The story of the War of the Scarlet and White Roses. War of the Scarlet and White Roses

The Wars of the Scarlet and White Roses (1455 - 1485) - the struggle for the English throne between two side branches of the Plantagenet royal dynasty - Lancaster (coat of arms with a scarlet rose) and York (coat of arms with a white rose). The confrontation between the Lancasters (the ruling dynasty) and the Yorks (the rich aristocratic feudal family) began with separate non-war clashes that took place both before and after the war. The war ended with the victory of Henry Tudor of the Lancastrian dynasty, who founded a dynasty that ruled England and Wales for 117 years.

Causes

The cause of the war between the two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty - Lancaster and Nork (note that the traditional name for this confrontation appeared already in the 19th century thanks to Walter Scott) - was the dissatisfaction of the nobility with the policies of the weak-willed King Henry VI from the Lancaster branch, who was defeated in France. The instigator of the conflict was Richard of York, who was eager for the crown.

Confrontation. Course of events

2 years after the Hundred Years' War, an internecine war began in England that would last 30 years. 1455 - the confrontation first moved to the battlefield. The Duke of York gathered his vassals and marched with them to London. 1455, May 22 at the Battle of St. Albans he was able to defeat the supporters of the Scarlet Rose. Soon removed from power, he again rebelled and declared his claims to the English crown. With an army of his followers, he won victories over the enemy at Bloor Heath (September 23, 1459) and North Hampton (July 10, 1460); in 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.

However, Queen Margaret, wife of Henry VI, and her supporters suddenly attacked him at Wakefield (December 30, 1460). Richard's troops were completely defeated, and he himself died in battle. The victors cut off his head and displayed it on the wall of York wearing a paper crown. His son Edward, supported by the Earl of Warwick, defeated the supporters of the Lancastrian dynasty at Mortimers Cross (February 2, 1461) and Towton (March 29, 1461). Henry VI was deposed; Margaret fled to Scotland, and the king was soon caught and imprisoned in the Tower. The severed heads of defeated opponents were placed on the city gates of York, in the place where the head of the defeated Richard had previously stood. The winner became King Edward IV.

The confrontation continues

1470 - The Lancastrians, thanks to the betrayal of King Edward IV's brother, Duke of Clarence, were able to expel Edward and returned Henry VI to the throne. Soon Edward IV, who had fled to the mainland, returned with an army, and the Duke of Clarence again went over to his brother’s side. This brought victory to the Yorks in 1471 at the Battle of Tewkesbury. The son and heir of King Henry VI, Edward, died in it, and soon the unfortunate king himself was killed in the Tower. This marked the end of the Lancastrian branch of the Plantagenet dynasty.

1) Henry VI; 2) Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI

Richard III

There came a break in the wars, which seemed to many to be its end. Edward IV confidently ruled England until he died unexpectedly on the eve of his 41st birthday in 1483. His son, 12-year-old Edward V, was supposed to become the new monarch, but he suddenly found a formidable rival. This time it was not Lancaster, but York - another younger brother of Edward IV, Richard of Gloucester.

During the War of the Scarlet and White Roses, Richard remained faithful to his brother, not abandoning him even in the days of defeat. And after his death, he declared his rights to the crown, declaring the sons of his deceased brother illegitimate. Two young princes were imprisoned in the Tower, and Richard Gloucester was proclaimed king under the name -.

What happened to his nephews is still unknown even five centuries later. According to the most common version, the crowned uncle ordered them to be killed. Be that as it may, the princes disappeared forever.

1) Edward IV; 2) Richard III

Accession of the Tudors

However, there was no peace in the state, opposition to the Yorks intensified, and in 1485 a detachment of French mercenaries who arrived from the mainland landed in Wales, who were hired by Lancaster supporters led by Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who had no rights to the throne.

1485, August 22 - at the Battle of Bosworth, Henry Tudor was able to defeat King Richard III. Richard III himself was knocked off his horse and immediately stabbed to death. Thus the York branch was severed. The winner, Henry Tudor, was crowned Henry VII immediately after the battle in a nearby church. Thus the new royal dynasty of the Tudors was founded.

