The Dummies Guide to the War of the Roses

so let's start with this chap Edward the third under his reign everything seemed comparatively rosy forgive the pun and he had five sons so peaceful succession was assured but all did not quite go according to plan Edward the eldest son aka the Black Prince whilst laying siege to a French town he caught dysentery and later died before his father as a result the throne passes to enter woods son Richard who becomes Richard the second he was just a babe in arms at the time well.tell actually but he had three uncles to look after him and run the country for him and this is exactly what they did especially the eldest of the uncles John of Gaunt aka the Duke of Lancaster however as Richard got older the more he resented his interfering relations I want to be my own man and make my own decisions he began to thing trouble was he wasn't actually much good at making decisions when he banished his cousin Henry John's son now the Duke of Lancaster to France and confiscated lands from him enough was enough so whilst Richard was away in Ireland Henry slipped back into the country from France ran his support from the nobles and barons imprisoned Richard on his return and took the crown for himself becoming Henry the fourth cousin love for you this of course set quite an important precedent if you had enough muscle and backing and had the blood royal then you too could claim the throne as it happened or went reasonably well for Henry he didn't face any major challenges to his throne and he even found time to build some nice buildings following Henry's death we get Henry the fifth his son he perfected the old trick of distracting attention at home our bashing the French sir more once more unto the breach dear friends once more ajan core and all that so he survived and the throne pass to his son another Henry the sixth oh dear not cut from quite the same cloth as his father not only did he have a disastrous campaign in France which his father had arranged for him to inherit his Kings from but he was subject to frequent bounce of melancholy often taking to his bed for weeks at a time and the powerful a court suit began to lose faith in his ability to rule and so began another power struggle in particular descendent from Edward the thirds fist son the Duke of York thought that they could do a better job at running the country than Henry in his Lancaster and supporters eventually the whole thing erupted in war both sides wanted victories and suffered defeats and families and keep players change sides as a conflict continued and the balance of power shifted back and forth finally in 1461 the York has seized the throne and Edward the fourth is crowned King deposing Henry or seemed settled until some 10 years later when a group of powerful Nobles got fed up with Edward so they switched sides but Henry back on the throne and Edward fled abroad but then Henry became incapacitated again Edward returns wins a thumping victory at Tewksbury in 1471 and takes the throne back but things are not quite over yet when Edward dies in 1483 his son and heir Edward v is just 12 years old and before he can be crowned by his mother and her supporters his uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester places him his brother the princes in the Tower of London for their own protection the young Edward as we shall see later is then discredited and the crown passes to his uncle who becomes Richard the third but Richard cannot hold on to power a number of his key supporters switch sides and join a swelling tide of support for Henry Tudor the new Lancaster and favorite being related to the House of Lancaster by his mother Margaret Beaufort Henry lands in Wales from France raises an army and marches to challenge Richard they clash at the Battle of Bosworth Richard is killed Henry is crowned king and the War of the Roses is finally at an end with Henry marrying Edward the fourth daughter Elizabeth York and the Tudor dynasty is founded simple isn't it

Channel: Schurer Talks

Views: 24,863

Keywords: war of the roses, Edward IV, Richard III, Richard II, plantagenet, tudor, york, Battle of Bosworth

Id: iavbCuSRsb8

Length: 4min 16sec (256 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 21 2017