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Wars of the Roses
Plucking the Red and White Roses, by Henry Payne.jpg
Framed print after 1908 painting by Henry Payne of the scene in the Temple Garden from Shakespeare's play Henry VI, Part 1, where supporters of the rival factions pick either red or white roses
Date 22 May 1455 – 16 June 1487
(32 years, 3 weeks and 4 days)
Location
England, Wales, Calais
Result
Initial Yorkist victory

House of York reigns for most of the period
Extinction of the House of Lancaster
House of Tudor inherits the Lancastrian claim
Eventual Lancastrian victory

Final Yorkist defeat
End of the Plantagenet dynasty
Establishment of the Tudor dynasty
End of the middle ages in England
Strengthening of the English monarchy under the Tudors
Dawn of the English Renaissance[1][2][3]
Belligerents
Red Rose Badge of Lancaster.svg House of Lancaster
Tudor Rose.svg House of Tudor
Supported by:
Royal Arms of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg Kingdom of Scotland
Arms of France (France Moderne).svg Kingdom of France
White Rose Badge of York.svg House of York
Supported by:
Arms of the Duke of Burgundy since 1430.svg Burgundian State
Commanders and leaders
Royal Arms of England (1470-1471).svg Henry VI Surrendered Executed
Arms of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond.svg Henry VII
Arms of Margaret of Anjou.svg Margaret of Anjou Surrendered#
Stafford arms.svg Duke of Buckingham †
Coat of Arms of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury.svg Earl of Shrewsbury †
COA Tuchet.svg Baron Audley †
Beaufort Arms (France modern).svg Duke of Somerset Executed
Arms of John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter.svg Duke of Exeter#
Arms of Northumberland (ancient).svg Earl of Northumberland †
Arms of Clifford.svg Baron Clifford †
Coat of Arms of John Neville, Baron Neville.svg Baron Neville †
SIr Andrew Trollope's coat of arms.svg Andrew Trollope †
Arms of Owen Tudor.svg Owen Tudor Executed
Arms of Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford.svg Earl of Pembroke
Coat of Arms of James Butler, 1st Earl of Wiltshire.svg Earl of Wiltshire Executed
De Ros arms.svg Baron Ros Executed
Neville Warwick Arms.svg Earl of Warwick †
Coat of Arms of John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu.svg Marquess of Montagu †
Coat of Arms of John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford.svg Earl of Oxford
Arms of the Prince of Wales (Modern).svg Prince of Wales †
Courtenay of Devon.svg Earl of Devon †
Coat of Arms of William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent.svg Thomas Neville Executed
Coat of Arms of John Conyers.svg Robin of Redesdale †
Coat of Arms of Robert Willoughby, 6th Baron Willoughby de Eresby.svg Baron Willoughby Executed Royal Arms of England (1399-1603).svg Edward IV#
Royal Arms of England (1399-1603).svg Richard III †
Arms of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York.svg Duke of York †
Coat of Arms of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury.svg Earl of Salisbury Executed
Neville Warwick Arms.svg Earl of Warwick †[4]
Coat of Arms of William Neville, 1st Earl of Kent.svg Earl of Kent#
Coat of Arms of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury.svg Thomas Neville †
Coat of Arms of John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu.svg Marquess of Montagu †[4]
Arms of Edmund, Earl of Rutland.svg Earl of Rutland †
Arms of Thomas of Brotherton, 1st Earl of Norfolk.svg Duke of Norfolk#
Blason fam uk Hastings (selon Gelre).svg Baron Hastings Executed
Arms of George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence.svg Duke of Clarence Executed
Howard arms (John, duke of Norfolk).svg Duke of Norfolk †
CoA of John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln.svg Earl of Lincoln †
Coat of Arms of Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell.svg Viscount Lovell
vte
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of fifteenth-century English civil wars for control of the throne of England, fought between supporters of two rival cadet branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the House of Lancaster, represented by a red rose, and the House of York, represented by a white rose. Eventually, the wars eliminated the male lines of both families. The conflict lasted through many sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1487, but there was related fighting before and after this period between the parties. The power struggle ignited around social and financial troubles following the Hundred Years' War, unfolding the structural problems of b*****d feudalism,[citation needed] combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of King Henry VI which revived interest in the House of York's claim to the throne by Richard of York. Historians disagree on which of these factors was the main reason for the wars.[5]

