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The War of the Roses in England erupted just after the end of the Hundred Years War with France (1337-1453). The War developed as a drawn out dynastic conflict which evolved into a medieval civil war. There was not constant fighting, but rather a series of wars. It pitted the competing cadet houses -- the House of Lancasterwhich had the hrone against the House of York which wanted the throne. These were two rival cadet branches of the royal House of Plantagenet which domiated several centuries of mnedieval England. It was a quest for the English crown. The heraldic shield for the Lancastrians was the red rose and the Yorkists employed the white rose which is why the war came to be called the War of the Roses. The two families were related, both could claim descendents from the powerful and long reiggning Edward III, he last important Plantagenet Edward had created a kind quasi-military bastard feudalism. This result was the estanlishment of powerful duchies to fight the French in the Hunded Years War. The immediate cause of the War was the child king Henry VI and his mental instability of Lancasteriam King Henry VI. This provoked his cousin Richard, Duke of York's interest in reviving the Yorkish claim to the throne. fighing begn at St. Alban's north of London (1455). York capured Henry (1455). Parliament proclaimed York Lord Protector. This was only the beginningwith War raging around the person of Henry. After the Battle of Tewkesbury (1471). Henry was again captured and inprsoned, Historians report, hHaving "lost his wits, his two kingdoms and his only son', Henry died in the Tower, presumably killed (1471). His major accomplshnt was a legacy of educational institutions: Eton College, King's College, Cambridge and (together with Henry Chichele) All Souls College, Oxford. Shakespeare wrote a trilogy, in part to palcate the ruling Tudors. And all of this was only the beginning. The Warraged on for nearly another two decades. .