Results of the war

As a result of the civil wars of the Scarlet and White Roses, the former Plantagenet dynasty left the political arena due to clan feuds, the state was ruined, English possessions on the continent (except Calais) were lost, and many of the aristocratic families suffered colossal damage, which made it possible for Henry VII to curb their. Not only the descendants of the Plantagenets died on the battlefield, scaffolds and in prisons, but also a significant part of the English lords and knighthood.

From the accession of the Tudors, English historians count the New Age as a period of strengthening centralized royal power, weakening the aristocracy and the rise of the bourgeoisie to leading positions.

Reason for starting the war

1454 The King of England is Henry VI. He is not mentally healthy, so his ability to rule is in doubt. At court, the struggle for real power in the country begins.
Duke of York Richard seeks the position of regent for the king who is unable to rule. This is a thoughtful move, since the Duke is a descendant of King Edward III, and therefore has the right to lay claim to the throne in the future.
The wife of the weak-minded monarch, Margaret of Anjou, used her influence and managed to remove the ambitious vassal from a promising position.
Richard responded to the court intrigue with force. Thus began the war.

Progress of the War of the Roses

Richard York united his supporters and in 1455 opposed the king's army. Opponents met at St. Albans. The fight ended in victory for the Duke. He is again a regent, but now also the official heir of the insane king.
This is the beginning of the feudal war, later called the War of the Roses.
The country was divided into two camps: supporters of Richard York (white rose) and those who supported the rightful king from the Lancaster dynasty (scarlet rose). Richard's powerful ally was the Earl of Warwick - he was called the kingmaker. The French monarch provided support to the king, and in fact to Queen Margaret.
After a short truce established as a result of negotiations in 1458, both sides returned to the use of force to resolve differences.
July 1460 – The Earl of Warwick took London and then captured Henry VI.
December 1460 - Richard of York was defeated at Wakefield and killed. But it is too early to sum up the results of the war - it did not end there: the deceased contender for the throne from the White Rose camp had sons who also aspired to supreme power.
1461, February - Richard's eldest son Edward defeats the supporters of the current king at Mortimer's Cross.
February 17 - the forces of the Scarlet Rose freed the king, but London did not open the gates to its ruler.
March 29 - the son of the fallen Duke of York, Edward, again defeats the troops of Henry VI, now at Towton, and proclaims himself king - Edward IV.
Margaret and Henry flee north, but in 1464 they are overtaken by the York troops. Henry is captured again, Margarita finds protection with her patron in France.
Edward did not want to share the captured power with anyone, which greatly upset the kingmaker Earl of Warwick. Now the White Rose camp has split.
1468 - Warwick Neville defeats the troops of the new king, and Edward himself is captured. Having kept him in captivity for prevention, Edward IV was again placed on the throne. It's still needed.
1470 - Warwick changes his mind again. From now on he is on the side of the feudal lords of the Scarlet Rose. The Count releases Henry VI from prison and gives him the crown. And Edward is forced to leave England.
But not for long. The following year he returns, gathers allies and defeats the kingmaker's troops. Warwick himself met death on the battlefield. Presumably, in a duel with Edward's younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (he would later become Richard III). Henry was again captured by the victors, but he never left the Tower alive. The Yorks celebrate their victory over the Scarlet Rose camp. This was the intermediate result of the war. The subsequent years 1471-1485 can be characterized as a lull in the confrontation between the Scarlet and White Roses.
1483 - Edward IV dies. His 12-year-old son was placed on the throne under the royal name Edward V. The real power at court was held by the brother of the deceased ruler, Richard of Gloucester. First he becomes regent for the boy king. And then he declares the crowned nephew a bastard. On this basis, Edward V and his brother are locked in the Tower. The boys there soon die. Richard simply could not allow England to be left without a ruler. So he crowned himself and went down in history as Richard III.
During a fairly short period of reign, the newly-minted monarch managed to turn everyone against himself, even representatives of the White Rose camp (the relatives of Edward IV did not forgive him for the death of their children).
The logical result was the resumption of the war. Only now the forces of the Scarlet and White Rose have united to overthrow the usurper. The general army was led by Henry Tudor, who was related to the Lancastrians (scarlet).
1485, August 22 - the warring parties met in a duel at Bosworth. The result of the battle was the defeat of the army of Richard III from the army under the command of Tudor.
The symbolic end of the war was the wedding: the winner (scarlet) married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth (white). The Tudor dynastic coat of arms depicts the union of two flowers that competed for 30 years for England.

