Wars of Roses 1455-1487 - English Civil Wars DOCUMENTARY

[Music] wall is often happened because different sides have intractable contradictions but each new war often creates the causes for the next one the Hundred Years War between England and France was no different causing many conflicts in Europe in England the Wars of the Roses stemmed from the Hundred Years War shout-out to conquerors blade for sponsoring this video conquerors blade is a tactical MMORPG strategy hybrid and it's free to play on PC the game is set in a vast open medieval world and tasks players to create a warlord to build and command an army of 55 diverse units and to create an empire a new line of Units called sons of the steppes inspired by the Mongols will be added to the game on December 19th alongside a new battle pass a new set of challenges scores of season exclusive nomadic themed cosmetics three new battlefields matchmaking improvements a ranking system NPC houses player titles and much more new players who register VAR our link will receive 10 free gifts including a gold helmet three unit XP cards 3 heroics B cards and three hats arrow launchers to devastate enemy defences and you will get the gifts immediately after the registration is complete to support our channel and receive these gifts register a new account via the link in the description good luck on the battlefield the King of England Edward the third had five sons who survived into adulthood for the first time in English history he created duchies for them making his sons the biggest landowners in the country on the one hand this strengthened the crown but at the same time it formed a new class of nobility which had claims to the throne and enough power to vie for it Edwards son and heir the famous Hundred Years War Commander Edward the Black Prince passed away in 1376 followed by the king himself a year later the black Prince's son was crowned as Richard the second the reign of this monarch was tumultuous the peasants revolt of 1381 was followed by the parliamentary crisis of 1386 to 1388 Richard's attempts to reach peace with France his marriage to the young Valois princess the lack of an heir and the constant strife with the nobility made him deeply unpopular Richard's cousin and one of the most powerful Lords the Duke of Lancaster Henry Bolingbroke was exiled to France in 1398 in May of $13.99 Richard embarked on a campaign in Ireland and Henry used the opportunity to return to England he immediately garnered enough support to dethrone Richard and assumed the throne as Henry the fourth the first Lancastrian King Richard was arrested and died in 1400 while his heir presumptive another grandson of Edward the third Edmund Mortimer was bypassed that created legitimacy problems for the king and he faced at least six significant rebellions in 1413 Henry the fourth succumbs to chronic disease and was succeeded by his son Henry the fifth the new king was one of the most talented monarchs of England during this era in 1415 he renewed hostilities with France and won an impressive victory at Agincourt in less than a decade he conquered more French land than any English King before him the Treaty of toir was signed with France in 1420 according to which Henry married French princess Catherine their descendants would inherit the French throne after the death of shall sick from add both sovereigns passed away in 1422 Henry the fifth son Henry the sixth who was less than one year old was crowned as the king of England the Kings Uncle John of Bedford became the Regent and took command in France while his other uncle Humphrey of Gloucester looked after English affairs although Bedford was a decent commander the French soon rallied around Joan of Arc and shalva 7th was crowned as king of France in rem Henry's coronation in Paris was a mere symbol by the time Henry reached adulthood and started governing in 1437 Bedford was dead and the situation in France was untenable the king was weak and easily swayed by his nobles and at that point the peace party led by Edmund of Somerset and William of Suffolk had more influence on the king than the war party of Gloucester and Richard of York the sides agreed to peace as tour in 1444 according to their agreement henry was to marry Charles niece Margaret of Anjou and return men and Anjou to France the marriage and the peace conditions were unpopular in England [Music] among those who protested was Gloucester and that gave Henry a chance to imprison his uncle in 1447 Gloucester died shortly after and this weakened the war party even more Richard who commanded the English lands in France was stripped of his office and sent to govern Ireland which was an exile Somerset and Suffolk became Dukes in this period however Suffolk was exiled under popular pressure and then murdered hostilities with France were renewed and Somerset who was appointed the commander in Normandy lost all the northern holdings safe for Calais by 1450 and returned to England he and Queen Margaret had the king under their influence the prestige of the monarchy was at an all-time low the Hundred Years War impoverished England the losses in France were hard to swallow and the nobles who had lost their land on the continent were unhappy at the same time all the duchies created in the last century had become too strong and independent and the Dukes often had personal retinues larger than that of the king at this point it is essential to show you the family tree of the Plantagenet dynasty as many grandsons of Edward the third controlled these duchies assuring in the era of what is controversially known as bastard feudalism this era was characterized by the loyalty of the soldiers being to their Lords rather than the king the nobles would use that to procure offices lands and finances from the king these Lords and their heirs would play a central role throughout the Wars of the Roses Richard who had a strong claim to the throne as a great-grandson of Edward the third used the circumstances to return from exile in 1452 although many came to his banner and demanded Somerset's arrest the Queen's party was still stronger and Margaret's pregnancy made her position even more secure the situation would change in 1453 affected by the loss of Bordeaux and Aquitaine the King suffered a mental breakdown and became unresponsive scholars