50 Fun Facts About Wars of the Roses

Which two rival branches of the House of Plantagenet fought the Wars of the Roses?

York's badge was a white rose; the red rose of Lancaster was only really adopted after Henry Tudor's victory in 1485.

Between which years are the Wars of the Roses conventionally dated?

They ran from the first pitched battle in 1455 to Henry VII's victory over the last Yorkist army in 1487.

Which novelist's 1829 book Anne of Geierstein brought the name 'Wars of the Roses' into common use?

He drew on Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 1, where nobles pick red or white roses in the Temple Church garden; contemporaries just called them the civil wars.

How old was Henry VI when he succeeded his father Henry V in 1422?

A weak and mentally unsound ruler, he was fought over by his Beaufort relatives and his queen on one side and his cousin the Duke of York on the other.

What term did Charles Plummer coin in 1885 for the system of paid retinues that let magnates defy the crown?

Lords paid retainers rather than owing feudal service, building private armies loyal to themselves rather than the king.

Where was the 1455 clash in which York captured Henry VI, regarded as the opening of the wars?

Parliament then made York Lord Protector; fighting resumed four years later.

At which battle in December 1460 was Richard, Duke of York, killed?

He had sortied from Sandal Castle for reasons still unclear; his son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, died too, and Warwick's father was executed the next day.

What phenomenon, appearing as three suns, greeted Edward's army at Mortimer's Cross in 1461?

Edward calmed his men by calling it a sign of God's favour and later took the 'sun in splendour' as a badge; the Lancastrian commander was executed after the battle.

Which 1461 Palm Sunday snowstorm battle is called 'the largest and bloodiest on English soil'?

An estimated 50,000 men fought for ten hours in North Yorkshire; Yorkist archers used the wind to outrange the Lancastrians.

Whom did Edward IV marry in 1464 against the advice of the Earl of Warwick?

Warwick had been negotiating a French match; the snub, and Edward's turn to Burgundy, drove the earl into rebellion in 1469.

By what nickname is Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, known?

The wealthiest peer of his age, he first backed York, then restored Henry VI in 1470, and died fighting his former protege Edward IV in 1471.

Which of Edward IV's brothers did Warwick try and fail to put on the throne in 1469?

Clarence had married Warwick's daughter Isabel; he later drowned in a butt of malmsey wine, according to legend, after his 1478 attainder.

To where did Edward IV flee in 1470 when Warwick and Henry VI's queen invaded and restored the old king?

He came back within months with Burgundian help, and Henry's brief 'readeption' ended within months.

At which battle on Easter Day 1471 was the Earl of Warwick killed?

It was fought in thick fog, and mistaken badges caused fatal confusion in the Lancastrian ranks.

Whose badge so resembled Edward IV's 'sun in splendour' that Lancastrians attacked their own side at Barnet?

John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, went on to command Henry Tudor's army at Bosworth fourteen years later.

Which Lancastrian heir, Henry VI's only son, was killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury in May 1471?

Henry VI died in the Tower shortly afterwards, ending the male Lancastrian line.

How was Henry VI's death in the Tower of London officially explained?

He was almost certainly murdered, possibly on Edward IV's orders, days after his son's death at Tewkesbury.

Which French-born queen led the Lancastrian faction, giving recruits a silver swan badge?

Daughter of René, King of Naples, she was Henry VI's wife and, in the words of one chronicler, had 'stomach and courage more like a man'.

How tall was Edward IV, unusually for the period, according to contemporaries?

Handsome and energetic, he dressed splendidly to contrast with the frail Henry VI.

How long did the twelve-year-old Edward V reign in 1483 before being deposed by his uncle?

He was never crowned; Richard of Gloucester had him lodged in the Tower on 19 May and Parliament declared him illegitimate in June.

How old were the Princes in the Tower, Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, when their father died in 1483?