With Richard of York's death in 1460, the claim transferred to his heir, Edward. After a Lancastrian counterattack in 1461, Edward claimed the throne, and the last serious Lancastrian resistance ended at the decisive Battle of Towton. Edward was thus unopposed as the first Yorkist king of England, as Edward IV. Resistance smouldered in the North of England until 1464, but the early part of his reign remained relatively peaceful.

A new phase of the wars broke out in 1469 after the Earl of Warwick, the most powerful noble in the country, withdrew his support for Edward and threw it behind the Lancastrian cause. Fortunes changed many times as the Yorkist and Lancastrian forces exchanged victories throughout 1469–70 with even Edward captured for a brief time in 1469. When Edward fled to Flanders in 1470, Henry VI was re-installed as king, but his resumption of rule was short-lived, and he was deposed again the following year with the defeat of his forces at the Battle of Tewkesbury. Shortly afterwards, Edward entered London unopposed, resumed the throne, and probably had Henry killed. With all significant Lancastrian leaders now banished or killed, Edward ruled unopposed until his sudden death in 1483. His 12-year-old son reigned for 78 days as Edward V. He was then deposed by his uncle, Edward IV's brother Richard, who became Richard III.

The accession of Richard III occurred under a cloud of controversy, and shortly after assuming the throne, the wars sparked anew with Buckingham's rebellion, as many die-hard Yorkists abandoned Richard to join Lancastrians. While the rebellions lacked much central coordination, in the chaos the exiled Henry Tudor, son of Henry VI's half-brother Edmund Earl of Richmond and the leader of the Lancastrian cause, returned to the country from exile in Brittany at the head of an army of combined Breton, French and English forces. Richard avoided direct conflict with Henry until the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485. After Richard III was killed and his forces defeated at Bosworth Field, Henry assumed the throne as Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter and heir of Edward IV, thereby uniting the two claims. The House of Tudor ruled the Kingdom of England until 1603, with the death of Elizabeth I, granddaughter of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.

Shortly after Henry took the throne, the Earl of Lincoln, a Yorkist sympathizer, put forward Lambert Simnel as an impostor Edward Plantagenet, a potential claimant to the throne. Lincoln's forces were defeated, and he was killed at the Battle of Stoke Field in 1487.


Contents
1 Name and symbols
2 Summary of events
3 Origins of the conflict
3.1 Disputed succession
3.1.1 House of Lancaster
3.1.2 House of York
3.2 Henry VI
4 Early stages
4.1 Start of the war
4.2 Act of Accord
4.3 Death of Richard, Duke of York
5 Middle stages
5.1 Edward's claim to the throne
5.2 Yorkist triumph
5.3 Edward IV
5.4 Warwick's rebellion and the death of Henry VI
6 Later stages
6.1 Richard III
6.2 Buckingham's revolt
6.3 Henry VII
7 Aftermath
8 In literature
9 Key figures
9.1 Family tree
10 Armies and warfare
10.1 Chronological list of battles
11 See also
12 References
12.1 Bibliography
13 Further reading
14 External links
Name and symbols

The White Rose of the House of York

The Red Rose of the House of Lancaster
The name "Wars of the Roses" refers to the heraldic badges associated with two rival branches of the same royal house, the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster. The term quarrel between the two roses was used, for example, by Bevil Higgons in 1727[6] and by David Hume in The History of England (1754–61):

The people, divided in their affections, took different symbols of party: the partisans of the house of Lancaster chose the red rose as their mark of distinction; those of York were denominated from the white; and these civil wars were thus known over Europe by the name of the quarrel between the two roses.[7]

Wars of the Roses came into common use in the 19th century after the publication in 1829 of Anne of Geierstein by Sir Walter Scott.[8][9] Scott based the name on a scene in William Shakespeare's play Henry VI, Part 1 (Act 2, Scene 4), set in the gardens of the Temple Church, where a number of noblemen and a lawyer pick red or white roses to show their loyalty to the Lancastrian or Yorkist faction respectively.