still argue about the nature of this illness but it is clear that Henry the 6th lost the remainder of his political power in the north to noble families the Neville's & Percy's used the lack of central power to renew a feud and as Somerset supported the latter the Neville's allied with Richard by 1454 richard had enough backing to become the Royal protector and appoint his supporters to offices while Somerset was arrested however in 1455 the King recovered and Queen Margaret managed to influence him yet again Richards decisions were rolled back and he was exiled this time the Duke of York wasn't going to take it and he raised an army to move to London the conflicts that would later be called the Wars of the Roses because of the heraldic badges used by the Lancaster's and the York's became inevitable and renew that he would receive no support in London and moved out to a town called st. Albans with his 2,000 men where and at least 5,000 strong Yorkist army was waiting for him Richard wasn't ready to dethrone Henry so negotiations started but as the latter refused to surrender Somerset be Yorkists attacked the Lancastrian army led in battle by the Duke of Buckingham took up positions around st. Albans defenses primarily the gates on top well in Shropshire lanes while the king was in the Market Square meanwhile York's army drew up in a line east of the town on the key field behind the gardens of Holly Wells Street the Market Square and San Peter's Square at 10 a.m. Warwick Salisbury and York simultaneously attacks the gates on both rupture and soft well Lane due to its unexpected and Swift nature the attack succeeded at first with the Yorkists pushing onto the city streets however as it became apparent that an attack was taking place more men rushed to defend these strong points and the narrow streets caused the mass of Yorkists to suffer heavy losses as the fighting threatened to bog down into a grinding stalemate the Earl of Warwick disengaged from the battle and wrote to the rear where a rear guard was waiting in reserve he then led them in a flanking maneuver through the gardens near the Market Square successfully remaining undetected as he did so with a blast from his trumpet ears the 25 year old Warwick charged and smashed the surprised Lancastrian line into earing of this breach and fearing an attack from their rear the defenders at the gates now broke their lines and fled towards the Market Square more Yorkist forces now entered the city through the undefended gates in the square the Lancastrian remnants attempted to rally but were prevented from doing so by the devastating short-range fire of Yorkist archers who continually shall with the remaining Lancastrians with missiles many Lancastrian commanders among them Somerset were killed while the king was captured Richard returned him to London and was appointed the protector by Parliament by that time Margaret gave birth to Edward and became the leader of the Lancastrian party it seemed that both sides were shocked by Sen Tobin's as hostilities continued only in the form of the percy neville feud between 1456 and 1459 henry attempted to reconcile the parties on a few occasions but these suspicions were too strong and in the fall of 1459 the sides clashed once again this time the Lancastrian has gained the upper hand and the Yorkists were forced to find refuge in Calais and ireland the Yorkists recovered quickly and returned to England in the summer of 1460 the Kings forces were defeated at Northampton and Henry was captured Richard attempted to claim the throne but even his staunchest supporters refused instead the so called act of accord was adopted according to which Henry the sixth would rule for life but would be succeeded by Richard of York [Music] the Queen was willing to fight for her son's inheritance and was gathering her forces in the north Richard moves towards the Lancastrian troops to prevent their recruitment efforts but his enemies were already on the way and their 18,000 blockaded his five to ten thousand strong force near san del castle what happened next is still debated but his next move was an attempt to Sally out of the castle and attack the Lancastrian forces a move which seems in hindsight to have been incredibly ill-advised and rash many scholars have attempted to explain this move by Richard theories range from simple miscalculation and rashness on Richards part to Lancastrian trickery it is said that Sir Andrew trollop sent pretend deserters to Santo Castle proclaiming that their former commander was going to change sides the Lancastrian forces also apparently showed false colors in order to trick Richard of York into thinking his reinforcements had arrived whatever prompted it Richard chose to ride out from the castle and fight rather than withstanding the trials of a siege which would further deplete his provisions after marching down the modern-day many gates lane towards the Lancastrian forces who were to the north York was cut off from his castle from behind and surrounded while he engaged the enemy to his front his numerically inferior forces were soundly defeated and York himself was killed probably being unforced wounded and killed during a fight to the death in early 1461 his son Edward became the leader of the Yorkists in February he defeated a Lancastrian army at Mortimer's cross meanwhile a smaller Yorkist force under Warwick was defeated at st. Albans by the army commanded by the Queen Henry the sixth was recaptured by the Lancastrians Edward learned about this defeat and moved south where he United with the remainder of Warwick's troops as Lancastrian soldiers committed atrocities in the area Margaret and Henry lost all their support and decided to move to the north that allowed Edward to enter London in March and take the throne as Edward the 4th the showdown was imminent both sides continued to recruit troops over the next few weeks Edward left London on the 13th and arrived in Nottingham on the 22nd here he received the news that 30 to 35,000 Lancastrian troops commanded by Somerset were to the south of the city of York Edward had less than 30,000 on the 28th of March King Edward sent Fitz Walter to secure the bridge over the air river near ferry bridge however Fitz Walter was ambushed by Clifford's cavalry many Yorkists were massacred or drowned