Results of the War of the Scarlet and White Roses

In their youth, many people read historical and adventure novels. Particularly attractive were stories about the noble knights of Europe, their ladies, equestrian tournaments, where the winner received not only the favor of the reigning monarch, but also the love of his chosen one. But there were still numerous battles with enemies, including for the desecrated honor of ancestors, the restoration of justice, the return of family castles and estates - you can’t count everything. Alas, this is only a very refined, almost perfect distortion of reality, which, unfortunately, not only fiction is famous for. In fact, the same White and Scarlet Roses in England are a typical civil strife, and during it there were big problems with nobility, especially higher goals. But first things first.

No, this is not about the Civil War in Russia, where there were completely different heroes on both sides, but about the confrontation between the Scarlet and White Roses in medieval England:

This widespread, beautiful legend with symbols romanticizing fratricidal confrontation, which, in fact, smells not of roses, but of horse sweat, manure, the human aroma of unwashed medieval fighters, blood and many other extremely unpleasant odors of war, has a hand in both historians, and writers and poets who are grateful to them for the magnificent plot for numerous plays, novels, poems, songs. Among them, which do not need any special introduction:

• William Shakespeare as the author of the plays Henry VI and Richard III.
• Robert Louis Stevenson with the exciting adventure novel “Black Arrow”, which literally all the youth of the Land of the Soviets read.

In the deservedly popular television series “Game of Thrones” based on the books by George R.R. Martin included in the epic “A Song of Ice and Fire”, he brought out the medieval earthly Lancasters as representatives of the fictional Lannister dynasty, and instead of the Yorks, the Starks appear there. If we take into account that for quite a long time England was ruled a little later by the Stuarts, who were very consonant with them, then the intrigue is not yet over, and, as usual, a continuation will follow.

A curious twist in history is that the results of this war did not bring victory to any of the Plantagenets - neither the Yorks nor the Lancasters:

• Over the course of 30 years of battles and subsequent periods of accumulation of forces, funds, attracting allies among the royal houses of Europe, hiring professional fighters there, victory alternately went to both sides of the conflict, for which they paid with thousands of corpses of titled nobility of various denominations.
• The end to this civil war, which exhausted England and destroyed the flower of the noble class - the basis of autocratic power, was put by King Henry VII, who founded a new dynasty of rulers - the Tudors, who occupied the throne for more than a century, until 1603.
• Indirectly, however, it is possible with a large degree of assumption to give the technical victory “on points” to the Lancasters, since Henry VII Tudor was their relative on the female side.

He made a beautiful gesture by combining both symbols, the Scarlet and White Rose, into one - the Tudor Rose, which began not only to personify their dynasty in heraldic science, but also to this day the whole of England, because depicted on the royal coat of arms.

In this case, the Wars of the Roses. It must be said that in England, later in its successor - Great Britain, patriarchy, common in most countries under the leadership of monarchs, was not so magnificently manifested. Thus, in the history of England there are much more queens than in other European countries, and extraordinary personalities who left a noticeable mark on world history, both glorifying their country and drenching it in the blood of their compatriots. One of them was Queen Margaret of Anjou (1430–1482), wife of Henry VI, who actively participated in the Wars of the Roses:

The final results of her activities were sad: she lost her only son Edward, her husband died or was killed in 1471 as a prisoner of the Tower of London, and she herself was captured by the Yorks. The French king Louis XI saved her from death by buying her from them.