The Yorkist faction used the symbol of the white rose from early in the conflict, but the Lancastrian red rose was introduced only after the victory of Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, when it was combined with the Yorkist white rose to form the Tudor rose, which symbolised the union of the two houses;[10] the origins of the Rose as a cognizance itself stem from Edward I's use of "a golden rose stalked proper." [11] Often, owing to nobles holding multiple titles, more than one badge was used: Edward IV, for example, used both his sun in splendour as Earl of March, but also his father's falcon and fetterlock as Duke of York. Badges were not always distinct; at the Battle of Barnet, Edward's 'sun' was very similar to the Earl of Oxford's Vere star, which caused fatal confusion.[12]

Most, but not all, of the participants in the wars wore livery badges associated with their immediate lords or patrons under the prevailing system[citation needed] of b*****d feudalism; the wearing of livery was by now confined to those in "continuous employ of a lord", thus excluding, for example, mercenaries.[13] Another example: Henry Tudor's forces at Bosworth fought under the banner of a red dragon[14] while the Yorkist army used Richard III's personal device of a white boar.[15]

Although the names of the rival houses derive from the cities of York and Lancaster, the corresponding duchy and dukedom had little to do with these cities. The lands and offices attached to the Duchy of Lancaster were mainly in Gloucestershire, North Wales, Cheshire, and (ironically) in Yorkshire, while the estates and castles of the Duke of York were spread throughout England and Wales, many in the Welsh Marches.[16]

Summary of events

Important locations in the Wars of the Roses
Tensions within England during the 1450s centred on the mental state of Henry VI and on his inability to produce an heir with his wife, Margaret of Anjou. In the absence of a direct heir, there were two rival branches with claims to the throne should Henry die without issue, those being the Beaufort family, led by Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, and the House of York, headed by Richard of York. By 1453, issues had come to a head: though Margaret of Anjou was pregnant, Henry VI was descending into increasing mental instability, by August becoming completely non-responsive and unable to govern. A Great Council of nobles was called, and through shrewd political machinations, Richard had himself declared Lord Protector and chief regent during the mental incapacity of Henry. In the interlude, Margaret gave birth to a healthy son and heir, Edward of Westminster.

By 1455, Henry had regained his faculties, and open warfare came at the First Battle of St Albans. Several prominent Lancastrians died at the hands of the Yorkists. Henry was again imprisoned, and Richard of York resumed his role as Lord Protector. Although peace was temporarily restored, the Lancastrians were inspired by Margaret of Anjou to contest York's influence.

Fighting resumed more violently in 1459. York and his supporters were forced to flee the country, and Henry was once again restored to direct rule, but one of York's most prominent supporters, the Earl of Warwick, invaded England from Calais in October 1460 and captured Henry VI yet again at the Battle of Northampton. York returned to the country and for the third time became Protector of England, but was dissuaded from claiming the throne, though it was agreed that he would become heir to the throne (thus displacing Henry and Margaret's son, Edward of Westminster, from the line of succession). Margaret and the remaining Lancastrian nobles gathered their army in the north of England.

When York moved north to engage them, he and his second son Edmund were killed at the Battle of Wakefield in December 1460. The Lancastrian army advanced south and released Henry at the Second Battle of St Albans but failed to occupy London and subsequently retreated to the north. York's eldest son Edward, Earl of March, was proclaimed King Edward IV. He gathered the Yorkist armies and won a crushing victory at the Battle of Towton in March 1461.

After Lancastrian revolts in the north were suppressed in 1464, Henry was captured once again and placed in the Tower of London. Edward fell out with his chief supporter and adviser, the Earl of Warwick (known as the "Kingmaker" wink , after Edward's unpopular and secretly-conducted marriage with the widow of a Lancastrian supporter, Elizabeth Woodville. Within a few years, it became clear that Edward was favouring his wife's family and alienating several friends closely aligned with Warwick as well.


