From Lace, William W. The Wars of the Roses. Lucent Books: San Diego, 1996.

- was war between Lancaster and York branches of Plantagenets, rulers of England for over 300 years
-name of war came from Shakespeare's Henry VI in which Lancaster chose a red rose as their symbol while York took the white; in reality, the white rose was used by both sides and the red rose came in during House of Tudor after the war; 1762, the name War of the Roses was immortalized by David Hume
-War of Roses resulted in no tons being burned; common people were barely affected at all and commerce was not touched; most battles were minor scuffles in streets except for a few battles like Towton that had 50000 men fighting at once; only 30000 men died over 30 years fighting but each death was significant because most deaths happened to rich nobles and marked the end of the Middle Ages
-house of Lancaster was made on the principle that a string king is needed to prevent rebellions and civil war; Plantagenet family came to throne when Henry I died without heir in 1135 and war broke out between his daughter, Matilda, and nephew Stephen of Blios; Stephen was given the throne and would be succeeded by Matilda's son, Henry and Geoffrey of Anjou, whose family name was Plantagenet because of the flower in his hat
-1139, Edward III's mother was last child of King Philip IV of France so he decided to start the Hundred Years' War; 1346, he invaded France and won at Crecy; his son, Edward the Black Prince massacred French in 1356 at Poitiers and captured French king John II; however, Black Prince caught dysentery and returned to England where he died in 1376
-Richard of Bordeaux, son of the Black Prince, became the next king on July 16, 1377 and rode in a London parade that day with his 3 uncles: John of Gaunt (duke of Lancaster), Edward of Langley (duke of York), Thomas of Woodstock (duke of Gloucester)
-John of Gaunt has married Blanche, heiress of earl of Lancaster, and became the richest man in England; he controlled the vain Richard until the king left for France in 1384; Richard began wasting money and to make peace with France, showered them with gifts against the English nobles' advice
-Thomas of Gloucester demanded in 1937 that Richard put himself under Thomas' control; Thomas wanted to kill Richard, but the other members of his group, the Lords Appellant, declined
-two years after Richard was forced to follow Thomas, he asked him how old he was; Thomas answered "Three and twenty years" and Richard said he was old enough to handle his own affairs; Arundel, one of the Lords Appellant, was forced to give him the Great Seal of England that gave documents the force of law
-1397, Richard beheads Arundel and banished Warwick (another member of the LA); Thomas Gloucester was pronounced dead and his other group members, Henry and Mowbray, were later exiled as well
-Richard was corrupt and had an army of archers that stole from the peasants, borrowed money from moneys and never paid them back, got signatures of those who posed a threat so he could use it as their confession for crimes; 1399, John of Gaunt died and while Henry Bolingbroke was gone, Richard took all of his uncles' land
-when Richard left to fight in Ireland, he left the throne to his uncle, Edmund of York; realizing how dumb the new king was, Henry Bolingbroke returned on July 4 when he landed in town of Ravenspur on Yorkshire coast and soon built up an army to overthrow the king
-Richard soon rushed back but many of his soldiers deserted him; September 30, Richard was taken to Westminster Hall in London and was forced to give Henry the crown and the scepter of office; Henry became King Henry IV, but because his blood was not heir to the throne, the public saw him as illegally seizing the throne
-to stop a possible revolt, Henry murdered Richard in February 1400; Henry's reign was plagued with rebellions such as one in Wales led by Owen Glendower; soon, sickness made him commit the throne to his son, Prince Henry, and his half-brothers: John Henry and Thomas Beaufort who were illegitimate sons of John of Gaunt and his mistress, Catherine Swynford; John later married her and wanted his sons to be legitimate
-1413, Henry IV died and Henry V restarted the Hundred Years' War; 415, he won a big victory at Agincourt and his invasion in 1417 led to the Treaty of Troyes of 1420 in which he would marry Catherine, daughter of King Charles VI of France, and therefore be heir to French throne; Henry and Catherine were wed in 1420, but he was dead 2 years later; he had a son Henry, born in December 1421 at Windsor Castle
-the boy king was guided by his uncle John, duke of Bedford and was Lord Protector/Defender of the Realm with another uncle, Humphrey of Gloucester; after John's death in 1435, civil war broke out between those who wanted peace with France (Henry and Edmund Beaufort, and Michael de la Pole of Suffolk) and those who still wanted war (Humphrey)
-Richard of York, an English general in France, hated the Beauforts for reducing money spent on the war; he actually had a more legitimate claim to English throne than Henry IV did; Richard was forced to use much of his own money to fund the war and was angered when Somerset was sent to France as Richard's military superior