The War of the White and Scarlet Roses in England put an end to feudal anarchy. The Tudors, who came to power, established their absolute power, and the time of their reign was later called the period of the Renaissance of the country.

1455 - 1485 (30 years)

Representation of the apocryphal scene in the Temple Gardens in Part I of Henry VI, where supporters of the warring factions choose red and white roses

War of the Scarlet and White Roses- a series of armed dynastic conflicts between factions of the English nobility in the years 1455-1485 in the struggle for power between supporters of the two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty - Lancaster and York. Despite the chronological framework of the conflict established in historical literature (1455-1485), individual clashes related to the war 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 cause of the war was the dissatisfaction of a significant part of English society with the failures in the Hundred Years' War and the policies pursued by the wife of King Henry VI, Queen Margaret and her favorites (the king himself was a weak-willed person, who also sometimes fell into madness). The opposition was led by Duke Richard of York, who first demanded a regency over the incompetent king, and later the English crown. The basis for this claim was that Henry VI was the great-grandson of John of Gaunt, the third son of King Edward III, and York was the great-grandson of Lionel, the second son of this king (in the female line, in the male line he was the grandson of Edmund, the fourth son of Edward III), Moreover, Henry VI's grandfather seized the throne in 1399, forcing King Richard II to abdicate, rendering the entire Lancastrian dynasty's legitimacy questionable.

The combustible element was numerous professional soldiers, who, after the defeat in the war with France, found themselves out of work and, being in large numbers within England, posed a serious danger to royal power. War was a familiar profession for these people, so they willingly hired themselves into the service of large English barons, who significantly replenished their armies at their expense. Thus, the authority and power of the king were significantly undermined by the increased military power of the nobles.

Names and symbols

Lancaster

Yorkie

The 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 their 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.

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 IV. However, in 1460, at the Battle of Wakefield, Richard of York died. The White Rose party was led by his son Edward, who was crowned Edward VI 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 (the king was soon caught and imprisoned in the Tower).

Active hostilities resumed in 1470, when the Earl of Warwick and the Duke of Clarence (the younger brother of Edward IV), 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 (probably murder) of Henry himself that followed in the Tower that 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 (the late king was a big hunter of women and besides his official wife, he was secretly engaged to one - or several - women; in addition, Thomas More and Shakespeare mention rumors circulating in society that Edward himself was the son not of the Duke of York, but of a simple archer), and Edward IV's brother Richard 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 (mostly French mercenaries) led by Henry Tudor (the great-great-grandson of John of Gaunt on the female side) 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 (nephew of Richard III) tried to return the crown to York, but was killed at the Battle of Stoke Field.

Results of the war

Although historians are still debating the true extent of the conflict's impact on medieval English life, there is little doubt that the Wars of the Roses resulted in a political upheaval and a change in the established balance of power. The most obvious outcome was the collapse of the Plantagenet dynasty and its replacement by the new Tudors who reshaped England over the following years. In the following years, the remnants of the Plantagenet factions, left without direct access to the throne, split into different positions as the monarchs continually pitted them against each other.

Karl the Bold

The War of the Roses virtually brought an end to the English Middle Ages. It continued the changes in feudal English society begun by the advent of the Black Death, which included the weakening of the feudal power of the nobility and the strengthening of the position of the merchant class, and the rise of a strong, centralized monarchy under the leadership of the Tudor dynasty. The accession of the Tudors in 1485 is considered the beginning of the New Age in English history.

On the other hand, it has also been suggested that the horrific impact of the war was exaggerated by Henry VII in order to extol his achievements in ending it and bringing peace. Of course, the effect of the war on the merchant and laboring classes was much less than in the protracted wars in France and elsewhere in Europe, which were filled with mercenaries with a direct interest in continuing the war.

