The War of the Roses

The two royal families fought bloody battles for more than 30 years, but in the end, illegitimate children with almost no royal blood became big winners.

The son of the Queen of England is the king, so is the grandson, but the grandson and son are not father and son.

A girl of 13 years old gave birth to a son. She remarried twice for this son and finally made him king.

These are real events that happened in wars of the roses. Although this 30-year-old family bloody battle took place from Henry VI in 1455 to Tudor in 1485, it was Henry IV who opened Pandora's box.

Henry IV-Open Pandora's Box

All the contenders for the throne in wars of the roses have a common ancestor, Edward III, who attacked France and launched the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France. He has five underage sons, the firstborn Edward and black prince; Lionel, Second Duke of Clarence, John, Third Duke of Lancaster, Edmund, Fourth Duke of York, Thomas, Fifth Duke of Gloucester.

Edward III ruled for 50 years, and black prince Edward died in 1376. At the age of 10, Edward III inherited Richard II, the son of Edward the Black Prince, and his third son, John, Duke of Lancaster, was the regent. John tried his best to help Richard II. His eldest son, Henry, was exiled overseas for six years for committing crimes.

During the reign of Richard II, foreign countries lost many battles in the Hundred Years' War and lost a lot of French territory occupied by Edward III. At home, he arrested his uncle Thomas, Duke of trost, and executed him without trial in 1397, depriving him of his title and territory. John died of illness on 1399. Thought charles ii would pardon Henry and let him come back to inherit John's title and territory, but charles ii changed Henry to life exile and confiscated the Duke of Lancaster.

1400 When Richard II invaded Ireland personally, Henry, who was in France, led mercenaries across the ocean, and with the help of nobles who opposed Richard at home, defeated and captured Richard II. Henry deposed Richard himself as king of England and became Henry IV, which also opened the Pandora's box in the royal family to seize the throne by strength rather than inheritance.

Henry V-Sow the seeds of bloody roses.

Henry IV performed well under his rule, but his son Henry V was a malicious character. After he became king, he took advantage of the civil chaos to invade France again and won a series of battles, such as the Battle of Ginkul. 1420, Henry V forced the French "mad king" charles vi to sign "treaty of troyes", which was almost equal to national subjugation. The treaty confirmed that Britain occupied French territory and married charles vi's daughter, Princess Catherine, through Henry V. At this time, Henry V should be smugly imagining how to build the future British-French United Kingdom, but he didn't know that this treaty had planted the seeds of bloody roses.

Henry VI-King Hui of England

In terms of behavior and IQ, Henry VI is Jin Huidi, which is really a little too contemptuous. People around Henry VI described him as a thrifty, elegant, generous and pious man. He is also keen on education and has set up two foundations for Eton College and King's College in Cambridge. Such a king, if he is the constitutional monarch of Britain hundreds of years later, must be a respected monarch. It's a pity that he was born in the era of European powers' hegemony. All the advantages of Henry are inferior to his achilles' heel-weakness. What's more, he inherited the mental illness of his grandfather charles vi.

1435 and 1447, two uncles who were regents in France and England died one after another. Henry VI used William de La Bohr as the king's adviser. William was once Henry V's most trusted general, but after Henry V's death, his record in France was in a mess, and he was even redeemed by Joan of Arc's captives with a large sum of money, but Henry VI trusted him very much. At 65438+. 1450 In May, the Duke of Suffolk was impeached in Parliament. In order to avoid being executed, Henry VI declared exile, but Suffolk's escape ship was hijacked in the English Channel and Suffolk was killed on the spot. Then a rebellion broke out in London, and weak Henry VI was at a loss. At this time, a woman stood up, showed superb political skills and quickly suppressed the rebellion. She is Henry VI's wife, Margaret of Anjou.