-to get an heir for Henry VI that would prevent Gloucester from earning the throne, Michael de la Pole was sent to France to look for a wife that would follow them; Michael promised to withdraw troops from French county of Maine if Henry married Margaret, daughter of the brother of the queen
-1445, 14-year old Margaret and Henry were married and made the weak Henry see Beauforts and Suffolk as friends and York as enemies; February 1447, Humphrey learned of Maine being turned over to French and was arrested; five days later, he was pronounced dead; Henry Beaufort soon died, leaving Somerset and Suffolk in charge to eliminate Richard, their only powerful enemy left; September 1447, they sent him to Ireland for a 10-year appointment and he brought along his wife, Cicely Neville and their 5 children, including 7-year old Edward of March and 6-year old Edmund of Rutland
-1448, the handing over of Maine angered many English; 1449, French King Charles VII resumed the war and by August 1450, Somerset had lost all land in France except for city of Calais and province of Guienne; an angry Parliament tried to kill Suffolk but Margaret lessened the punishment to banishment; however, Suffolk's ship was soon intercepted by one possibly belonging to York and his head was hacked with 6 strokes from a rusty sword; York may have also began revolts all over England; Jack Cade spoke in County of Kent about losses in France, high taxes, and the expensive gifts Margaret keeps giving away; his rebellious army captured London on July 1, 1450 but were repelled later by the citizens of London; he gave up in exchange for a full pardon but the king had him executed anyway
-York returned to England on the clause in his orders that he could return in case of national emergency such as rebellion; August 1450, he landed in Wales and Margaret summoned Somerset back to England
-Margaret did not let her husband be impartial and always made him take sides; she sent men to assassinate York, but he eluded them and reached his castle at Ludlow near English-Welsh border; November, York arrives in London and tells Henry that he is not there to overthrow the throne but rather save it from Somerset; when asked why he let Margaret send men to kill York, Henry simply replied: "We declare you our true subject and faithful cousin"
-parliament made York head of royal council and ordered to arrest Somerset; Margaret arranged for Somerset to be hidden in Tower of London and after York left, she made Somerset constable of England and captain of Calais; next year, a lawyer named Thomas Young told parliament that since Margaret and Henry had no children, York should become heir; the Lancasters immediately dissolved Parliament and threw Young in prison
-1452, York publicly accused Somerset of "labouring continually about the King's Highness for my undoing, and to corrupt my blood, and to disinherit me and my heirs"; he marched his army to London while Margaret made King Henry lead his army in person; York halted a short distance from London because he dare not attack the king; York and 40 nights visited the king's camp and demanded that Somerset be brought to trial as ordered by Parliament in 450 and Henry said it would be done if York ended his army
-as soon as York told his soldiers to go home, he was taken prisoner but was too popular to execute; instead, he was brought to Saint Paul's Cathedral in London and was forced to swear allegiance to Henry; he returned to Ludlow in disgrace
-1453, the Hundred Years War ended when on July 17, the English were crushed at Castillon in Guienne; to calm the stunned English, Henry and Margaret went on a tour of the country; these visits to the common folk brought Henry to a mental breakdown and could recognize nothing, understand nothing
-October, Margaret gave birth to Prince Edward (it was rumoured that it was the child of Somerset; 1454, Parliament looks for a protector to rule England and Margaret demands that she be given control; instead, they gave the title to Richard of York
-York quickly imprisoned Somerset in the Tower of London and officials were replaced with Yorkists and York himself took control of Calais in case the French would use it to launch an invasion of England
-Christmas 1454, Henry finally regained his senses and ended York's control and soon Margaret was plotting to take out York and his allies: Richard Neville of Salisbury and his son Richard of Warwick
-with an army of 5000, York, Warwick and Salisbury marched on London and met Henry at Saint Albans on May 22, 1455; Somerset soon put up barricades and said "I shall destroy them, every mother's son"
-both York and Salisbury began charging through the streets against the barricade but were stopped because the allies were too narrow; Warwick soon noticed that a ditch was unguarded and he sent his men through screaming "A Warwick!"; York and Salisbury soon broke through as well
-Henry was grazed in the shoulder by an arrow while leisurely sitting on a horse and Somerset was struck by an ax outside of a tavern; afterwards, York apologized and pledged allegiance to Henry and was given a pardon; he was taken away as a virtual prisoner to London; Margaret soon fled with her son to Greenwich