King Henry had sent a messenger to negotiate but his offer was refused Edward knew that the main Lancastrian force led by Somerset was waiting two miles away ready to crush the Yorkists if they pushed Clifford away and crossed the river he sent a vanguard under Suffolk which managed to push the Lancastrians back to the end of the bridge Edward then marched with the main force to Ferry Bridge and led his men personally to Suffolk sayed to stop the Yorkist advance the Lancastrians destroyed the bridge but the former constructed a narrow raft to ferry across this raft was captured by the Lancastrians and the fight continued in the area for some time until the Yorkists managed to cross the river to the north at Castleford and set up camp [Music] at dawn on the 29th of March both armies found themselves in a snowstorm at 11:00 in the morning v Yorkists marched northward and encamped on the hill ten miles south of York with their backs to the village of Saxton Edward put his men in formation their lines stretched for a mile along the ridge at the same time the Lancastrians moved north and took positions to the north of the Yorkists on high ground a hundred feet above them on the Meadowlands to the south of tauten part of their cavalry was hidden in the forests to the west of the Yorkist positions the Lancastrians had the advantage of the high ground the Yorkist position was shaky as any retreat would trap them along the river edward had artillery but the weather conditions did not allow its usage [Music] somerset didn't want to descend from the high ground and waited for the Yorkists to approach the battle started with archers exchanging volleys however the wind was blowing into the face of the Lancastrian archers and they were unable to see the enemy properly their arrows fell short of the mark and according to the sources all they could hear through the whirlwind was the laughter of their counterparts a hail of counter volleys accompanied this the Yorkists were gathering thousands of enemy arrows and were firing them back at them retreating after each body to five the Lancastrian suffered heavy losses and were forced to descend from the hill taking up melee weapons and charging the Yorkist archers sent a few more volleys and then retreated behind their men-at-arms as the main Lancaster force charged into the Yorkist army a fierce melee began across the line at the same time the hidden flanking force attacks the left flank of Edwards army did significant damage and almost routed it Edward himself led the reserves and stabilized the situation on the left side still the Lancastrians outnumbered their enemies and slowly pushed them back it was then that the force is sent by Norfolk to assist Edward arrived it is not clear if Edward gave an order or if the commander of this unit took the initiative but these troops attacks the Lancastrians in the flank soon Henry's forces were routed sources claimed that 20,000 Lancastrians and up to 10,000 Yorkists were killed making tauten the bloodiest battle fought on English soil after the decisive victory at tauten in 1461 Edward the fourth returned to London for his coronation while Henry the sixth alongside his wife Margaret and son Edward fled to Scotland the Lancastrian party still controlled part of Northumberland and Edward left Richard of Warwick aptly-named the kingmaker for his role in the rise of the York's to deal with the last remnants of the resistance by 1463 Warwick retook all of the castles belonging to the Lancastrian Nobles and returned to the south as Edwards position was strong he decided to forgive some of his past enemies among them Henry Somerset and Ralph Percy King Edward was wearing that the Scots supported the Lancaster's throughout the first phase of the war so in 1463 he asks James the third to sign a treaty the Scots agreed and sent their diplomats to York in 1464 to prevent the agreement from happening Lancastrian Nobles nudged by Queen Margaret rebelled in 1464 under the leadership of Somerset and Percy in Northumberland Edward sent a force led by Warwick's brother John Neville to the north and in May he defeated Somerset at hexam all Lancastrian leaders were killed which ended the rebellion for good the treaty with the Scots were signed and Queen Margaret and Prince Edward escaped to France to their relative king louis xi in 1465 Henry the sixth was captured in Lancashire and brought to London which ushered in a short period of peace in England during this time Richard Warwick became even more powerful assuming many offices and taking lands from the Lancastrians he tried to assert influence over the young king and he saw negotiations with Louis in 1466 as one of the ways to do it Warwick tried to marry Edward with the daughter of the French King and and this is where a secret came out the King had privately married Elizabeth Woodville in 1464 and the fact that she was from the lower nobility shocked the magnates on top of that Edward entered a secret alliance with the Duke of Burgundy shalva bald negating Warwick's negotiations with Louis and embarrassing him Warwick left the court in 1467 and started plotting against the king in 1469 one of his captain's started a rebellion in the north Eduard moved to Nottingham in the early days of July but upon learning that the rebels outnumbered him decided to wait for reinforcements however Warwick entered London a few days after and declared for the rebels alongside his son-in-law the King's brother George the rebels managed to bypass Nottingham and attacks the Royal reinforcements at a place called Edge Cod more supported by Warwick's troops the rebels routed the forces of the King Edward was captured on his way back to London Warwick's attempt to rule in the King's name or even to thrown him failed as Edward was still very popular among the nobility and the commoners rebellions forced Warwick to release the King and he ended up with even less influence over governance than before so Warwick decided to instigate another rebellion in Lincolnshire in March of 1417 this time the king moved swiftly not allowing the rebels to connect with Warwick at loos Coldfield Edwards outnumbered army defeated and routed the rebels this forced Warwick to flee to France where Louis reconciled him with Queen Margaret kingmaker was going to restore Henry the sixth who