A near-contemporary Flemish picture of the Battle of Barnet in 1471
Furious, Warwick tried first to supplant Edward with his younger brother George, Duke of Clarence, establishing the alliance by marriage to his daughter, Isabel Neville. When that plan failed, due to lack of support from Parliament, Warwick sailed to France with his family and allied with the former Lancastrian Queen, Margaret of Anjou, to restore Henry VI to the throne.

This resulted in two years of rapid changes of fortune before Edward IV once again won complete victories at Barnet (14 April 1471), where Warwick was killed, and Tewkesbury (4 May 1471), where the Lancastrian heir, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales was killed or perhaps executed after the battle. Queen Margaret was escorted to London as a prisoner, and Henry was murdered in the Tower of London several days later, ending the direct Lancastrian line of succession.

A period of comparative peace followed, ending with the unexpected death of King Edward in 1483. His surviving brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, first moved to prevent the unpopular Woodville family of Edward's widow from participating in the government during the minority of Edward's son, Edward V, and then seized the throne for himself, using the suspect legitimacy of Edward IV's marriage as pretext.

Henry Tudor, a distant relative of the Lancastrian kings who had inherited their claim, defeated Richard III at Bosworth in 1485. He was crowned Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, to unite and reconcile the two houses. Yorkist revolts, directed by John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln and others, flared up in 1487 under the banner of the pretender Lambert Simnel—who claimed he was Edward, Earl of Warwick (son of George of Clarence), resulting in the last pitched battles.

Though most surviving descendants of Richard of York were imprisoned, sporadic rebellions continued until 1497, when Perkin Warbeck, who claimed he was the younger brother of Edward V, one of the two disappeared Princes in the Tower, was imprisoned and later executed.

Origins of the conflict
Disputed succession
In the early Middle Ages, the succession to the crown was open to any member (Ætheling) of the royal family. From the 9th century, the term was used in a much narrower context and came to refer exclusively to members of the house of Cerdic of Wessex, the ruling dynasty of Wessex, most particularly the sons or brothers of the reigning king. According to historian Richard Abels "King Alfred transformed the very principle of royal succession. Before Alfred, any nobleman who could claim royal descent, no matter how distant, could strive for the throne. After him, throne-worthiness would be limited to the sons and brothers of the reigning king."[17] Alfred himself succeeded to the throne in preference to the sons of his brother the previous king, who were underage at the time. In the reign of Edward the Confessor, Edgar the Ætheling received the appellation as the grandson of Edmund Ironside, but that was at a time when for the first time in 250 years there was no living ætheling according to the strict definition.

William the Conqueror's son King Henry I of England died in 1135 after William Adelin (William Ætheling), his only male heir, was killed aboard the White Ship. Following the White Ship disaster, England entered a period of prolonged instability known as The Anarchy. However, following the ascension of Henry of Anjou to the throne in 1154 as Henry II, the crown passed from father to son or brother to brother with little difficulty until 1399.[18]


Henry IV
The question of succession after Edward III's death in 1377 is said to be the cause of the Wars of the Roses.[19] He had three surviving legitimate sons: John, Duke of Lancaster (called 'John of Gaunt'; 1340–1399); Edmund, Duke of York (called 'Edmund of Langley' 1341–1402); and Thomas, Duke of Gloucester (1355–1397). Although Edward III's succession seemed secure, there was a "sudden narrowing in the direct line of descent" near the end of his reign.[20] His two eldest sons Edward, the Black Prince and Lionel, Duke of Clarence having predeceased him, Edward III was succeeded on the throne by the formers only surviving son Richard II, who was only 10 years old.[21] Richard's claim to the throne was based on the principle that the son of an elder brother had priority in the succession over his uncles. Since Richard was a minor, had no siblings, and had three living uncles at the time of Edward III's death, there was considerable uncertainty about who was next in line for the succession after Richard.[22]