-1458, Henry tried to end the hostilities when he arranged a unity day, a ceremony to signal a time of peace; Salisbury walked with Henry Beaufort, the new duke of Somerset; even Margaret smiled while hand to hand with York; but by 1459, Margaret was already assembling another army
-Salisbury sent his army to join York's at Ludlow when he was intercepted and defeated Margaret at Blore Heath on September 23 and reached York; they were later joined by Warwick and duke's two oldest sons, Edward of March and Edmund of Rutland
-Margaret had assembled her army at Coventry and marched onto Ludlow on October 12; royal heralds proclaimed pardons to anyone who would abandon York; most of Warwick's men led by captain Andrew Trollope surrendered at night; York left his two youngest sons and escaped from Ludlow to Wales with Warwick, Salisbury, and his two eldest; York and Edmund went to Ireland while the others left for Devon and then to Calais
-Margaret was fully in control and made a Parliament of Lancastrians (called the Parliament of Devils by Yorkists); York's, Salisbury's, March's, and Warwick's were attainted and their property was seized; she ordered a fleet commanded by Richard Woodville, Lord Rivers, to sail to Calais, but his fleet never sailed; Warwick had raided Rivers' ships at the port of Sandwich and Rivers and his son, Anthony, were taken prisoner to Calais
-June 26, 1460 Warwick landed at Sandwich with Salisbury, March, and 2000 troops and were welcomed by the people; London was upset at favoritism shown to foreign merchants so they opened the gates for Warwick; they met Margaret's army at Northampton on July 10 who was ready with loaded cannons; Warwick demanded to see the king but his reply was "The Earl of Warwick shall not come into the king's presence, and if he comes he shall die"
-Warwick charged at 2 o'clock and the battle was over in less than half an hour; rain made the cannons useless; Warwick also had a contact, Lord Grey of Ruthyn, who commanded a part of Henry's army; Grey's soldiers dropped their weapons and helped Edward's men over the barricade; the royalists fled to the Nene River were 300 of them drowned and King Henry was captured once again
-York returned to London bearing the coat of arms of the king in October and claimed the throne was rightfully his; he strode into Westminster Hall, placed his hand and the throne - but the nobles were speechless; they did not want him to replace Henry permanently
-York moved into the king's apartments and demanded Parliament make him king, but they refused; even Salisbury and Warwick were angry because they only wanted to beat Margaret and not take the throne; finally, Parliament named Henry king and York the heir
-Margaret was later attacked by bandits and when her baggage was being looted and fearing for her life, she gave the 7-year old Edward to a robber and said "Save the son of your king"; the robber sneaked the child to Welsh castle of Jasper Tudor; Tudor and his bro Edmund were half bros of King Henry
-Margaret was determined to make her son heir again so she made an army of the houses of Tudor, Somerset, Percy, and the Cliffords and began attacking Neville lands in Yorkshire
-when York and Edmund went to counterattack, they found themselves outnumbered and retreated to Sandal Castle; December 30, he rashly took the offensive at the battle of Wakefield
-Margaret had designed the strategy herself; her center lines were back off and allow York through, then cavalry were charge down from the hills; York was one of the first to die; Clifford, whose father was killed at St. Albans, shouted "By God's blood, thy father slew mine, and so I will do thee" and stabbed York's son, Rutland, to death
-she was brought the head of York and slapped it in the face; Salisbury was soon beheaded and Salisbury's, York's, and Rutland's heads were stuck on poles at the city gate; she put two more poles in place and said they were for Warwick and Edward, now York's eldest surviving son
-Edward of March was now the duke of York (now we'll call him York); after he learned of his father's death and that Japer Tudor of Pembroke had landed in Wales with an army recruited to fight for Margaret, he took his army and intercepted Tudor at Mortimer's Cross on February 1, 1461
-the day before battle, it appeared as if there were 3 Suns in the sky and Edward said "This is a good sign, for these three signs betoken the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost"; the battle was complete victory for Edward; meanwhile, Margaret's forces were underpaid so they looted and pillaged London homes and nearby villages
-Warwick advanced north with King Henry and took the defensive; he left soldiers at Saint Alban's, dug near village of Sandridge, and blocked the roads from the Norton; Margaret attacked Saint Albans from the northwest instead of along the road and by February 16, only Warwick's main army was left
-Warwick tried to swing his army to counterattack but one of his captain's, Lovelace, defected his troops to the Lancastrians and Margaret penetrated through the gap; by night fall, Warwick and fled west and his army was defeated in hand-to-hand combat; Lord Bonville and Sir Thomas Tyrell, the two who was guarding the laughing King Henry under a tree, were captured and promised that they would not be harmed