Louis XI

Although there were a few long sieges, they were in relatively remote and sparsely populated areas. In heavily populated areas that belonged to both factions, opponents, in order to prevent the collapse of the country, sought a quick solution to the conflict in the form of a general battle.

The war was disastrous for England's already diminishing influence in France, and by the end of the fighting there were no possessions left there except Calais, which was eventually lost during the reign of Mary I. Although later English rulers continued to campaign on the continent, England's territory was by no means increased. Various European duchies and kingdoms played important roles in the war, especially the kings of France and the dukes of Burgundy, who aided the Yorks and Lancastrians in their struggles against each other. By providing them with armed forces and financial assistance, as well as offering refuge to defeated nobles and pretenders, they thereby wanted to prevent the emergence of a strong and united England that would become their enemy.

The post-war period was also the death march for the standing baronial armies that fueled the conflict. Henry VII, fearing further infighting, kept the barons under tight control, forbidding them from training, recruiting, arming, and supplying armies to prevent them from going to war with each other or the king. As a result, the military power of the barons diminished, and the Tudor court became the place where baronial quarrels were decided by the will of the monarch.

Not only the descendants of the Plantagenets, but also a significant part of the English lords and knighthood died on the battlefields, scaffolds and in prison casemates. For example, in the period from 1425 to 1449, before the outbreak of war, many noble lines disappeared, which continued during the war from 1450 to 1474. The death in battle of the most ambitious part of the nobility led to a decrease in the desire of its remnants to risk their lives and titles.

Editorial:

1) Makeeva Tatyana

2) Stolyarova Alexandra

3) Zhiratkova Ksenia

4) Stolyarov Sergey

year 2012

At the end of the 17th century, the English throne was seized by Henry Tudor from the Lancaster family, the founder of a new royal dynasty that remained in power for a century. This was preceded by a bloody dynastic conflict between the descendants of two branches of the ancient royal family of Plantagenets - Lancaster and York, which went down in history as the War of the Scarlet and White Roses, a brief historical description of which is the topic of this article.

Symbols of the warring parties

There is a misconception that the war owes its name to roses, supposedly depicted on the coats of arms of these opposing aristocratic families. In reality they weren't there. The reason lies in the fact that, when going into battle, supporters of both parties attached a symbolic rose to their armor as a distinctive sign - Lancasters - white, and their opponents Yorks - red. Elegant and royal.

The reasons that led to bloodshed -

It is known that the War of the Scarlet and White Roses began due to the political instability that developed in England in the middle of the 15th century. Most of society expressed dissatisfaction and demanded radical changes in government. This situation was aggravated by the incapacity of the weak-minded and often completely unconscious King Henry VI of Lancaster, under whom actual power was in the hands of his wife, Queen Margaret, and her many favorites.

Start of hostilities

The leader of the opposition was Duke Richard of York. A descendant of the Plantagenets, he had, in his own opinion, certain rights to the crown. With the active participation of this representative of the White Rose party, the political confrontation soon developed into bloody clashes, in one of which, which took place in 1455 near the city of St. Albans, the Duke’s supporters completely defeated the royal troops. Thus began the War of the Scarlet and White Roses, which lasted thirty-two years and was described in the works of Thomas More and Shakespeare. A summary of their works paints us a picture of those events.

Luck is on the side of the opposition

Such a brilliant victory of Richard of York over the legitimate authority convinced members of parliament that it was better not to irritate this thug, and they declared him protector of the state, and in the event of the death of the king, heir to the throne. It is difficult to say whether the Duke would have hastened this demise or not, but in the next battle with the troops of the party opposing him, he was killed.

After the death of the instigator of the war, the opposition was led by his son, who fulfilled his father’s long-standing dream, crowned in 1461 under the name of Edward IV. Soon his troops finally crushed the resistance of the Lancastrians, once again defeating them at the Battle of Mortimer Cross.

