The Wars of the Roses were a series of civil wars fought over the royal succession in medieval England from 1455 to 1487 between the House of Lancaster and the House of York. The name Wars of the Roses is based on the badges used by the two sides, the red rose for the Lancastrians and the white rose for the Yorkists. However, this term was not known to contemporaries and did not come into use until the publication of Sir Walter Scott’s Anne of Geierstein in 1829. Major causes of the conflict include: 1) a disputed succession dating back to the overthrow of Richard II (York) by Henry Bolingbroke (Lancaster) in 1399; 2) the breakdown of royal authority during Henry VI’s bouts of mental illness and the latter stages of the Hundred Years’ War; and 3) the rise of large independent noble armies with little or no direct loyalty to the crown. Royal authority was restored after Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at the battle of Bosworth in 1485 to be crowned Henry VII. Henry further consolidated his position after suppressing a rebellion by a Yorkist imposter in 1487 at the battle of Stoke. Henry took steps to reconcile both factions and prevent further baronial violence. Since he traced his royal claim through the House of Lancaster and married Elizabeth of York, Henry took for his heraldry the Tudor Rose, a combination of the Lancastrian red and Yorkist white. Furthermore, Henry enforced strict limitations on the right of nobles to recruit independent standing armies. No standing army would exist in England until Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army in 1645.

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Royal Timeline
Ruler	Years Ruled
Henry IV	(1399 - 1413)
Henry V	(1413 - 1422)
Henry VI	(1422 - 1461 & 1470 - 1471)
Edward IV	(1461 - 1470 & 1471 - 1483)
Edward V	(1483)
Richard III	(1483 - 1485)
Henry VII	(1485 - 1509)
= House of Lancaster     = House of York
Battle Outline
1455 - 1464	1469 - 1471	1483 - 1487
First St. Albans (1455) Blore Heath (1459) Ludford Bridge (1459) Northampton (1460) Wakefield (1460) Mortimer's Cross (1461) Second St. Albans (1461) Ferrybridge (1461) Towton (1461) Hedgeley Moor (1464) Hexham (1464)	Edgecote Moor (1469) Losecote Field (1470) Barnet (1471) Tewkesbury (1471)	Bosworth (1485) Stoke (1487)