-However, prince Edward ordered their decapitation and Tyrell said "May the wrath of God fall on those who have taught a child to speak such words"; London feared Margaret's soldiers so they would not open the gates; Margaret did not want to seem as a conqueror so she withdrew her troops
-February 27, Edward the "Sun of York" reached London and was greeted as a saviour; Edward entered the palace at Westminster. Took a seat on the throne, grasped the scepter/staff of office, and proclaimed himself Edward IV, first king of the house of York; because Warwick's defeat led to this crowning, he was given the nickname "Kingmaker"
-Warwick and Edward soon left London and chased Margaret to Towton south of the city of York; the Lancastrians had fortified the River Aire and destroyed the bridge behind them; while trying to repair the bridge, Warwick's men were attacked by Lord Clifford, Warwick was wounded in the leg by an arrow, and the Yorkists retreated across the Aire; however, Clifford was surprised when Lord Fauconberg, Warwick's uncle, attacked from the east while Edward attacked from the South
-after 3 hours, Clifford was dead; he took of his helmet for a breath of air and his throat was sliced by an arrow
-March 29 Palm Sunday, Edward meets Margaret's forces at Cock Beck, who were commanded by Henry Percy and Henry Beaufort; nearly every noble was represented in the battle except Henry and Margaret who were praying because of the holy day
-to show his determination, Edward stabbed to death his own horse to prove he would stay and die with his soldiers; it began to snow heavily and the winds blew it into the Lancastrian's eyes; Fauconberg then advanced and used the wind to soar arrows into the enemy; Edward charged but was beaten back and might have been defeated if Warwick had not steadied the line; The Yorks were on the verge of defeat when duke of Norfolk arrived with reinforcements and Edward fought on
-battle of Towton was longest and bloodiest battle ever on English soil; it lasted 10 hours until the Lancastrians fled back to Cock Beck and drowned in the river; 10 thousand had died including Henry Percy and Andrew Trollope, but Somerset escaped and fled with Henry and Margaret to Scotland; King Edward finally entered York as ruler and replaced the heads his father's and brother's heads with heads of Lancastrian nobles
-Percy stronghold of Durham soon surrendered to Edward and while he visited London, he left Warwick and his bro, Lord Montagu, in the North to guard against uprisings or an invasion from Scotland
-Edward was formally crowned on June the 28^th and his brothers were given titles: George became duke of Clarence, and 9-year old Richard became duke of Gloucester; acts of attainment/confiscation were passed against 13 Lancastrian nobles; Jasper Tudor's title of earl of Pembroke was given to the Yorkist noble, Lord Herbert who gained control of the 4-year old Henry Tudor
-meanwhile, Margaret promised Scotland the city of Berwick-upon-Tweed and to France she would return Calais in exchange for help; when she returned in November 1462, she found many English in the North were loyal to her
-Edward soon attacked the 3 castles that had surrendered to her and Margaret fled on a small ship; the ship sank in a storm with all of her baggage, but she survived by boarding to a fishing boat
-to gain the North's trust, Edward pardoned Somerset and Ralph Percy who both swore pledges of allegiance to him; Margaret soon attacked again and Percy switched back to her side; she was beaten back again and was dealt a swift blow when a French supply fleet was captured and on July 10, 1463 her Scot troops deserted her; she fled to France, leaving behind King Henry
-Edward IV made a truce with France and Burgundy; Somerset soon switched sides but his movement was defeated on April 25, 1464 when Lord Montagu killed Ralph Percy at the battle of Hedgeley Moor
-May 15, Somerset was defeated at the battle of Hexham and was taken prisoner; he was paraded through the streets of Hexham and was beheaded; 1465, King Henry was captured and thrown into the Tower of London
-after his father's death at battle of Wakefield in 1460, Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, became richest man in England and was joked to be the real king of England; he did not yearn for titles and instead let others get loftier titles than his role as earl as long as he remained in power and wanted to control Edward like a puppet; he soon found out that he could not
-Edward filled the palace with food, wine, hunting, tournaments, and women; Warwick wanted him to marry and bear an heir and forge an alliance with France to prevent Margaret from returning; he decided to arrange a marriage between Edward and France
-Louis XI proposed that he marry off his sister-in-law, Bona of Savoy and Warwick left to make an agreement in July 1464; Edward kept objected to the marriage and when finally asked when he will marry, he said that he had a spouse already; 3 years earlier after the Battle of Towton, he stopped by the village of Stony Stratford and saw a woman holding two small boys by the hand; her name was Elizabeth Woodville, daughter of the widow of Bedford, knelt by Edward's horse, and begged for mercy; she was a Lancastrian supporter but her beauty soon won Edward over; he wanted to add her to his mistresses but Elizabeth said it was marriage or nothing