by now wasn't in possession of his faculties to the English throne using French support in September Warwick landed in Devon initially Edward was planning to march against him but Warwick's brother John who had remained loyal to the King until now finally rebelled and Edward had no other choice but to leave England in October Warwick entered London and restored Henry to the throne meanwhile Edward found refuge in Flanders which was under the control of Shalva brave although the help he received from Burgundy was minimal Edward returns to England in March of 1471 Edward used deceit stating that he was not vying for the throne and had come back to reclaim the Duchy of York the City of York allowed him to enter and soon he started his march towards London receiving reinforcements along the way even his disloyal brother George rejoined him [Music] it seems that Warwick was waiting for aid from his allies in England and France so he avoided battle as it was expected that Edmund Somerset would defend the capital however the Londoners preferred Edward and Somerset was forced to leave either to avoid rebellion or to unite with Margaret who was going to land in Dorset Edward took control of the city and captured Henry the 6th yet again Edward had between ten and fifteen thousand men and was outnumbered by Warwick's army which had more than 20,000 but he knew that he needed to attack before more reinforcements could join his enemy from the south [Music] Warwick was probably hoping to block the roads to the north as only 12th of April his troops took a position to the north of London at a place called Barnet the Yorkist army arrived on the evening of the 13th and Edward positioned his troops in the dark planning to take his stand at dawn it is said that Edward made a mistake in the dark under estimating the distance between the two armies and moved his troops closer to those of Warwick than he had intended this however proved fortunate as the Lancastrians who were using their artillery to weaken their enemy were overshooting Edwards troops who moved through most of the night to take up positions he deployed Hastings on the left and his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester aged 18 at the time on the right while George was to stay with him in the centre a small reserve was stationed behind the main line opposite Ben Warwick and his brother John Neville commanded the center with Exeter on the left side and Oxford on the right the Lancastrian nights were dismounted as that usually showed that they weren't going to retreat and would fight among the commoners until the very end [Music] as the morning of April 14th dawned a mist engulfed the battlefield the armies failed to line up parallel to each other with both ending up in a slight oblique formation in relation to the enemy the Lancastrians had numbers so this at first worked to their advantage Oxford's unit attacks the flank of Edwards Army Hastings troops were soon overwhelmed many of them died during the retreat while the remainder fled all the way to London claiming that Edward had already lost the battle unfortunately for Warwick a big part of Oxford's unit remained detached from the battle as they attempted to loot their fallen enemies with only part of it returning to the fight as visibility was still poor neither side knew about these events meanwhile Gloucester repeated Oxford's manoeuvre attacking the Lancastrian left and pushing Exeter's troops back this shifted the lines yet again Warwick aware of this all did his reserves to support Exeter and restore the formation while his forces moved against the enemy's centre and the lines finally joined it is said that the remainder of Oxford's troops returns to the battle at this point and in the mist ended up behind the reserves commanded by John Neville which were sent to support Exeter apparently Oxford's coat of arms with stars on it was mistaken for Edwards banner with the Sun on it the panicked forces of neville turned towards Oxford's troops and unleashed their bows killing many of their comrades as back-stabbing was so common during this period Oxford and his men cried treason and started retreating to the north this cry resonated across the Lancastrian line which ended up in disarray at this point the fog started to dissipate and Edward seeing his enemies panicked sent in his reserves to move across the right side and attack the Lancastrians from the flank and rear soon Warwick and Neville were killed while Exeter was captured between five and ten Lancastrians were dead while the Yorkists lost less than a thousand [Music] [Applause] unfortunately for Edward while this battle was raging Queen Margaret and her son Prince Edward landed in Dorset and were greeted by Somerset Edwards dismissed most of his troops and returns to London then learned about the arrival of Margaret two days later the Queen knew about the death of Warwick at Barnet so she decided to move towards Wales with her 6,000 strong army to connect with one of her supporters Jasper Tudor a few of her units were sent to the east to deceive Edward but the king was not fooled and moved swiftly to the west with his remaining 5000 by the time Margaret reached Bristol on the 30th of April Edward was at cirencester some 60 kilometers to the northeast he attempted to block the Lancastrian route to the north which was outmaneuvered it was becoming clear that Margaret was trying to move across the River Severn to reach Wales so Edward sent a message to the governor of Gloucester the city which controlled to the nearest crossing ordering him not to let Margaret pass the Lancastrian army had no other choice but to move to the north and cross near Tewksbury however Edward was moving as swiftly as usual and his speed made it impossible for the Lancastrians to cross the bridge on the 4th of May they were forced to fight him at Tewkesbury the battlefield was full of small woods hedges and marshes which was favorable for the Lancastrians who assumed a defensive position dividing their army into three equal parts their left and rear were protected by a river while the center was positioned on a hill similarly Edward divided his troops into three groups but a small cavalry ambush was placed in the woods to the extreme left the Yorkists also had a decided advantage in artillery as the