Map of England and France 1455-1494

•The war of the Roses was a civil war within a larger

political war (Hundred Years’ War).

•The civil war involves the descendants of Edward III. It

began with the struggle between Richard II and Henry of

Bolingbroke in 1399 was ultimately resolved by a change of

dynasty (Plantagenet Tudor) in 1487.

•The first step in this civil war was in 1400 when Henry IV

took power from Richard II and established the Lancaster

(red rose) branch of the family on the English throne.

•Throughout both the political war over Edward III claims

to the throne of France and during the internal conflict in the

royal family, the stress on the English nobility as a whole

was considerable as faction s developed and resources

were stretched.

The of the roses

What were

the Wars of

the Roses?

The Wars of the Roses were

intermittent civil wars fought by

members of the House of Lancaster

and the House of York. Both houses

were branches of the Plantagenet

royal house, tracing their descent

from King Edward III.

The rivalry between the house of

York and the House of Lancaster

started when King Richard II was

overthrown by his cousin, Henry

Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster, in

1399. But the Wars of the Roses

actually began on May 22th, 1455

with First Battle of St Albans when

Richard, Duke of York and his ally,

Richard, Earl of Warwick defeated

the Lancastrians under Edmund

Beaufort who was killed. York

captured Henry VI.

What was the cause of the Wars of the

Roses?

Why were they called the Wars of the Roses?

The White Rose was the symbol of Yorkers

supporters who opposed the rival House of

Lancaster, whose symbol was the Red Rose of

Lancaster. The opposition of the two parties, symbolized by the red and white roses gave the wars their name - the Wars of the Roses. The Wars of the Roses ended with King Henry VII who

started the Tudor dynasty and symbolically united the

White and Red Roses to create the Tudor Rose.

•Family tree

Henry VII (1457 - 1509)

Edward IV

Henry IV Henry V

Richard III

Henry VIII

( 1312 – 1377) reigned 1327 – 1377

Son of Edward II (deposed_ and Isabella, a princess of France who would have

inherited the French if it were not for Salix law.

Hundred Years’ War (1337 – 1453) was fought in part to pursue Edward’s III

claims to the French throne. He won major battles at Crecy (1346) and Poitiers

(1356), but in the end lost much of the English territory in France that had been

held since the time of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Black Death (bubonic plague) devastated the English population during his reign (1348 – 1349) and the country

suffered major economic and social upheaval.

13 children, including 4 sons who survived him.

Edward III

Edward III, after a victory in the Battle of Crecy, laid siege to Calais and Philip VI of France ordered the city to hold out. Philip failed to lift the siege and Starvation forced the city to parley for surrender. Edward offered to spare the people of the city if any six of its top leaders would surrender themselves to him, Presumably to be executed.One of the wealthiest of the town leaders, Eustache de Saint Pierre, volunteered first and five other burghers soon joined him. Although the burghers expected to be executed, their lives were spared by the intervention of England’s Queen, Philippe of Hainault, who persuaded her husband by saying it would be a bad omen for her unborn child. This incident weighing royal authority against mercy would have been an example for Henry V.

The Burghers of Calais

Augusta Rodin, the Burgher of Calais, 1885

(1367 – 1400); reigned 1377 – 1400Son of Edward, the black prince and Joan, the “ Fair maid “ of KentDuring his childhood the country was ruled by a council of nobles headed by his uncle, Joan of gaunt, duke of Lancaster.With the help of his council the reign began well. During the peasants’ Revolt in 1381 young Richard showed poise. However the social divide between landowners and peasants would continue to fester throughout the 14th century. Richard was not a warrior king like his grandfather, and gave too much attention to a small group of favorite Coutiers. This created tension between Richard and his royal uncles (dukes of Gloucester and Lancaster). Richard turned his attention from the long standing war in France to Ireland, where English overlords were threatened. in 1399 Richard became a tyrant, executing his uncle Gloucester and stripping his cousin Henry of Bolingbroke of money and lands he should have inherited from his father (John of gaunt, Duke of Lancaster ), and exiling him. Henry raised an army to reclaim his lost estates. Army nobles rallied to his cause, including Henry Percy, the earl of Northumberland (father of Harry “Hotspur” Percy). Richard delayed too long in returning from Ireland, was unable to counter Henry’s challenge, and was forced to abdicate.Deposed by Henry of Bolingbroke, and Richard was imprisoned in Pontefract Castle in 1400, where he “Died”.

Richard II (1377 – 1400)

•A diptych is a hinged, portable altarpiece

•On the left, the world of the living, it is drab. And the colors are

rather lifeless.•A forest provides a margin

between this world and the world of heaven, which is filled with color.

•On the left are 3 saints, all dead, who have come from heaven to be with Richard II, the kneeling figure, as he presents himself and England to the virgin and Christ

child. •The 3 figures are an allusion to

the “Wise Men” and the Feast of the Epiphany (Jan 6th), which was Richard II’s birthday. So this is an “Adoration

of the Magi” symbol.•The two English kings, Edmund the Martyr and Edward the

confessor, support Richard as a legitimate king.

The Wilton Diptych

Century 1395

National Gallery of Art, London

International Gothic style

The Wilton Diptych : Explained

Explanation . . . continued

• Edmund the martyr (reigned c. 841) was defeated by the Vikings in 870 and taken prisoner. He refused to give up his

Christian faith and was executed, possibly by an arrow (his symbol).