If Richard II died without legitimate offspring, his successors by primogeniture would be the descendants of Lionel of Antwerp, Edward III's second son. Clarence's only daughter, Philippa, 5th Countess of Ulster, married into the Mortimer family and had a son, Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March (1374–139 cool , who technically had the best claim to succeed. However, a legal decree issued by Edward III in 1376 introduced some complexity into the question of who would ultimately take the throne. The letters patent he issued limited the right of succession to male heirs, which placed his third son, John of Gaunt, ahead of Clarence's descendants because the Mortimer line of descent passed through a daughter.[20]

Richard II's reign was marked by increasing dissension between the King and several of the most powerful nobles.[23] Richard's government had become highly unpopular beyond his strongholds in Cheshire and Wales. Throughout his reign, Richard had repeatedly switched his choice of the heir to keep his political enemies at bay[24] and perhaps to reduce the chances of deposition. Nevertheless, when Henry Bolingbroke (son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster) returned from exile in 1399, initially to reclaim his rights as Duke of Lancaster, he took advantage of the support of most of the nobles to depose Richard and was crowned King Henry IV, establishing the House of Lancaster on the throne.

House of Lancaster

Henry V
The House of Lancaster descended from John of Gaunt, the third surviving son of Edward III of England. Their name derives from John of Gaunt's primary title of Duke of Lancaster, which he held by right of his spouse, Blanche of Lancaster. They had received explicit preference from Edward III in the line of succession because they formed the most senior unbroken male line of descent from him.

Henry IV's claim to the throne was through his father, John of Gaunt. At the onset of Richard II's reign, Gaunt was the official heir presumptive, but due to the intrigues of his turbulent rule, the succession was unclear by the time of his deposition. Therefore, an argument could be made that the legitimate king of England was not Henry IV, but instead was Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, the son of Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March. Many people believed it be the case but there was little support at the time for this counter-claim. As Henry's initial popularity waned, the Mortimer family's claim to the throne was a pretext for the major rebellion of Owain Glyndŵr in Wales, and other, less successful, revolts in Cheshire and Northumberland. There were uprisings in support of the Mortimers' claim throughout Henry IV's reign, which lasted until 1413.

A peculiarity of Henry IV's seizure of the throne is demonstrated in the way he announced his claim. He was vague, and he resigned himself to mentioning that he was the rightful heir of Henry III, who had died more than a century before, perhaps subtly implying that all English kings ever since (Edward I, Edward II, Edward III and Richard II) had not been rightful monarchs. Henry IV seems to have been exploiting a legend that Henry III's second son Edmund "Crouchback", 1st Earl of Lancaster, was his eldest son but had been removed from the succession because he had a physical deformity, which gave origin to his nickname. Since Henry IV was Edmund's descendant and heir through his mother Blanche of Lancaster, he was the rightful king. There is no evidence for this legend, and Edmund's nickname did not stem from a deformity.[citation needed]

An important branch of the House of Lancaster was the House of Beaufort, whose members were descended from Gaunt by his mistress, Katherine Swynford. Originally illegitimate, they were made legitimate by an Act of Parliament when Gaunt and Katherine later married. However, Henry IV excluded them from the line of succession to the throne.[25]

Henry IV's son and successor, Henry V, inherited a temporarily pacified nation, and his military success against France in the Hundred Years' War bolstered his popularity, enabling him to strengthen the Lancastrian hold on the throne. Nevertheless, one notable conspiracy against Henry, the Southampton Plot, took place during his nine-year reign. This was led by Richard, Earl of Cambridge, who attempted to place Edmund Mortimer, his brother-in-law, on the throne. Cambridge was executed for treason in 1415, at the start of the campaign that led to the Battle of Agincourt.