army of the Queen was forced to abandon its cannons during the march the battle started with a Yorkist advance supported by artillery volleys but as the terrain was broken it was impossible for Edward to move in a coherent line somerset attempted to use the divide in the enemy forces and attacked the unit commanded by edward initially this charge surprised the king and his troops and they were pushed back however the charging Lancastrians ended up with the ambushing Horseman to they're rare and a charge routed them most of this unit was cut down according to the legend Somerset managed to return to his main line and kills the commander of the center who failed to support him it was clear that the Lancastrians had lost and their retreat ended up in a massacre most of the Lancastrian commanders among them Somerset and Prince Edward were executed while margaret was taken captive on the 4th of May 1471 King Edward the fourth of the House of York decisively defeated his enemies from the House of Lancaster at Tewkesbury most of the Lancastrian leaders among them Prince Edward and Edmund of Somerset were killed while the Queen Margaret of Anjou became captive the King knew that some Lancastrian allies chief among them Jasper Tudor were active in Wales and Northern England so he moved his troops to Coventry to prevent these enemies from uniting their forces [Music] meanwhile one of the last representatives of the Neville family Thomas landed in Kent and started recruiting troops on his march to London by the 14th of May he had 15,000 under his command and was attacking London which was critical both as the capital and the place the Lancastrian King Henry the sixth was kept prisoner the Londoners supported the York's at this point and not only sent messengers to Edward the fourth but also repulsed all the attacks of Thomas Neville Edward was fast as usual and entered London on the 21st of May on the same night Henry the sixth was executed and Thomas Neville who learned about fists and the law Santa Tewksbury retreated to the south his troops now demoralized the Lancastrian leader decided to surrender at the same time the rebellion in the north also fizzled out it would be helpful to look at the family tree of the English monarchs at this point with the execution of Henry the sixth the House of Lancaster was exterminated and the remaining challenger to Edward the fourth was fourteen year old Henry Tudor who had a weak claim to the English throne by his matrilineal ties to the House of Beaufort which was descended from the son of Edward the third John of Gaunt Henry Tudor was with his uncle Jasper in Wales at that point and upon learning about the events in London they decided to flee they were heading to France which was ruled by Henry's relatives Louis but a storm forced them to land in Brittany its ruler Juke francis ii was willing to use henri as a bargaining chip in his dealings with france and england so the Tudors became partly hostages partly guests in Brittany Frances rejected the bribes and threats from the English King through the years still England entered a period of relative peace as Edward had no real opponents louis xi traditionally supported his enemies so when the duke of burgundy offered to help with the old english claim to the French throne with his troops Edward agreed and in 1474 they signed a treaty in London in June of 1475 the English King landed in Calais but received no support from burgundy neither Edward nor Laurie was willing to fight so the former bribed the latter by signing the Treaty of pichini during this period the relationships between these brothers of the English King Richard of Gloucester and George of Clarence were tense and in 1478 George was accused of plotting against Edward and been arrested and executed as Richard had supported Edward throughout the Wars of the Roses the King elevated Richard to effectively control northern England although Edward was just 40 years old he became terminally ill in 1483 and soon passed away there are multiple theories about his death and even poisoning is not ruled out but in any case his twelve-year-old son Edward v became the king with Richard Gloucester as the regent however on the way to London Richard ordered the relatives and closest allies of the Queen Elizabeth Woodville to be arrested Edward v and his brother were placed in the Tower of London just a few months later the offspring of Edward the fourth and Elizabeth Woodville were declared illegitimate and Richard the third claimed the throne the fate of Edward v and his brother is unclear but they had disappeared while the legend of the princes in the tower became famous this naked power grab would stir the political situation in England once again Queen Elizabeth started plotting with the mother of Henry Tudor Margaret Beaufort Margaret's new husband the Earl of Derby Thomas Stanley and the Duke of Buckingham Henry Stafford also became part of this plot in the fall of 1483 Henry Tudor sailed from Brittany while Buckingham started a rebellion in the west and south of England however severe storms prevented Henry from landing in England while Buckingham was slowed down and not able to unite his forces with other rebels soon the rebels were defeated by Richard Buckingham was executed and Henry had to return to Brittany the English king demanded that Frances of Brittany extradite Henry but his demands were reviewed so Richard sent his navy to blockade Brittany at this point Duke Francis fell ill and as his ministers were willing to surrender the fugitive for a bribe Henry escapes to France at the end of 1484 henry publicly promised to marry the daughter event with the fourth elizabeth to unite the dynasties which strengthened his position in England Henry received support from the new French King shall be 8th and recruited mercenaries back in England Richard's wife passed away and the rumours claimed that he wanted to marry his niece Elizabeth this spurred henry to action and on the 1st of August 1485 he set sail from France at home Fleur and landed in Wales on the seventh without meeting any obstacles despite the fact Richard had placed small Garrison's to blockade a naval invasion as Henry had Welsh blood many local Lords joined him and on the 15th he entered England near Shrewsbury meanwhile Richard learned about the landing