The betrayals that the War of the Roses knew

The summary of T. More's historical work conveys the depth of despair of the deposed Henry VI and his frivolous wife. They tried to escape, and if Margaret managed to hide abroad, then her unlucky husband was captured and imprisoned in the Tower. However, it was too early for the newly made king to celebrate victory. Intrigues began in his party, caused by the ambitious claims of the aristocrats closest to him, each of whom sought to get the largest piece in the division of honors and awards.

The wounded pride and envy of some deprived Yorkers pushed them to betrayal, as a result of which the younger brother of the new king, the Duke of Clarence and the Earl of Warwick, having violated all laws of honor, went over to the side of the enemy. Having gathered a sizeable army, they rescued the unfortunate Henry VI from the Tower and returned him to the throne. It was the turn of Edward IV, who had missed the throne, to flee. He and his younger brother Gloucester safely reached Burgundy, where they were popular and had numerous supporters.

New plot twist

The War of the Roses, briefly described by the great Shakespeare, prepared an unpleasant surprise for the Lancastrians this time. The king's brother Clarence, who had so shamefully compromised himself by betrayal and returned the throne to Henry, having learned with what strong army his relative was returning to London, realized that he was in a hurry. He clearly did not want to end up on the gallows - the most suitable place for traitors, and he, having appeared at Edward’s camp, convinced him of his deep repentance.

Reunited, the brothers and their numerous supporters from the York party twice defeated the Lancastrians at Barnet and Tewkesberry. In the first battle, Warwick died, the same one who committed treason along with Clarence, but, unlike the latter, did not have time to return to his former owner. The second battle proved fatal for the crown prince. Thus, the Lancastrian dynastic line was interrupted by the War of the Scarlet and White Roses that captured England. Read on for a summary of subsequent events.

What does history tell us about the following events?

Having won, Edward IV again sent the king he had overthrown to the Tower. He returned to his familiar and previously lived-in cell, but did not stay in it for long. In the same year, his death was announced with deep sorrow. It is difficult to say whether it was natural, or whether the new overlord simply decided to save himself from possible troubles, but since then the ashes of Henry VI, abandoned during his lifetime by both his wife and his subjects, rested in a dungeon. What can you do, the royal throne can sometimes be very shaky.

Having gotten rid of his predecessor and potential rival, Edward IV ruled until 1483, when he suddenly died of unknown causes. For a short time, his son Edward took the throne, but was soon removed from power by the royal council, as doubts arose about the legitimacy of his birth. By the way, there were witnesses who claimed that his late father was not born from the Duke of York, but was the fruit of the secret love of the mother duchess and the handsome archer.

Whether it really was true or not, they didn’t get to the bottom of it, but just in case, the throne was taken away from the young heir, and the brother of the late king Richard of Gloucester, crowned under the name Richard III, was elevated to it. Fate did not have in store for him long years of quiet rule. Very soon, an open and secret opposition formed around the throne, poisoning the life of the monarch with all its might.

Return of the Scarlet Rose

Historical archives of the 15th century tell how the War of the Scarlet and White Roses subsequently developed. A brief summary of the documents stored in them indicates that the leading representatives of the Lancastrian party were able to assemble a significant army on the continent, consisting mainly of French mercenaries. Led by Henry Tudor, it landed on the coast of Britain in 1486 and began its victorious journey to London. King Richard III personally led the army that went out to meet the enemy, but died in the Battle of Bosworth.

End of the European Middle Ages

The War of the Roses in England was nearing its end. A summary of Shakespeare's account of these events recreates the picture of how, having reached the British capital without much trouble, Tudor was crowned under the name. From that time on, the Lancaster dynasty was firmly entrenched on the throne, and their reign lasted one hundred and seventeen years. The only serious attempt to overthrow the king was made in 1487 by the Earl of Lincoln, nephew of Richard III, who rebelled but was killed in the ensuing battle.

It is generally accepted that the War of the Scarlet and White Roses (1455-1487) is the final stage of the European Middle Ages. During this period, not only all direct descendants of the ancient Plantagenet family were destroyed, but most of the English knighthood. The main disasters fell on the shoulders of the common people, who in all centuries became hostages of other people's political ambitions.