The weak king and two political strongmen

1445, Henry married Charles VII's niece Margaret Anjou. /kloc-when the kingdom was in turmoil in 0/450, she showed strong political skills. Henry VI's weakness gave Margaret a chance to gain real power, but she also needed a political ally. After Suffolk's death, she chose to form an alliance with Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Henry VI is the great-grandson of John and his first wife, and Edmund is the grandson of John of Gaunt (the first Duke of Lancaster) and his third wife, so Edmund Beaufort is actually Henry VI's uncle, and they both belong to house of lancaster. Edmund's brother John beaufort has a daughter named Margaret beaufort. Margaret is not obvious now, but she played a crucial role in the later period of wars of the roses.

Henry VI's weakness also made another man have political ambitions. He is Richard Plantagenet, the third Duke of York (grandson of Edmund, the first Duke of York). Richard Plantagenet's father is Richard, the second son of Edmund, Earl of Cambridge, and his mother is Anne Mortimer, the great-granddaughter of Lionel, Earl of Clarence (consanguineous marriage, separated by two generations). From the perspective of inheritance, Richard II designated the heir to the throne as his second brother, the Duke of Clarence, because he had no children. However, the Duke of York thinks he is also the legal heir to the throne. 1450 The Duke of Suffolk died suddenly. He came back from Ireland with his army and wanted to control state affairs.

Political struggle before the war

1450 The sudden death of the Duke of Suffolk left a huge power space. When Richard, Duke of York, came back from Ireland with the intention of regency, Margaret, Queen of Henry VI, and the Duke of Somerset had formed an alliance, and the Duke of Somerset became the Chief Minister. In Richard's eyes, the dead Suffolk and now Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, are sinners of the country. When they were in power, Britain lost many wars against France, and now the country is in chaos. So Richard gathered troops near London and demanded that the Duke of Somerset be tried. Soon, Henry VI agreed to make Richard lord protector, but he had to disband the army.

When Richard disbanded his army and went to town to accept power, he found himself trapped by the Queen and the Duke of Somerset. What awaits him is not the power to run the country. Like a prisoner, he was taken to St. Paul's Cathedral by soldiers, asking him to kneel before the king in public and swear allegiance, and vowed not to commit treason again. The Duke of York, who suffered great humiliation, temporarily withdrew from the power struggle, but soon he will make a comeback!

1453 In the spring, after eight years of marriage, Queen Margaret finally got pregnant. If she can give birth to a prince, her position will be more stable. However, the failure in the French battlefield came again, and Henry VI was stimulated by this and suddenly fainted. The Duke of York seized this opportunity and launched a new power struggle. This time, the queen without the support of the king failed, and the Duke of Somerset was imprisoned in the Tower of London for treason.

1554, the parliament awarded the title of lord protector to the Duke of York, and the Duke of York was in power, which also showed good ruling ability, put down the rebellion in the north and restored the stability of the country. If all goes well, the Duke of York will become the new king after Henry VI's death.

That's obviously not that simple. 1455, Henry VI miraculously woke up from a coma. With the support of the king, Queen Margaret returned to power and released the imprisoned Duke of Somerset. Obviously, the Duke of York will not wait to die. He fled London quickly and assembled an army in the north. He decided to follow Henry IV's example and use force to obtain what politics could not.

The beginning of wars of the roses, the first battle of St. Albans.

On May 2 1455 and 2 1 day, the troops of more than 7,000 men led by the Duke of York and his ally Earl Warwick met the troops of more than 2,000 men led by the King and the Duke of Somerset in St. Albans. Although other reinforcements from house of lancaster are coming, the king's army is obviously outnumbered. Henry VI and the Duke of Somerset don't think there will be a war, but they think they will negotiate to reach a compromise as before. But the Duke of York, who suffered a loss once, didn't think so. After the Duke of Somerset refused to surrender, the York army began to attack. Although the king's army resisted the first attack, Earl Warwick, an ally of the Duke of York, launched a side attack in the second attack. The king's army was defeated, Henry VI was captured, and the Duke of Somerset was killed in a pub on his way to escape.