on the 11th of August it took him a few days to gather all his forces on the 16th the Yorkist forces started moving towards Leicester although that gave Henry a chance to move towards London he also marched his troops towards Leicester as he had allies in the area and needed their help to win gathering these allies henry moved closer to Richard on the 21st the armies in camps to the south of Bosworth with Richard taking ambien Hill while Henry stopped at a place called white Moors Thomas Stanley seemingly promised to join both sides but instead made a camp at a hill called dabbling turn to the south of Henry and Richard the Tudors had more than 5000 troops while the York's probably filled it an army closer to 10,000 Stanley's 5,000 were a wild card on the morning of the 22nd Henry arrayed most of his forces in one large unit commanded by the Lancastrian veteran of the Battle of Barnet Joan of Oxford while he led a small reserve the Tudor Army started marching towards their numerically superior enemy Richard was surprised by this as he expected Henry to take a defensive stance the battle was not beginning according to his expectations still he managed to get his army into three groups Joan of Norfolk commanded the right Percy of Northumberland the left while the king was leading the center while the tutors were getting closer the Yorkist artillery opened fire upon them Oxford was prepared for that and his troops started shifting to attack the left flank of the Orcas Tommy this put his main division directly against Norfolk and the artillery barrage stopped to prevent friendly fire although the Yorkists had numbers on their side oxford widened his line on the March before the two groups finally clashed the Tudor forces started to push back their counterparts at the same time Northumberland on Richards left flank wasn't moving in either due to betrayal or in fear that Stanley who still hadn't made his move might attack him from the rear Richard needed to turn his centre to descend from the hill but it was moving too slow and that allowed the Tudor rearguard to move in and attack Norfolk from the right seeing Henry's dragon banner Richard decided to charge against him with a thousand horsemen initially this charge pushed Henry's forces back and the unit was close to panic however the Challenger to the throne stood firm and his bodyguards managed to stand the tide Oxford also supported his liege sending a group of pikemen to attack Richard from the left this attack started pushing the English King towards the marshes in the southeast simultaneously Stanley sent his younger brother William to join the battle and he attacked Richards group from the right this was the final straw the Knights around Richard started dying and soon he was killed with a blow to his head the news of his death ended the battle we have conflicting information on the casualties but it seems that they were relatively low as the fight took less than two hours and was decided in the engagement of two groups of knights after Henry dismissed his mercenaries established his rule over England and married Elizabeth of York it seemed as though the War of the Roses was over indeed many considered the battle at Bosworth Field to be the concluding moment of this war but Yorkist sympathizers would not allow Henry's rule to begin smoothly francis by count Louisville and Sir Humphry Stafford and his brother Sir Thomas Stafford had escaped and fled to the sanctuary of Colchester Abbey they had lost their lands and titles but still felt they had sufficient power to rally the common people against the new king in April of 1486 eight months after Bosworth the trio left the sanctuary of the Abbey and began to incite armed rebellion Lovell traveled to the region of Yorkshire around Middleham Castle which was a former Yorkist stronghold while the Stafford duo went to Worcestershire in the West Midlands Henry the seventh was in Lincoln when he received news of the budding Yorkist revolt traveling on his first royal procession with the large retinue he had with him a decision was made to deal with Lovell first as Henry feared the reaction of the traditionally Yorkist areas that level was rising in a rebellion by the time Henry reached the city of York on April 23rd the rebels were struggling to gain any traction due to the lack of a central Yorkist figure to rally behind the nail in the coffin was hammered in by Jasper Tudor who were sent to offer pardons to all of the rebels except for Lovell this worked out and while the rebellion collapsed in Yorkshire Lovell eventually fled to burgundy and to the court of Edward the fourth sister Margaret of York to the south the Stafford's had no greater success in Worcestershire and the incipient rebellion utterly collapsed after news arrived of Lovells flight and the fact that Henry was coming with a large army with that the 1486 rebellion fell apart but it did inspire many other smaller bouts of unrest elsewhere in the country which were quickly quelled [Music] meanwhile in Burgundy Louisville discovered that he was not the only exiled Englishman present many of the Yorkists including a Calais captain known as Thomas David who had brought a part of the Calais garrison with him who were present they quickly became allies another prominent Yorkist who had survived the Battle of Bosworth was the Earl of Lincoln Sir John Dilip pol a nephew of Edward the fourth after King Richard's death in 1485 Henry had imprisoned Edward Plantagenet 17th Earl of Warwick who was a potential rival to the throne as the nearest male heir of the Yorkist line an Oxford priests known as Richard Simon's noticed a striking physical resemblance between a scholar named Lambert Simnel and the imprisoned Warwick and he was claimed to be the real thing Lincoln realized this was an opportunity to rally the Yorkist Lords at Margaret's court to him with financial backing in the form of mercenaries and ships the false Warwick Lovell Lincoln and other die-hard Yorkists in Burgundy now sailed for Ireland the mercenaries which had been hired were 2,000 Germans under the command of a captain martin Schwarz whose men had gained a reputation as rapacious and capable fighters in campaigns against France shortly after the arrival of Louisville and Lincoln in Ireland on the 24th of May 1487 the false Warwick