The Wars Of The Roses Analysis

John Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, the unsung hero
England’s most famous poet, playwright, and actor William Shakespeare wrote in the play Henry VI part 3, “My Crown is in my heart, not on my head:Not deck'd with Diamonds, and Indian stones:Nor to be seen: my Crown is call'd Content, A Crown it is, that seldom kings enjoy.” This quote holds a lot of truth about the way kings should act. Most kings who rise to power do the exact opposite of Shakespeare's quote. In The Wars of the Roses, author Dan Jones gives the reader a tour of historical events that took place between 1455 to 1485. This time period was when England’s state was more unstable than ever before. The House of York and the House of Lancaster were in a constant power struggle.Time

As power changed hands many unqualified people took the throne. It did not matter if these people had royal blood,for it did not affect their ability to lead. The worst leaders are the people who are selfish, whereas they only act when it was beneficial to themselves. These leaders have a fear of change,as a result this fear made them execute any person that said words against them. The lousy leaders have poor character,in fact they lack any sort of integrity. The problem was that in medieval days you could not simply replace a king. People would have to wait out the king’s lifespan, and who knows what would happen to the welfare of the country during that time. The only way to replace a king was to completely overthrow him. A constant bloody change of power is essentially why the Wars of the Roses occured. England was suffering, and the main cause was the person in power. A few kings were overthrown by people who thought they could fix the country. King after king was dethroned, and eventually a snowball effect occured where everyone thought they could overthrow the current king. The unsung hero during this time period was John Lancaster, Duke of Bedford. Despite the fact that he never ruled, a quick look at what the Duke accomplished during his life shows the great potential for his ability to lead a nation. The Duke of Bedford was the best choice to rule England because he had outstanding military expertise, was a great politician, and commanded the respect of everyone. If the Duke of Bedford took the throne that England would not have fallen into its state of volatility. In case that the Duke ruled England would have had two very successful reigns in a row. If Henry V’s death wish was to make his brother King of England, he could have saved the country from the catastrophes that were set to take place in the