-April 1464, Edward left for Stony Stratford with the excuse of going hunting; May 1 in Grafton, he secretly wed Elizabeth and sneaked back into Stony Stratford time to time to be with his bride
-Warwick was furious because he was made to look like a fool but along with Edward's brother Clarence, escorted the new queen to court; Edward soon began bestowing titles on every member of Elizabeth's family; for instance, her father became an earl, her brother Anthony became Lord Scales, and all her sisters became married to dukes and earls; Edward was trying to form an army that was loyal to him and not Warwick
-Warwick did not give up on France and in 1467, he made an agreement for Margaret, Edward's sister, to marry a French prince and Edward's bro, Richard of Gloucester, would marry Louis' daughter; but when Warwick returned to England, he found that Edward had arranged a marriage between his sister Margaret and the duke of Burgundy
-Warwick looked like a fool again; George of Clarence was the heir to the throne so Warwick asked him to marry his oldest daughter, Isobel of Warwick; Edward disagreed so Warwick brought Clarence to Calais where his brother married the two; Warwick then began rumours that Edward was illegitimate and that Clarence was the true heir; a rebellion broke out in Yorkshire led by Robin of Redesdale, who was really Warwick's relative Sir John Conyers
-July 1469, Edward and his army reached Nottingham and waited for reinforcements; Warwick then landed in Kent and proclaimed he would overthrow the king's evil councilors: the Woodvilles; many jealous nobles then joined him
-Edward's reinforcements were defeated by Conyers at battle of Edgecote on July 26 and Elizabeth's father and brother were soon beheaded; Warwick sent an army to accompany Edward back to London and realizing how outnumbered he was, Edward gave himself up
-Edward was taken to Warwick's castle in Middleham; Warwick did not gain the nobles' trust; when the North revolted, Warwick's orders to put it down were ignored; Warwick soon realized he could not govern the kingdom and freed Edward; Edward was not powerful enough to defeat Warwick so he pretended as if nothing was happening at all; Edward was prepared to slowly cut down Warwick's forces; a 1470 revolt by Warwick was put down right after it started and the battle of Losecoat Field on March 2 defeated one of Warwick's reinforcements
-when papers were found that proved Warwick was the cause of the rebellion, Warwick fled to France where Louis XI was eager to help end England's alliance with Burgundy; an agreement was made in which Warwick would overthrow Edward and put Henry back on the throne, Henry's son Edward would marry Warwick's daughter Anne, and Warwick would help Louis conquer Burgundy
-Warwick needed Queen Margaret's help, who was now living in poverty on allowance from her father Rene; when Warwick proposed his plan to her, she was furious because she could never forgive him but she finally agreed when her followers convinced her this is her last chance
-July 22, Warwick was taken into a chamber where he knelt on his knees and begged Margaret for forgiveness; Margaret then called him faithless and a coward but finally forgave him; September, Warwick and Clarence land in Sandwich and Plymouth on the east side of England with Margaret eagerly waiting in France
-Edward immediately ordered Lord Montagu, Warwick's brother, to intercept; however, Montagu was upset at Edward for being stripped of his title of earl of Northumberland and had actually helped Warwick plot against him; he brought his army to where Edward was waiting and attacked, Edward escaped with little more than his clothes and fled to Flanders, France
-October 6, Henry VI was released from the Tower of London where he had only a dog and bird to keep him company; he joined with Warwick who also had the support of old Jasper Tudor and his nephew, Henry; Queen Elizabeth was pregnant and took refuge in Westminster Abbey; she claimed the right to sanctuary so she could not be seized within a church
-Edward knew his only chance was an alliance with Burgundy but Duke Charles of Burgundy hesitated to support him because he feared Warwick and France would ally against him; in England, Parliament reversed the bills of attainder against the Lancastrians but Margaret still did not cross the English Channel
-November 2^nd, Queen Elizabeth gave birth to her son Edward who challenged Margaret's son's right to the throne; Margaret then decided to return and waited for Warwick to pick her up in Rouen, Normandy
-November 28, England and France announce their treaty against Burgundy which led to Duke Charles loaning troops to King Edward; Edward tried to land at Cromer on east coast of England but were repelled by Warwick's defenses; they next landed at Ravenspur on a peninsula known as Holderness where Edward was warmly greeted by the folk
-Edward claimed that he had come only to gain his rightful inheritance and was admitted into the city when he agreed to leave his troops outside; at this point, Edward's army was very weak but neither Percy nor Montagu attacked him (despite orders to do so by Warwick)