House of York
The founder of the House of York was Edmund of Langley, the fourth son of Edward III and the younger brother of John of Gaunt. Their family name comes from Edmund's title Duke of York, which he acquired in 1385. However, the superiority of their claim is not based on the male line, but on the female line, as descendants of Edward III's second son Lionel of Antwerp. Edmund's second son, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, who was executed by Henry V, had married Anne de Mortimer, daughter of Roger Mortimer and sister of Edmund Mortimer. Anne's grandmother, Philippa of Clarence, was the daughter of Lionel of Antwerp. The Mortimers were the most powerful marcher family of the fourteenth century.[26] G.M. Trevelyan has written that "the Wars of the Roses were to a large extent a quarrel between Welsh Marcher Lords, who were also great English nobles, closely related to the English throne."[27]


Anne Mortimer's husband Richard, Earl of Cambridge
Anne de Mortimer had died in 1411. When her brother Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, who had loyally supported Henry, died childless in 1425, the title and extensive estates of the Earldom of March and the Mortimer claim to the throne thus passed to Anne's descendants.

Richard of York, the son of Cambridge and Anne Mortimer, was four years old at the time of his father's execution. Although Cambridge was attainted, Henry V later allowed Richard to inherit the title and lands of Cambridge's elder brother Edward, Duke of York, who had died fighting alongside Henry at Agincourt and had no issue. Henry, who had three younger brothers and was himself in his prime and recently married to the French princess, Catherine of Valois,[26] did not doubt that the Lancastrian right to the crown was secure.

Henry's premature death in 1422, at the age of 36, led to his only son Henry VI coming to the throne as an infant and the country being ruled by a divided council of regency. Henry V's younger brothers produced no surviving legitimate issue, leaving only distant cousins (the Beauforts) as alternative Lancaster heirs. As Richard of York grew into maturity and questions were raised over Henry VI's fitness to rule, Richard's claim to the throne thus became more significant. The revenue from the York and March estates also made him the wealthiest magnate in the land.[16]

Henry VI
From early childhood, Henry VI was surrounded by quarrelsome councillors and advisors. His younger surviving paternal uncle, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, sought to be named Lord Protector and deliberately courted the popularity of the common people for his own ends[28] but was opposed by his half-uncle Cardinal Henry Beaufort. On several occasions, Beaufort called on John, Duke of Bedford, Humphrey's older brother, to return from his post as Henry VI's regent in France, either to mediate or to defend him against Humphrey's accusations of treason.[29] Henry VI's coming of age in 1437 brought no end to the noblemen's scheming, as his weak personality made him prone to being swayed and influenced by select courtiers, especially those whom he deemed his favourites. Sometime after, Cardinal Beaufort withdrew from public affairs, partly due to old age and partly because William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, rose to become the dominant personality at court.[30] Suffolk and the Beauforts were widely held to be enriching themselves through their influence on Henry and were blamed for mismanaging the government and poorly executing the continuing Hundred Years' War with France. Under Henry VI, all the land in France won by Henry V and even the provinces of Guienne and Gascony, which had been held since the reign of Henry II three centuries previously, were lost.

Opposition to Suffolk and Beaufort was led by Humphrey of Gloucester, and Richard of York. Humphrey felt that the lifetime efforts of his brothers, of himself, and many Englishmen in the war against France were being wasted as the French territories slipped from English hands, especially since Suffolk and his supporters were trying to make large diplomatic and territorial concessions to the French in a desperate attempt for peace. In this, Gloucester enjoyed little influence, as Henry VI tended to favour Suffolk and Beaufort's faction at court due to its less hawkish and more conciliatory inclinations. The Duke of York, Bedford's successor in France, and at times also described as a skeptic of the peace policy, became entangled in this dispute as Suffolk and the Beauforts frequently received large grants of money and land from the king, as well as important government and military positions, redirecting much needed resources away from York's campaigns in France.


Henry VI
Suffolk eventually succeeded in having Humphrey of Gloucester arrested for treason. Humphrey died while awaiting trial in prison at Bury St Edmunds in 1447. Some authorities date the start of the War of the Roses from the death of Humphrey. At the same time, Richard of York was stripped of the prestigious military command in France and sent to govern the relatively distant Ireland, whereby he could not interfere in the proceedings of the court. However, with severe reverses in France, Suffolk was stripped of office and was murdered on his way to exile. Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (Cardinal Beaufort's nephew), succeeded him as leader of the party seeking peace with France. The Duke of York meanwhile represented those who wished to prosecute the war more vigorously, and criticised the court, and Somerset in particular, for starving him of funds and men during his campaigns in France.