• Edward the Confessor (reigned 1042 – 1066 ) was a simple man of faith who give his ring to a beggar when he had

nothing else to offer. The ring was later returned to him through the intervention of St. John the Evangelist. The ring is a symbol of his piety and character. He

built Westminster Abbey.• John the Baptist is generally shown on

art as wearing an animal skin and carrying a lamb (a symbol of Jesus as the

Angus Dei, or Lamb of God). His presence gives Richard II religious

support.• Richard II’s personal badge was the white hart and he wears it. He was born

on January 6th

. The Feast of the Epiphany, so the 3 “Wise Men” flanking him are symbolic of

the pilgrimage to the Christ Child; the implication is that Richard II seeks support (as England) from the Holy

Family.

• The right panel is vibrant with color,

signifying that heaven is spiritually

richer than earth.

•The banner of the red cross is both the

emblem of St. George, the patron saint

of England, and of the crusades in

which Plantagenet kings had

participated. In kneeling before the

Virgin and Child as the banner is

offered, Richard II is dedicating himself

to a chivalrous ideal. This is in keeping

with both the International Gothic style

and with the concepts of Realism where

ideas/ideals are the only things that

truly exist.

John of Gaunt

• (1340 – 1399); 3 rd surviving son of Edward III ; 1

st Duke of Lancaster; father of Henry IV

(Bolingbroke).

• Principal regent for Richard II during his minority,

Gaunt was the Richest and most powerful of the

royal Dukes; as the acting ruler of England, he was

associated with the failed economic and social

policies of his father Edward III.

• Patron of the arts, including of the poet Geoffrey

Chaucer (whose wife Philippa was the sister of

Gaunt’s 3rd wife Katherine) ; also protector of John

Wycliffe, the religious reformer.

• His considerable fortune and estates were

declared forfeit to the crown in 1399 because

Richard II had banished Gaunt’s heir, Henry of

Bolingbroke.

• (1366 – 1413); eldest son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and Blanche of

Grossmann, a major English heiress; father of Henry V.

• While a first cousin and childhood playmate of Richard II, Henry of

Bolingbroke participated in a rebellion of nobles against Richard. Although spared at that time, he was later banished and his estates confiscated on his father’s

death.• Leads a rebellion to reclaim his own estates; captured Richard and forces his

abdication and imprisonment.• Takes the throne, bypassing the

Richard’s designated heir, Roger Mortimer (House of York).

• Warrior king; crusader; suppresses the Lollard movement (followers of Wycliffe);

puts down the rebellion of Henry “Hotspur” Percy, the Earl of

Northumberland, with the help of his eldest son, Henry of Monmouth (Henry V).

Henry IV (Bolingbroke)

• (1386 – 1422); Eldest•t son of Henry IV; born in Monmouth, Wales, so called Henry of Monmouth as a youth• Treated kindly by Richard II during Henry of Bolingbroke exile; went to Ireland with Richard; returned to England when his father took the throne.• As a young man he was both personally riotous in behavior and a very capable soldier.• Different in domestic policy from his father and was more decisive in foreign affairs. Unification of the body of Richard II with honor, reconciled with the heirs of those nobles who had suffered under his father, and brought young Edmund Mortimer into royal favor. He was practical and took a wider view on issues, being both expedient and merciful.• Consolidated power as the King of England and effectively accomplished what generations of his ancestors had failed to achieve through decades of war: the unification of the crowns of England and France in a single person.

Henry V

What happened to the concept of the English monarch between Richard II and Henry V ?

• Medieval philosophy moved from Realism to Nominal's and the

monarch becomes valued as a man as well as a head of state.

• The Richard II of the Wilton Diptych is an embodiment of the

concept of realism in medieval philosophy. Ideas (such as honor or

humanity) exist in their own right and are important generalization.

Ideas exist; particulars do not exist independently of ideas. As

monarch Richard stands for the honor of England and maintains its

ideas.

• Henry V is a monarch who works within the concepts of Nominal's.

This philosophical school says that particulars exist for themselves ,

not as manifestation of ideals. Each situation or individual has its

own value. So Henry V is not the concept of honor, but an

honorable man, he can, therefore, give value to other particulars

(his subjects, specific battles) and be a role model as well as a

monarch.

• When Henry V died young, he left an infant son, Henry VI. During his childhood the government was in chaos with fiscal instability, corruption, lack of law and order, and the loss of much of Henry V’s lands in France.• As an adult Henry VI was not a strong king and suffered from mental illness. Disaffected nobles turned to the York line who would have been the legitimate heirs had not Henry IV taken the throne from Edmund Mortimer in 1400. A civil war was the result, as the Yorks (white rose) tried to take the throne from Henry, the last surviving Lancaster (red rose). Edward IV and Richard III are kings from the York branch if the family who twice took the throne from Henry VI and his wife Margaret of Anjou during the civil war.

• Shakespeare tells the story of the first part of this family conflict (Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V) in four of his histories. He completes the saga of the actual War of the Roses in three early plays about Henry VI and in his great Richard III, thus covering the whole period 1399 to 1485.

• When Henry V died young, he left an infant son, Henry VI. During his childhood the

government was in chaos with fiscal instability, corruption, lack of law and order, and the

loss of much of Henry V’s lands in France.

• As an adult Henry VI was not a strong king and suffered from mental illness. Disaffected

nobles turned to the York line who would have been the legitimate heirs had not Henry IV

taken the throne from Edmund Mortimer in 1400. A civil war was the result, as the York's

(white rose) tried to take the throne from Henry, the last surviving Lancaster (red rose).

Edward IV and Richard III are kings from the York branch if the family who twice took the

throne from Henry VI and his wife Margaret of Anjou during the civil war.

• Shakespeare tells the story of the first part of this family conflict (Richard II, Henry IV,

Henry V) in four of his histories. He completes the saga of the actual War of the Roses in

three early plays about Henry VI and in his great Richard III, thus covering the whole period

1399 to 1485.

How does all this relate to the War of the Roses which began in 1453?

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