-March 29 at Sandal Castle, Edward announced that he would reclaim the throne; Warwick attempted an attempt from all directions but his plan did not work; Clarence moved too slowly, Montagu hung back, and Edward defeated a panicky Exeter and Oxford; hearing this, Warwick's troops took refuge at Coventry and waited for Clarence to arrive; Clarence felt ignored in the agreement with France so he switched back to Edward's side
-Edward and Clarence then ignored Warwick's troops and headed for London; despite Warwick's bro, George's, attempts to motivate the citizens to resist Edward, they opened the gates to him on Thursday, April 11
-Edward then went into Westminster Abby and saw his son for the first time; Edward then learned that Margaret was sailing towards England so he took king Henry as a travelling prisoner and at 4PM marched towards Warwick's army until they met at Barnet
-at night, Edward sneaked his men to within a few hundred meters of the enemy and then fired his cannons; the next day, April 14, was Easter Sunday and Edward dedicated the battle to God, took charge of the middle of his lines, and charged; the two armies soon became mixed and it was difficult to tell what side each person was on
-Gloucester (on Edward's side) led his division around a ravine and attacked Exeter from the side, but Warwick sent reinforcements and Gloucester was forced to retreat; Edward sent troops to help and did not notice that Hastings' (on his side) line was crumbling
-Oxford (on Warwick's side) had left the battle for a while to chase down Hastings' line but returned to the battle by Warwick's order; the battlefield was foggy now and the lines were mixed; Montagu's men thought that Oxford's men were Yorkists and fired arrows at them; Oxford cried "Treason! Treason!" and thinking that the Nevilles had switched sides, took his men and retreated; at the end of the 3 hour battle, Exeter was dead and Montagu was soon killed by Warwick when Warwick heard he would soon switch sides
-Richard Neville of Warwick soon tried to untie his horse and retreat but he was caught by Yorkist soldiers and stabbed to death; that same day, Margaret reached England and landed at Weymouth and was joined by the only Lancastrian survivor from Barnet: Oxford; some advised her to join with Jasper Tudor and she took the advice
-Edward soon learned of this and moved to intercept; Margaret and Somerset attempted to cross the Severn River at Gloucester but found the city gates closed to them; this gave Edward more time to intercept and the weary soldiers of Margaret were forced to camp that night at Tewksbury
-Gloucester (yes, he's still on Edward's side) began the battle by firing arrows and Somerset moved down the ridge to attack; however, Gloucester's spearmen rushed forward and forced Somerset into retreat; Somerset returned to his center lines and crushed Lord Wenlock's skull for not helping out; the Lancastrian soldiers soon ran off, many drowning in the river because of their armour; Margaret managed to find refuge in a house but her son, Prince Edward, had died at Clarence's hand; Somerset took sanctuary in Tewkesbury Abbey; however, two days later, Gloucester pulled Somerset out of the abbey and beheaded him in the marketplace
-Margaret was soon found and her spirit was broken when she learned of her son's death; Edward soon set off for London because Lord Fauconberg was attempting a rescue of King Henry; May 21, Henry VI was put to death in a way that remains as a mystery; Edward spent the rest of his reign promoting trade with Europe and was a patron to William Caxton, the printer who translated many classical works to English
-Edward only entered one more war and that was with Burgundy against France; he sailed to Calais on July 4, 1475 and found the duke of Burgundy to be fighting off in Germany; Louis XI then made peace with Edward at Picquigny on the Somme River; Edward's daughter Elizabeth was to marry Louis' son and Edward released Margaret of Anjou who later died in 1482; a nine-year truce was agreed upon
-Clarence had married Isobel and hoped all of Warwick's estates would become his; however, Edward's older bro Gloucester had married Anne and therefore would get the estates; Edward gave more and more power to Gloucester because he had always been loyal to him
-Clarence did not understand why Edward did not like him; when Isobel died he wanted to wed Mary of Burgundy but Edward forbade the marriage; when Clarence was found to have began two minor rebellions and had killed a servant without trial, he was arrested and sent to the Tower of London; Clarence was sentenced to death but Edward hesitated to carry out the sentence; February 18, 1479 Clarence was killed in the Tower by being drowned at his own request in a barrel of his favourite wine
-April 9, 1483 at the age of 40, Edward died of appendicitis and put his son, 12-year old Prince Edward, into the care of Gloucester; most of Prince Edward V's early life was spent with the Woodville family and Queen Elizabeth's brother, Lord Rivers; the whole family was preparing for their roles/titles when King Edward would die