In all these quarrels, Henry VI had taken little part. He was seen as a weak, ineffectual king. Also, he displayed several symptoms of mental illness[31] that he may have inherited from his maternal grandfather, Charles VI of France. By 1450 many considered Henry incapable of carrying out the duties and responsibilities of a king.

In 1450, there was a violent popular revolt in Kent, Jack Cade's Rebellion, which is often seen as the prelude to the Wars of the Roses.[32] The rebel manifesto, The Complaint of the Poor Commons of Kent written under Cade's leadership, accused the crown of extortion, perversion of justice, and election fraud. The rebels occupied parts of London, and executed James Fiennes, 1st Baron Saye and Sele, the unpopular Lord High Treasurer, after a hasty trial. After some of them fell to looting, they were driven out of London by the citizens. They dispersed after they were supposedly pardoned but several, including Cade, were later executed.[33] After the rebellion, the rebels' grievances formed the basis of Richard of York's opposition to a royal government from which he felt excluded.[32]

In 1450, Richard of York returned to England from his new post as Lieutenant of Ireland and went to London, demanding that King Henry remove Somerset, but he was unsuccessful. Two years later, in 1452, York called an army to him and marched on London, demanding Somerset's removal and reform of the government. At this stage, few of the nobles supported such drastic action, and York was forced to submit to superior force at Blackheath. He was imprisoned for much of 1452 and 1453 [34] but was released after swearing not to take arms against the court.

The increasing discord at court was mirrored in the country as a whole, where noble families engaged in private feuds and showed increasing disrespect for the royal authority and the courts of law. In many cases, feuds were fought between old-established families, and formerly minor nobility raised in power and influence by Henry IV in the aftermath of the rebellions against him. The quarrel between the Percys—long the Earls of Northumberland—and the comparatively upstart Nevilles was the best-known of these private wars and followed this pattern, as did the Bonville–Courtenay feud in Cornwall and Devon.[35] A factor in these feuds was the presence of large numbers of soldiers discharged from the English armies that had been defeated in France. Nobles engaged many of these to mount raids, or to pack courts of justice with their supporters, intimidating suitors, witnesses, and judges.

This growing civil discontent, the abundance of feuding nobles with private armies, and corruption in Henry VI's court formed a political climate ripe for civil war. With the king so easily manipulated, power rested with those closest to him at court, in other words, Somerset and the Lancastrian faction. Richard and the Yorkist faction, who tended to be physically placed further away from the seat of power, found their power slowly being stripped away. Royal power and finances also started to slip, as Henry was persuaded to grant many royal lands and estates to the Lancastrians, thereby losing their revenue.

In 1453, Henry suffered the first of several bouts of complete mental collapse, during which he failed even to recognise his new-born son, Edward of Westminster. On 22 March 1454, Cardinal John Kemp, the Chancellor, died. Henry was incapable of nominating a successor.[36] His queen, Margaret of Anjou attempted to establish herself as regent but found no success, since the lords did not like the idea of a woman wielding power. To ensure that the country could be governed, a Council of Regency was set up, headed by the Duke of York, who remained popular with the people, as Lord Protector. York soon asserted his power with ever-greater boldness (although there is no proof that he had aspirations to the throne at this early stage). He imprisoned Somerset and backed his Neville allies (his brother-in-law, the Earl of Salisbury, and Salisbury's son, the Earl of Warwick), in their continuing feud with the Earl of Northumberland, a powerful supporter of Henry.

Henry recovered in 1455 and once again fell under the influence of those closest to him at court. Somerset forced Richard out of court. Somerset began to conspire with other nobles to reduce York's influence, summoning a parliament that York feared meant to name him a traitor. An increasingly thwarted Richard finally resorted to armed hostilities in 1455.