From 1455 until 1487, a series of battles known as the War of the Roses were fought in England. The House of Lancaster and the House of York, two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet, engaged in a fight over the English crown that led to the outbreak of the war. The war would have a significant impact on English history, influencing the nation's politics and civilization for generations to come.
The origins of the War of the Roses can be traced back to the reign of King Edward III, who had many sons who went on to have their own children. This resulted in a complex web of relationships and claims to the throne, as various branches of The Plantagenet family vied for power. When King Henry VI, a Lancaster, came to the throne in 1422,
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The Duke of York and his allies, however, mounted an armed uprising against the Lancastrian king in 1455, which ignited the conflict. This served as the catalyst for the start of the Battle of the Roses, a string of conflicts that would span for more than three decades.
The early years of the war saw the Yorkists gain the upper hand, as they won a series of victories against the Lancastrians. In 1460, the Yorkist claim to the throne was bolstered by the Act of Accord, which named Richard, Duke of York, as the heir to the throne after King Henry VI. However, the Lancastrians were not willing to give up the crown without a fight, and in 1461, they rallied around their own leader, Henry Tudor, who defeated the Yorkist forces at the Battle of Towton.
As a result of the Lancastrians regaining the throne and the Yorkist commanders being either slain or banished, this marked a turning point in the conflict. The exiled head of the Yorkist movement, Edward IV, returned to England in 1470 with an army and recaptured the throne from the Lancastrians, proving that the Yorkist cause was still alive. After it, Edward IV would rule for more than a decade until his untimely demise in