-the Woodvilles expected Elizabeth to become protector (run the kingdom until the king was of age) but King Edward had given the title to Gloucester; Rivers quickly took Prince Edward to London and set May 4 as Edward's coronation to cut Gloucester's role as protector, the Woodvilles then took and divided amongst themselves the royal treasury (this included Elizabeth, Thomas Grey and her bro Edward Woodville)
-Lord Hastings was a member of the royal council and hated the Woodvilles and sent a message to Gloucester to try and intercept the young king; Gloucester soon left for London and met Henry Stafford at Nottingham who pledged his allegiance to Gloucester; they agreed to meet at Northampton
-April 29 when the two dukes met at Northampton, they found that Rivers had already left South to Stony Stratford; despite orders to proceed to London, Rivers and Richard Grey turned back and met Gloucester and Buckingham at Northampton; they had dinner together but the next morning when Rivers woke up, he found Gloucester's soldiers all around him; Gloucester and Buck left for Stony Stratford with Grey as a prisoner and left Gloucester behind under guard
-at Stony, Gloucester greeted his prince nephew and tried to convince Edward that Gloucester was more capable than those "puny men"; Grey tried to interrupt and was arrested
-when she learned of this, Elizabeth took refuge again in Westminster with all of her daughters and Prince Richard; Gloucester arrived in London on May 4 and put Edward into the Tower of London (which was the usual residence of English kings before their coronations along with being a prison); the council named Gloucester protector and moved the coronation date to June 22^nd; he tried to get Elizabeth to leave Westminster but failed
-June 11, Gloucester sent a member of his staff, Richard Ratcliffe, to kill Rivers, Grey, and others arrested at Stony Stratford; June 13, he frames Hastings for treason who was hauled outside and given time to pray before his head was hacked off; the council which now feared Gloucester agreed to send soldiers to Westminster and order her to give up her youngest son, Richard; the archbishop of Canterbury made Elizabeth give up her child to live with Edward in the Tower of London
-Gloucester then postponed the coronation further and on June 22, he preached that Edward IV was illegitimate and therefore Prince Edward was too; however, the people had turned on him when he killed Hastings
-June 8, bishop Stillington claimed that Elizabeth's marriage to Edward IV was invalid because he had entered into a contract to marry Lady Eleanor Butler; this would make Elizabeth's children illegitimate and Gloucester used to pronounce that he was the rightful king
-June 26, according to Thomas More, Buckingham went to Gloucester's residence of Baynard castle and asked him to take the throne; Gloucester at first refused but soon rode to Westminster and sat on the throne; July 6, Richard II was crowned with his wife Anne
-the fate of Edward V and his bro Richard still remains a mystery; the princes in the Tower must have been murdered but by whom or when or even how; July, Elizabeth and her brothers plotted to sneak out of Westminster and sail to France; to stop the Sanctuary Plot, King Richard put guards all around Westminster
-according to More, Gloucester learned of the Sanctuary plot and told the Tower's constable, Sir Robert Brackenbury, to put the two princes to death but Robert refused; Richard then sent Sir James Tyrell to London on August 30 with a letter instructing Brackenbury to give all keys to Tyrell for a night
-Tyrell waited outside the cells while Dighton and Miles Forest suffocated the two princes with their pillows and after showing Tyrell the bodies, buried them at the foot of the staircase; Tyrell was never charged for murder but was beheaded in 1502 for treason against King Henry VII
-1674, workmen in the Tower found a wooden chest at the foot of a staircase with the skeletons of two children; the bones were placed in an urn in Westminster; 1933, scientists tested the remains and deducted that it belonged to children about the age of the two princes; the Lancastrians were now all but extinct
-Henry Tudor of Richmond, born in 1457 was the great-great grandson of John of Gaunt and the last surviving Lancastrian; he had fled with Jasper Tudor to Brittany in France; hope to seize the throne came to him when Richard III was coronated
-October 1483, Buckingham rebelled against Richard after learning of the murder of the princes; Buckingham told Margaret Beaufort, now married to Lord Thomas Stanley, about the murders and they plotted to support Margaret's son, Henry Tudor
-September 24, Buckingham sent a letter of allegiance to Henry in Brittany; October 18 was chosen as the day for Buckingham's forces to join with Henry's which would land on the coast
-to make sure this uprising would not bring Edward (who was mostly considered dead at the time), Elizabeth's son, to the throne, they decided for Henry to marry Elizabeth's oldest daughter who was also named Elizabeth
-October 3, Henry sailed but went pushed back by storms; October 10, his supporters in Kent rebelled too early and were caught by Norfolk, a friend of Richard; Norfolk then told the king of Buckingham's plot
