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Conflict1455–1485

Wars of the Roses

Also called: Battle of Bosworth, Tudor dynasty

From 1455 to 1485 the English houses of Lancaster (red rose) and York (white rose) fought for the crown. It ended when Henry VII founded the Tudor dynasty.

Nobles choosing the red and white roses — a scene from Shakespeare’s Henry VI, by Henry Arthur Payne, c. 1908
Nobles choosing the red and white roses — a scene from Shakespeare’s Henry VI, by Henry Arthur Payne, c. 1908

Henry Arthur Payne (1868–1940) · Public domain · Source

Nobles returning defeated from the Hundred Years’ War quarrelled under the feeble Lancastrian king Henry VI, and Richard, Duke of York, reached for the crown; civil war began with the Battle of St Albans in 1455. Over thirty years the two houses made and unmade kings several times. On 22 August 1485 the Lancastrian Henry Tudor killed the Yorkist Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth and took the throne as Henry VII, then married Elizabeth of York to unite the two houses. The name “Wars of the Roses”, taken from the houses’ emblems, was given later.

Many nobles were killed or ruined in the wars, and Henry VII curbed those who remained through courts such as the Star Chamber, building the strong Tudor monarchy that opened the way to absolutism. In 1455, as the wars began, King Sejo seized the throne of Danjong in Joseon, and in 1485, as they ended, the Gyeongguk daejeon (National Code) took effect.

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The map in 1455

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States at the time
England
Places
Bosworth Field

People

  • Henry VII of England1457 – 1509

    commander · King of England from 1485 to 1509 who ended the Wars of the Roses at Bosworth, founded the Tudor dynasty and strengthened royal power

Before and after

Earlier
1358 The Jacquerie and Wat Tyler’s Rebellion
Later
1534 Act of Supremacy and the Church of England

Themes that include this event

  • Late Medieval Europe and the Renaissance1077 – 1517

    From Canossa to the eve of the Reformation — papal power at its height and in decline, towns and parliaments, royal power growing through the Hundred Years’ War and the Black Death, and the Renaissance and printing