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THE ROSES ✥ 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30 1 2 3 4 5 36 37 38X This content downloaded from 136.167.3.36 on Thu, 11 Jan 2018 18:42:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 ✥ THE WARS OF THE ROSES ✥ 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30 1 2 3 4 5 36 37 38x This content downloaded from 136.167.3.36 on Thu, 11 Jan 2018 18:42:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 THE WARS OF 8 9 ✥ ✥ 10 THE ROSES 1 2 3 MICHAEL HICKS 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30 1 2 3 4 5 36 YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS 37 NEW HAVEN AND LONDON 38x This content downloaded from 136.167.3.36 on Thu, 11 Jan 2018 18:42:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Copyright © 2010 Michael Hicks 8 9 All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and 20 except by reviewers for the public press) without written permission from the publishers. 1 For information about this and other Yale University Press publications, please contact: 2 U.S. Office: [email protected] www.yalebooks.com 3 Europe Office: sales @yaleup.co.uk www.yaleup.co.uk 4 Set in Minion Pro by IDSUK (DataConnection) Ltd 5 Printed in Great Britain by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall 6 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 7 8 Hicks, M. A. The Wars of the Roses / Michael Hicks. 9 p. cm. 30 Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-300-11423-2 (cl:alk. paper) 1 1. Great Britain—History—Wars of the Roses, 1455–1485. 2. Great 2 Britain—History—Lancaster and York, 1399–1485. I. Title. DA250.H548 2010 3 942.04—dc22 4 2010015475 5 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. 36 37 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 38x This content downloaded from 136.167.3.36 on Thu, 11 Jan 2018 18:42:15 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 PART I 9 UNDERSTANDING THE WARS OF THE ROSES 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 30 1 2 3 4 5 36 37 38x This content downloaded from 136.167.3.36 on Thu, 11 Jan 2018 18:42:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 1 2 Chapter 1 3 ✤ ✤ ✤ 4 5 What were the 6 7 Wars of the Roses? 8 9 10 1 2 3 his book explains the civil wars that beset England roughly between 1450 4 Tand 1509, known as the Wars of the Roses. The Wars of the Roses are 5 actually the longest period of civil war in England’s post-conquest history. 6 They are much longer and also much more complex than either the Anarchy 7 of King Stephen’s reign (1135–54) or the English Civil War (1642–51) that are 8 the principal parallels in English history. 9 There is a great deal to explain, for never before and never again after the 20 Wars of the Roses was the government of England to be so insecure. There were 1 three regional revolts, in 1450, 1489 and 1497; a host of private feuds, murders, 2 ambushes, skirmishes and sieges; thirteen full-scale battles, including four 3 in 1461, 1471, 1485 and 1487 that were decisive; at least ten coups d’état and 4 attempted coups; fifteen invasions, including the four in 1460, 1470, 1471 and 5 1485 that succeeded; five usurpations, in 1461, 1470, 1471, 1483 and 1485; five 6 kings – Henry VI, Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III and Henry VII – the first 7 two of whom actually reigned twice; seven reigns; and five changes of dynasty, 8 in 1461, 1470, 1471, 1483 and 1485. 9 Yet this was not a ‘frenetic and purposeless’ collection of events, as Professor 30 Carpenter dubbed it.1 The next section groups these events in order and makes 1 some sense of them. Further reference is available in the Chronological Table 2 of Events and the family trees, or List of Pedigrees. 3 4 5 THE COURSE OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES 36 The Wars commenced in the reign of King Henry VI (1422–61), the third 37 of three kings of the House of Lancaster since 1399. His father Henry V 38x 3 This content downloaded from 136.167.3.36 on Thu, 11 Jan 2018 18:42:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms UNDERSTANDING THE WARS OF THE ROSES 1 (1413–22) was designated as successor to Charles VI of France (1380–1422), 2 and so Henry VI was also the only king of England really to have reigned also 3 as king of France. In 1445 Henry VI married Margaret of Anjou, a French 4 princess, daughter of René I of Naples, Duke of Anjou. It was during Henry 5 VI’s reign, in 1449–53, that the English lost the Hundred Years War and all 6 their French territories except Calais. These defeats contributed to the series of 7 domestic disturbances, beginning with the Crisis of 1450 and culminating in 8 the First War in 1459. The Crisis began with the impeachment in January 1450 9 and murder of William, Duke of Suffolk, the king’s principal adviser, the 10 murder of Bishops Aiscough and Moleyns, and Jack Cade’s Rebellion in Kent 1 and Sussex in May. It ended with the emergence in the autumn of Richard, 2 Duke of York, as principal critic of the regime, rival of the king’s favourite 3 Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and leader of a programme of reform 4 that he repeatedly sought to force on the king throughout the 1450s. Although 5 rebuffed in 1450, York tried unsuccessfully to seize power in 1452 (the 6 Dartford episode). After Henry VI lapsed into madness in August 1453, York 7 became Lord Protector and figurehead of the regime (York’s First Protectorate, 8 1454–5), but was superseded on Henry’s recovery early in 1455. With his 9 Neville allies the Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, York attacked the royal court 20 at the First Battle of St Albans (22 May 1455), resumed control of the govern- 1 ment, and was briefly Protector again until relieved of office early in 1456. A 2 major attempt at reconciliation was made in March 1458, the Loveday at 3 St Paul’s, but failed. Instead York and the Nevilles tried to seize power again 4 in 1459, thus instigating the First War (1459–61). 5 The First War began when Salisbury fought the royalist Lord Audley at Blore 6 Heath in Staffordshire (23 September 1459). Forced on the defensive by Henry 7 VI at Ludford in Shropshire (13 October), York fled to Ireland, Salisbury and 8 Warwick to Calais. Although condemned as traitors by Parliament, Warwick 9 and Salisbury invaded Kent in June 1460, defeated and captured the king at the 30 Battle of Northampton (10 July) and York laid claim to the throne. Even his own 1 supporters objected to him succeeding at once. The Accord kept Henry VI as 2 king, but substituted York as his heir in place of Prince Edward of Lancaster and 3 also gave him control of the government. This settlement was unacceptable to 4 many, especially Henry VI’s queen Margaret of Anjou. York was obliged to go 5 northwards to enforce his rule, but was defeated and killed, along with 36 Salisbury, at the Battle of Wakefield (30 December 1460). Queen Margaret and 37 her troops marched southwards, defeated Warwick at the Second Battle of 38x St Albans (17 February 1461), but failed to take London. Meanwhile, York’s son 4 This content downloaded from 136.167.3.36 on Thu, 11 Jan 2018 18:42:30 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms WHAT WERE THE WARS OF THE ROSES? Edward had defeated the Welsh Lancastrians at Mortimer’s Cross 1 (2–3 February), met up with Warwick, proclaimed himself King Edward IV 2 (4 March), and annihilated the Lancastrian army at the Battle of Towton near 3 York (29 March). The Lancastrian King Henry VI had lost his throne and was 4 replaced by the Yorkist King Edward IV (1461–83). 5 King Edward in turn reigned for the rest of the decade (his First Reign, 6 1461–70) before conflict resumed. The second phase or Second War 7 (1469–71), resulted from a rift within the Yorkist regime that made his former 8 ally Warwick the Kingmaker into his principal foe. Edward’s ill-advised 9 marriage to the widow Elizabeth Grey (née Wydeville) was a root cause. Along 10 with his son-in-law George, Duke of Clarence (d. 1478), Warwick rebelled in 1 1469, defeated and eliminated Edward’s new favourites at Edgecote (24 July 2 1469), imprisoned the king and took control of the government.
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