-October 18, Buckingham crosses the Severn River hoping to Henry, and Richard countered this by giving Buckingham's castle to Sir Thomas Vaughan; then 10 days of heavy rain prevented Buckingham from crossing the river; he was forced to take refuge with one of his tenants who handed him over to Richard's men; he was executed on November 2 in Salisbury
-Henry finally landed that day and was greeted by men claiming to be of Buckingham; Henry sent spies into the city and learned that Buckingham had failed, so he quickly sailed back to Brittany; Richard now had Lady Margaret in his hands but did not kill her because he need Henry's support
-November 24 when Richard returned to London, he was hated for the murder of the two princes; Christmas in Rennes Cathedral in Brittany, Henry pledged that he would marry Princess Elizabeth which got him the support of many Yorkists; January 24, 1484 Parliament passed the Titulus Regius act which declared the marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth invalid
-Richard passed laws to gave aid to the poor, began bail for criminals, outlawed forced loans to the king, and made qualifications for members of a jury; he swore to not hurt Elizabeth's daughters so the former Queen and her children finally emerged from Westminster
-April 9, Richard's only son Edward died in Middleham Castle and he took it very hard; the public claimed that it was punishment for the two princes' death; by Christmas, Anne was dying
-Richard then turned his attention to princess Elizabeth and he considered marrying her to keep her from marrying Henry; Queen Elizabeth saw this as an opportunity to restore her fortune
-Anne died on March 16, 1485 and rumours spread that Richard had an affair with Elizabeth; to please the crowds who did not want the marriage, Richard "said it never came in his thought or mind to marry in such a mannerwise"
-according to a poem, this led Elizabeth to join forced with Henry; she sent a ring to him and said she would marry him; Richard then discovered her treachery and sent her to a castle in Yorkshire
-summer 1485, Richard attempted to capture Henry by offering the duke of Brittany a bribe; the duke's treasurer wanted to make money so he agreed; Henry was then warned of this plan and escaped into France wearing a servant's clothes
-more and more nobles crosses the English Channel to join Henry; John de Vere of Oxford would become Henry's most experienced commander; Richard responded with commissions of array which called on men from every country for military service, and wrote to nobles to watch the coast; Richard did not know where Henry would land so he positioned his army in Nottingham, the center of England
-August 1, Henry sailed from Harfleur and landed on August 7 at Milford Haven southwest of Wales; Henry did this because the Welsh from Wales supported him; Richard's supporter in Wales, Rhys ap Thomas, quickly switched sides; Henry moved towards London and did not meet any opposition until he reached Shrewsbury
-Richard became suspicious of Sir William Stanley when he did not stop Henry; Richard arrested Stanley's son and threatened to kill if Stanley joined the rebels; Richard then assembled an army with John Howard of Norfolk and Henry Percy of Northumberland; they left Leicester on August 21 and camped that night at Market Bosworth
-Sir William Stanley arrived at the town without picking a side; he hated Richard but would not risk the life of his son; August 22, 1485 Richard arranged his forces on the crest of Ambien Hill south of Bosworth; when Henry's men passed a marsh to Richard's right, the battle began by the king's demand
-Henry's line of archers was commanded by Oxford; after he could not take down Norfolk's forces high on the hill, Oxford charged; Norfolk was killed but Oxford still could not get up the hill; Northumberland was to help Norfolk's troops out but he stayed back in the rear
-due to Northumberland's treachery, Richard's last hope was to kill Henry; the king charged, killed Henry's standard-bearer, knocked Sir John Cheney off hid horse and forced most of Henry's soldiers out of the way when William Stanley got himself involved; Richard's horse was killed and was advised to leave when he said, "Slave! I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die. I think there be six Richmonds in the field; Five have I slain today, instead of him - A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!"; he was soon killed
-Oxford soon was able to take Ambien Hill and Richard's men quickly ran off; Stanley found Richard's crown and gave it to Henry; Richard's body was stripped naked, thrown across a horse, and carried back to Leicester and was buried without a funeral; Henry then took the throne as Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York to join the houses of York and Lancaster as the House of Tudor
-during this war, many powerful families were wiped out including the Nevilles, the Beauforts, and the Plantagenets; by 1509, only the Staffords, Buckinghams, and the Percys had their estates intact; the nobles were no longer rich enough to dictate to the king; all future rebellions were done by the middle class
-the country was tired of war which led to the strong rule of the Tudors; the Renaissance would not reach England until Henry VII and Elizabeth's granddaughter, Elizabeth I, took the throne and laid the foundations of the British Empire