was crowned as Edward the 6th in christchurch cathedral dublin the irish lords who most likely sought to benefit from the revolt by gaining independence supported this pretender king without hesitation other dissatisfied Yorkists from as far away as Jersey and Cornwall began to flock to Ireland in hopes of assisting this restoration and the army therefore grew in size King Henry had been keeping an eye on the situation since January and by April had come to the conclusion that the movement would lead to an armed invasion knowing that the prominent remaining Yorkists were at first in Burgundy henry had moved his court to norwich in order to be best placed to resist an invasion from the south or east however when the king learned that the Irish Lords had accepted the Pretender King upon his arrival in the country he moved his base to the western city of Coventry aware that an invasion was now imminent Henry ordered that warning beacons were to be made ready and the nobles were to begin assembling at Kenilworth Castle where the king was making his final plans to face the phone after setting sail from Dublin on the 2nd of June the rebels came ashore on the Lancashire coastline two days later near peal Island Infernus as soon as they landed they formally declared for Edward the 6th and then set off inland almost immediately that night they encamped at a place named swathmore near Alveston where more Yorkist forces under Sir Thomas Broughton joined them the following day the rebel force set off for Yorkshire moving through Carnforth where they were further reinforced by contingents sent by the anti Tudor Harrington and Middleton families as they crossed the border into Yorkshire itself additional supporters joined them but the extremely rapid progress of the revolt prevented them from rallying their full forces Lincoln now chose to write a warning addressed to the Lord Mayor of York in the name of Edward the 6th stating that his army intended to enter the city in order to gather supplies however the divided citizens did not know whose side to take and they eventually decided to remain loyal to Henry who had been generous to them in his short time as king blinkin soon received a reply from the city leaders of york stating that if he tried to enter the city he would be resisted with force this was a setback but on the 11th of June this rebel force won a minor victory against a Lancastrian force led by Sir Henry Clifford capturing his baggage-train intact realizing that a rapid advance would be more beneficial than a lengthy siege the victorious Lincoln made the decision to turn south instead aware that the king would attempt to intercept them on the March a decision was made to head for the Nottinghamshire town of Newark Henry was well served by his many Scouts and agents quickly becoming aware of the rapid rebel advance correctly anticipating their destination the king arrived at Nottingham on June 14th the rebels continued their march south via Castleford and towards Rotherham reaching the town of southwell by the 14th on the 15th the two forces finally neared one another at a small village known as east Stoke the rebel army which broke camp on the morning of the 16th of June 1487 consisted of around 8,000 men at arms primarily consisting of farmers and other common folk who had been recruited on the march south mm more of the highly trained German mercenaries were also dispersed through the army along with a small Irish contingent when Henry's men left camp that morning they continued to march down the force way in a column rather than in battle formation and were spread across several miles of the old Roman Road this was due to the fact that the Royal Army was not aware that the rebels were nearby fully formed up for battle near East Stoke leading the vanguard of the army was the Earl of Oxford who quickly became aware of the rebel position and now had to make a crucial decision which would decide the fate of the battle aware that a retreat would mean a devastating blow to morale and standing his ground would be a massive risk Oxford instead chose to attack after sending a message about the situation to the king who were several miles behind putting faith in the superior equipment and training of his 6,000 strong Vanguard Oxford marched towards the 10,000 rebel troops in battle order [Music] at 9:00 a.m. the two sides drew ever closer to one another and began an arrow exchange the Royal troops inflicted heavy losses on the badly armored rebels at first but then the Royal troops had to adjust their formation as they reached the base of berhan furlong a small hill on which the rebels had formed up as they did this the largely unarmored Irish contingent charged down the hill as they were being badly mauled by the arrow fire hoping to prevent a catastrophic partial attack the rebel commanders committed the entire army to this downhill charge they made contact with the enemy driving them back due to superior numbers and momentum as Oxford's hard-pressed men were on the verge of completely routing the Kings main force arrived from the rear and began feeding fresh troops into the line the rebels now hopelessly outnumbered found themselves gradually pushed back towards the hill and then up it less than three hours after the conflict had started the rebel line broke and their army routed as the rebels fled the majority of them tried to escape along a ravine leading from the hill down to the River Trent which was nearby many of them were cornered by the Kings troops here and were slain in their hundreds this grim place is still known locally as the red gutter as the slaughter was apparently so great that the floor of the ravine ran red with blood the false Edward the Sith Lambert Simnel was captured by a squire and was surprisingly spared [Music] this was the final battle of the war of the roses and the Tudor dynasty would rule England for over a century after we always have more stories to tell so make sure you are subscribed to our channel and have pressed the bell button we would like to express our gratitude to our patreon supporters and channel members who make the creation of our videos possible now you can also support us by buying our merchandise Fivey link in the description this is the kings and Generals channel and we will catch you on the next one

