The Wars of the Roses
The first full-scale engagement between the Lancaster line and the York line in the Wars of the Roses occurred on 22 May 1455 with the First Battle of St. Albans, a community about twenty miles north of London. Approximately five thousand combatants participated, three thousand York supporters, two thousand Lancaster supporters. The battle featured guerilla-style warfare in the streets of the city.
The Yorkists won decisively.
Henry, who led the Lancaster army in battle, received a wound in the face and retreated to St. Albans Church for refuge. Richard, the Duke of York, found Henry there and captured him.
Upon seizing the King, York assured Henry that he remained loyal to him. The Queen’s favorite, Edmund Beaufort, who was a part of the King's guard, fought his way out of the church but was cut down in the street fighting.
With his King in tow, the Duke of York forced Parliament to confer offices of the state on York and his closest supporters, effectively giving York the power to rule in Henry's name. Queen Margaret would have none of it.
By the end of 1456, Margaret again had control of Henry. York and his men were out.
With Margaret firmly at the helm, Henry VI acted in a way consistent with his personality and core values. On 24 or 25 March 1458, Henry instituted a "love day." It was to be a capstone to recent negotiations between the Lancastrians and Yorkists. The key players in the political drama walked hand-in-hand from Westminster to St. Paul’s Church in London. In a public, if misleading, symbol of unity, Queen Margaret and Richard, Duke of York, joined hands as they made their way to St. Paul's.
Within the year, the royals were at each other's throats again.
The 23 September 1459 Battle of Blore Heath marked the beginning of full-scale military engagements that did not run their course until the 14 May 1471 Battle of Tewkesbury. The royals beset all of England with no fewer than nine bloody battles fought at various locations around the Kingdom for sixteen years, from 1455 to the spring of 1471. Thousands participated, many of whom died.
In the end, the Yorkists prevailed at the Battle of Tewksbury, but not before Margaret and her Lancaster army dealt the Yorkist two devastating defeats. (The website www.britishbattles.com/wars-of-the-roses provides an excellent overview of all battles in sequence.)
Our vignette of Henry VI requires that we address the fates of the key players in the historical drama, Richard, Duke of York, Queen Margaret, her son Edward, the Prince of Wales and Henry himself.
Richard, Duke of York, died at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460. In July of that year, the Yorkists defeated the Lancastrian forces and took Henry VI captive. Queen Margaret gathered her troops to the tune of fifteen thousand combatants and crushed the Yorkist army of approximately four thousand. Of the four thousand Yorkists, twenty-nine hundred died, including Richard of York. It was a significant victory for Queen Margaret because, upon returning from exile in Ireland, York had declared himself King of England.
Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England, was a warrior spirit equal to any man. She did not participate in the bloody battles but watched from a safe distance, as was the custom. Margaret knew the ways of power and ruthlessly pursued her goals. History leaves no doubt that she brought her considerable forces to bear to protect her son, Edward, the heir-apparent to the Throne. Margaret's relationship with her husband, Henry VI, appears not to have been so intense; that is not to say that she did not protect him. Henry's reign benefited from the efforts of his fierce wife.
At the 14 May 1471Battle of Tewksbury, Edward, Prince of Wales, nominally commanded the Lancaster forces. The Yorkists won the final and decisive victory. Prince Edward lost his life. The Yorkists took Queen Margaret prisoner; she joined her husband Henry in the Tower of London.
After five years of confinement, King Louis XI of France successfully ransomed Margaret. She returned to France, where she lived until her death at fifty-three on 25 August 1482.
Humble, hapless, honest Henry died on 21 May 1471 while in prayer in the Tower of London. Henry, the infant who became King, was the son of England's greatest Warrior Prince. During his reign lived to see his country lose its possessions in France, his kinsmen killing one another, and the House of Lancaster supplanted by the House of York. He saw his wife imprisoned and his only child cut down in battle.
All in all, Henry's was not an auspicious reign.
Next up: Edward IV - The 1st York King
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