The smoke of the Hundred Years' War has just dissipated, and the storm of civil war has blown on the land of England. Almost all the great nobles and landlords participated in this battle. The two sides of the war were the Lancaster family and the York family. The emblems of the two major families of
are the white rose and the red rose, so this war is also called the War of Roses. The Lancaster dynasty replaced the previous Gorse dynasty during the Hundred Years' War. But the York family, another great nobleman in England, has never recognized the legal status of the king from the Lancaster family. Although the York family did not make this issue public during the Hundred Years' War, they have been looking for opportunities to attack the king's confidant and weaken the power of the royal family.
1. The outbreak of the Civil War
At the end of the Hundred Years War, the contradictions between the two sides began to intensify. In 1449, Duke Richard of the York family was excluded from the court and became the governor of Ireland. The Lancaster royal family occupied the political advantage. After the end of the Hundred Years' War in 1453, the two great families devoted all their energies to internal struggles for power. In August 1453, King Henry VI suffered a seizure and lost all his memories, giving the York family a chance.
In December, the York family took the lead in the attack. They put the Lancaster family officials in the tower into the Tower of London, and then inserted the York family members into the royal family. In 1454, the king suddenly regained consciousness and returned to the throne. After learning about these things that happened when he was in a coma, he began to lead the Lancaster family to fight back, forcing the nobles of the York family to surrender power. The accumulation of contradictions between the two sides reached the culmination, and the war was about to start.
In May 1455, King Henry VI invited officials including the Duke of York to convene a political meeting in Leicester City. The Duke of York felt that this was a feast, so he led a large number of soldiers to Leicester City. King
also thought that this was a provocation by the Duke of York, so he led the royal family and an army of less than 3,000 men to the north to meet the enemy. After the two sides met in St Alban, the war immediately began. The York family quickly defeated the king's army when they were dominant, and killed a group of nobles of the Lancaster family. The king himself was held hostage by the York nobles. Only the queen took the little prince Edward and fled in embarrassment.
2. This battle opened the prelude of the thirty-year civil war
This battle opened the prelude of the thirty-year civil war. After winning the battle, the Duke of York held the king firmly in his hands for a long time and seized the power of the regent.
However, Queen Margaret, who had fled outside, gradually became the leader of the Lancaster family, making the York family very jealous. In 1459, the York family's army was defeated by the King's Army in Worcester, and their leaders dispersed.
In July 1460, with the support of the Church and Congress, the Yorkists counterattacked with their troops and fought fierce battles with the Royal Party troops in Northampton. As a result, the York army, under the command of Earl Richard, defeated the Lancaster army again, and King Henry VI once again became a prisoner of the York family.
However, after this victory, Richard of the York family went uncharacteristically and massacred the captured Lancaster nobles. The Lancaster family finally made up their minds to wipe the influence of the York family from the land of England. With the support of Scotland and the Lancaster family, Queen Margaret reorganized the army and waited for the opportunity to go south. But the Duke of York seemed to want to complete his work, so he hurried northward without waiting for his men to gather.
On December 30, 1460, the York Army had a defeat. The leader of the Duke of York and his followers were brutally killed. But after this war, the Lancaster family lost the support of many aristocrats in southern England, including London. When Queen Margaret and the regained Henry VI rushed to London excitedly, they were turned away by the nobles.
3. The new king's position
On February 26, 1461, Edward, Duke of New York, led his department into London, and was warmly welcomed by the citizens of London. A week later, with the support of the citizens and nobles of London, the Duke of Edward established himself as a king, called Edward IV.
is a digression, why do so many kings of European royal families have the same names, and they are only distinguished by the third and the fourth? Here we are going to talk about the transmission of EuropeansIn China, it is extremely taboo to have the same name as an ancestor, and it is considered disrespect to the ancestor. But in Europe, the opposite is true. The same name as the father's generation just shows respect and recognition of the father's generation.
This Edward IV really lives up to his predecessor's name. Like the previous King Edward III, he is brave in combat, has a good reputation, is good at running a business, and is not willing to use things. He confiscated the real estate of the hostile aristocracy, managed it carefully, and accumulated a lot of wealth for the royal family in just a few years.
Not only that, Edward also relied on the urban bourgeoisie gradually becoming wealthy, and got rid of the control of the nobility. Although the phenomenon of the great nobles supporting their own soldiers has not been completely eliminated, the influence of the nobles on the royal family has been greatly reduced under his rule. After Richard III, the heir of Edward IV, succeeded to the throne, he fought a large-scale war against the Lancaster family, reducing the opponent's sphere of influence, and finally ended the civil war between the nobles in 1485.
Fourth, the dynasty change
Richard III did not leave any offspring after the death of Richard III, and the gorse dynasty that had ruled England for more than three hundred years came to an end. Looking back at history, the successive kings of the Gorse Dynasty had both military commanders and political powerful men, and their talents and crimes were superior to ordinary people. These kings have been pursuing power, territory, and wealth, and they have waged wars in order to protect their empire, but they were finally thrown away by history in the long river of time.
On August 22, 1485, Henry of the Tudor family killed Richard III and created the Tudor dynasty in British history. So far, the Red and White Rose War has basically ended. The two families of York and Lancaster have been fighting for more than 30 years. When the forces of both sides are almost consumed by each other, the Tudor family finally appeared, and the conquest and The dark age of killing.
If the Middle Ages is the darkest age in England, then the Tudor dynasty that came with it is the golden age of England. From the Norman conquest to the royal battle, from the Hundred Years' War to the War of the Roses, the Anglo-Saxons finally found their own way forward after more than four hundred years of confusion and wandering.
Reference materials:
"Sword and Fire World War Collection"
"The History of War"
"War History: The Hundred Years War between Britain and France"
"The Boss of the British Empire"
