power was know as the War of the Roses because the Lancaster emblem was a red rose and the York emblem a white rose. The House of York used a white rose. The House of Lancaster used a red rose. King Richard III Henry Tudor The Battle of Bosworth 1485 The battle of Bosworth is one of the most important battles in English history. It led to the War of the Roses, and planted the Tudor house on the throne of England. What happened the battle of Bosworth? Henry Tudor, (Henry VII), earl of Richmond and a Lancastrian, defeated King Richard III, a Yorkist, at the battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485. Richard III (on the right) and his flag bearer Battle of Bosworth saw the death of Richard III Richard III was the last English monarch to have been killed in battle. Henry Tudor landed at Milford Haven on 7 August in an attempt to claim the throne of England. He gathered supporters on his journey through Wales, and by the time he arrived in the Midlands, he had amassed an army of an estimated 5,000 men. Richard III, on the other hand, had an army of nearly 8,000. After the battle, Henry Tudor was crowned as King Henry VII, marking the beginning of the 118-year reign of the Tudor dynasty in England. Henry Vll (representing the Lancaster family) married Elizabeth of York (representing the York family). This marriage united the two families. Henry created the Tudor rose, containing both the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster. It symbolized the end of a struggle between York and Lancaster, More information The Battle of Bosworth What do we really know about the battle? Bosworth facts and Bosworth legends .