Can somebody explain the War of the Roses to me?

Question

Not the movie, the real war.

Answer 1

There are many references to the "War of the Roses" and it's actually the "Wars of the Roses"

The Wars of the Roses were collectively an intermittent civil war fought between 1455 and 1485, over the throne of England 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 name Wars of the Roses was not used at the time, but has its origins in the badges chosen by the two royal houses, the Red Rose of Lancaster, whose retainers tended to favour red coats or red roses as their symbol, and the White Rose of York, whose men often sported white coats or white rose insignia.

The term came into common usage during the 19th century from a fictional scene in Shakespeare's play Henry VI Part 1 where the opposing sides pick different-coloured roses at the Temple Church.

Answer 2

The War of the Roses were a series of wars fought by two English houses in the late fifteenth century for rule of the country. The House of Lancaster had a red rose as its emblem; the House of York had a white rose. The forces of the House of Lancaster won, and their leader, Henry Tudor, father of the future King Henry VIII, became king. The power of the English kings was strengthened in the period that followed.

Answer 3

Its quite interestign actually, but apparently in battle, the 2 sides struggled to tell each other apart, as 2 dukes famously had the same emblem (the sun of lancaster and the star of york) so no-one oculd tell friend from foe.

Answer 4

The War of Roses is the historical term used to describe a series of feudal wars (knights on horse, etc.) that took place in England between 1455 and 1487. The reason for the name is that there were two families contending for the crown, the house of Lancaster, whose sign was a red rose, and the House of York, whose sign was the white rose.
The proximate cause of the war was the dethronement of Richard II (1367-1399) The "last" Plantagenet. He was the grandson of the great king Edward III and the son of the famous "Black Prince." Unfortunately, he was only 10 years old when he became king, so the country was governed by a council of noblemen headed by Richard's uncle, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. This lead to a weakening of the crown's authority. After many problems Richard assumed personal rule, but instead of using the great nobles of the kingdom as his aids, he appointed his personal friends. This led to a revolt by the great nobles who took over the government. After this Richard's policy was to try to control the great nobles. The greatest noble in the kingdom was his uncle the Duke of Lancaster. He was a son of Edward III and had married the daughter of the Earl of Lancaster, a wealthy descendant of King Henry III (this is important for understanding the war.) In order to "control" the Lancasters, King Richard exiled the Duke's son (his own cousin) Henry of Bolingbroke, Earl of Hereford. Henry of Bolingbroke (who was a political foe of the king) agreed to go "peacefully" on the condition that his father was left alone, and that the King promised that when his father, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, died, he, Henry would inherit all of his titles and estates. However, when the Duke died, King Richard seized all of his estates and took Henry's eldest son (the future King Henry V) as a hostage. Henry of Bolingbroke invaded England, defeated Richard and forced him to abdicate (and probably had him murdered at Pontefract Castle in 1400.) The true heir by descent was Edmund Mortimer, the heir of the second son of Edward III. However Henry (the son of John of Gaunt, the third son of Edward III,0 claimed the throne through his Lancaster ancestor Edmund son of Henry III, and Parliament recognized his claim. This put the House of Lancaster on the throne.
Some years later the same story began to play out again. King Henry VI (grandson of Henry of Bolingbroke and head of the house of Lancaster,) began to act strangely and rule unwisely (some blamed his French wife, some blamed mental illness.) The greatest noble of the day was the Duke of York, a descendant of Edward III's fourth son. His mother had been the daughter of the Mortimer heir who had been passed over by parliament When Henry of Bolingbroke took the throne. Again their was a struggle for control of the government fought by the nobility. After many twists and turns (and many executions) the son of the Duke of York won the throne and ruled as King Edward IV. All (or almost all) of the heirs of the House of Lancaster had been killed (including King Henry VI and his son the Prince of Wales.) But when Edward died, his sons were still children (part of the story of the Wars of Roses were the number of children who due to war and disease inherited important positions, but because they were children they could not really "rule" (Richard II, the Mortimer heir, Henry VI, Edward V were all under 14 when they inherited their great titles or position.) This left opportunities open for unscrupulous adults to try to gain power. This time it was Edward IV brother, the uncle of the new King, Richard (the hunchback) Duke of Gloucester. he seized the throne, claimed his nephews were not legitimate and put them in the Tower of London (the princes in the tower) and had them murdered. He took the throne as King Richard III. Again Richard's 'tyrannical" actions (his attempts to restore the power of the crown,) led to a group of nobles to oppose him; they called on Henry Earl of Richmond who had a very slim claim to Lancaster descent (his mother was the granddaughter of John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster by a second, and questionable, marriage.) However Henry himself was the grandson (again by a second marriage) of Queen Catherine, the wife of King Henry V and the daughter of the King of France, so he also had some "royal" blood. Henry defeated Richard at the Battle of Bosworth (1487) and was recognized by Parliament as king. As part of the settlement, Henry married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of King Edward IV and the Representative of the house of York. Thus Lancaster married York bringing the War of Roses to an end. Although the apparent cause had been the succession to the crown, the real cause had been the end of the age of feudalism and the rise of the national monarchy. By 1487, most of the old nobility had killed each other off, Parliament had gained concessions from each new king - so that now the members had the right of debate, protection from arrest and the right to be consulted on the succession (this would become important under Henry VIII and be the basis for the Glorious Revolution in 1688.) here is a site with lots of links that covers the war from beginning to end with much more depth than this explanation:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses

Answer 5

It's just a legal dispute with one person trying to tell another person what they can/can't do with "their" body.Just to sum it up.