1455 to 1509

The Wars of the Roses, and after

Britannica dates the Wars of the Roses to 1455–85: dynastic civil wars between the houses of Lancaster and York for the English throne.⁠¹ They were named many years afterward from the supposed badges of the contending parties: the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster.⁠¹ The Wars of the Roses, in English Heritage wording, were a series of short campaigns fought at intervals between 1455 and 1485, during which the Crown changed hands six times.⁠²

The first battle of the wars, at St. Albans (May 22, 1455), resulted in a Yorkist victory and four years of uneasy truce.⁠¹ Richard III was defeated and killed at Bosworth (1485) by the Lancastrian heir, Henry Tudor.⁠² Henry defeated and killed Richard at Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485, bringing the wars to a close, in Britannica's traditional dating.⁠¹

The tower and east end of Tewkesbury Abbey in pale stone, with a flowering tree and a low fence in front, under a bright blue sky — Tewkesbury Abbey, Gloucestershire, from the east, 21 April 2010. The Battle of Tewkesbury was fought nearby on 4 May 1471, during the Wars of the Roses.Photo: Tony Grist · Public domain · Commons

Henry VII's victory against Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth, it says, ended the turbulent Wars of the Roses and began the Tudor dynasty.⁠³ It dates the Battle of Bosworth to 22 August 1485, after which Henry Tudor was crowned king, the first Tudor monarch.⁠⁴

A rolling green farmland view under a cloudy sky, with a bare tree in the left foreground and hedged fields stretching to a wooded ridge — The view west from Ambion Hill, Leicestershire, 27 April 2006. The hill was long presented as the site of the Battle of Bosworth, 22 August 1485. Later survey work has placed the fighting away from the hill, around Fenn Lane to the south-west.Photo: Tony Grist · Public domain · Commons

1485 or 1487?

English Heritage treats Bosworth, 22 August 1485, as the last major battle of the Wars of the Roses and the start of the Tudor dynasty. Britannica also uses 1455–85 as the traditional span, with Richard killed at Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, “bringing the wars to a close.” The same Britannica article notes that Henry defeated a Yorkist rising for Lambert Simnel at Stoke on 16 June 1487, “a date which some historians prefer over the traditional 1485 for the termination of the wars.” Henry VII then reigned until 21 April 1509, which is where this site stops.

Henry VII

In 1485 Henry landed at Milford Haven in Wales and advanced toward London.⁠⁵ He was crowned on October 30 and secured parliamentary recognition of his title early in November. He married Elizabeth of York on January 18, 1486.⁠⁵ By his marriage to Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth of York in 1486, Henry united the Yorkist and Lancastrian claims.⁠¹

Henry defeated a Yorkist rising supporting the pretender Lambert Simnel on June 16, 1487, a date which some historians prefer over the traditional 1485 for the termination of the wars.⁠¹ Henry VII, born 28 January 1457, died 21 April 1509 at Richmond, Surrey, and was king of England from 1485 to 1509. Britannica says he succeeded in ending the Wars of the Roses and founded the Tudor dynasty.⁠⁵ When he died, his only surviving son, Henry VIII, succeeded him without a breath of opposition.⁠⁵

A pale stone tomb-chest on a dark plinth lettered RICHARD III, with a small painted shield at one end, inside a cathedral, with visitors’ legs at the edge of the frame — The 2015 tomb of Richard III in Leicester Cathedral, 4 August 2018, after his remains were identified and reburied there. This is a modern tomb, not a medieval one.Photo: Peter_Glyn · CC0 · Commons

This site stops when Henry VII dies on 21 April 1509 and Henry VIII succeeds him. What follows is the Tudor story, on a site that has not been built yet.

The Wars of the Roses, and after

1485 or 1487?

Henry VII

Sources on this page