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 1,520,480

Rating: 4.898294 out of 5

Keywords: Bosworth, Wars of the Roses, DOCUMENTARY, house of York, Edward IV, Barnet, Tewkesbury, England, English History, Lancasters, Henry VII, Tudors, Richard III, medieval history, animated historical documentary, battle of towton, war of the roses, full documentary, full length documentaries, kings and generals, world history, documentary film, decisive battles, history channel, medieval, game of thrones, military history, history documentary, king and generals, history lesson

Id: Do7XBxUVJsE

Length: 53min 21sec (3201 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 24 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/sin-cere-]

Taken from the description; “In this new Kings and Generals animated historical documentary, we will cover the Wars of the Roses, describing one of the first Civil Wars in English history. The Hundred Years' War is over and the descendants of Edward III now divided into the houses of Lancaster, York, and Tudor will fight for the crown. This video features the battles of St. Albans, Wakefield, Towton, Barnet, Tewkesbury, Bosworth and Stoke Field.”

[u/floofnstuff]

This is one of my favorite periods of history. It seems to have inspired the words chivalry and intrigue, yet it was brutal and beautiful at the same time. And people so iconic they will be remembered forever.

[u/Logic990]

Isn't this where George R.R. martin got his inspiration for GoT??

[u/darthfitzi]

Piltown

[u/Silurio1]

7 add pauses. No thanks. May watch it when I get home if it’s any good.

[u/Paperaxe]

This was a great PS2 yugioh game

[u/Larry-a-la-King]

Love Kings and Generals.