They vanished after a last sighting in the Tower that summer; workmen later found two small skeletons under a staircase, now buried in Westminster Abbey.

In which year did workmen at the Tower dig up a box with two small skeletons, widely taken to be the princes?

Charles II had the bones buried in Westminster Abbey; whether they are the princes has never been proven.

On what date was the Battle of Bosworth Field fought?

It was the last significant battle of the wars, won by an alliance of Lancastrians and disaffected Yorkists under Henry Tudor.

Which noble family's forces were the 'wildcard' at Bosworth, ultimately turning against Richard III?

The Earl of Northumberland also failed to move when signalled, prompting Richard's fatal charge at Henry Tudor.

Under what banner did Henry Tudor's forces fight at Bosworth?

The red rose of Lancaster only came into use afterwards, and was combined with York's white rose.

What was Richard III's personal device, used by his army at Bosworth?

The falcon and fetterlock was his father's Yorkist badge and the sun in splendour his brother Edward IV's.

Whom did Henry VII marry in January 1486 to unite the two houses?

She was Edward IV's eldest daughter and heir; their first son, Arthur, was born eight months later.

What emblem was created by combining the white and red roses after 1485?

The rose as a royal badge went back to Edward I's 'golden rose stalked proper'.

Which battle in June 1487 is considered the last of the Wars of the Roses?

Henry VII crushed a Yorkist army of German mercenaries and Irish troops fighting for the pretender Lambert Simnel.

What job did Henry VII give the boy pretender Lambert Simnel after pardoning him?

He was later promoted to falconer; a priest had coached him to impersonate one of the Princes in the Tower.

In which city was Richard III's skeleton discovered under a car park in August 2012?

It lay on the site of the Greyfriars friary; after DNA testing he was reburied in Leicester Cathedral in March 2015.

Which Richard III Society member drove the 'Looking for Richard' project that found his grave?

She became convinced the car park was the key site while researching a screenplay in 2004-05.

Which 1450 uprising in Kent is often seen as a precursor to the wars?

It came weeks after the English defeat at Formigny that opened Normandy to French reconquest.

From which son of Edward III did the House of Lancaster descend?

The Beauforts, his legitimised children by Katherine Swynford, were barred from the succession by Henry IV - a bar Henry Tudor's claim had to overcome.

What post let Warwick raid Castilian and Hanseatic fleets in 1458?

Calais gave him a base, an army and contacts with the French and Burgundian courts.

At which July 1460 battle was Henry VI captured a second time, with Buckingham killed defending him?

York then returned from Ireland and shocked Parliament by laying his hand on the throne to claim it.

What was the 1460 settlement recognising York as Henry VI's heir, disinheriting the Prince of Wales, called?

The queen refused to accept it, and within weeks York was dead in battle.

After which 1469 battle, won by Warwick's supporters, was Edward IV briefly imprisoned?

The queen's father Lord Rivers and brother John Woodville were seized and murdered in the aftermath.

Whose death in March 1485 sparked rumours that Richard III meant to marry his own niece?

The rumours alienated his northern supporters and threatened to split the Yorkists who had thrown in with Henry Tudor.

Where was the Duke of Buckingham executed after his failed rebellion against Richard III in 1483?

Henry Tudor's supporting fleet was scattered by a storm, and Richard put the rising down easily.

How was Henry Tudor descended from Edward III?

That made him the closest surviving male heir of the Lancastrian line, if a rather distant one.

How old was Richard, Duke of Gloucester, at the Easter 1471 battle, his first major engagement?

Slender and seemingly delicate, unlike his giant brother, he nonetheless earned respect for his military prowess.

Where did Henry Tudor's invasion force land unopposed on 7 August, two weeks before Bosworth?

His first attempt in 1483 had foundered in a storm; his victory made him the first Welsh monarch of England.

Which captured Lancastrian, husband of Henry V's widow, was executed after the 1461 Battle of Mortimer's Cross?

His grandson Henry Tudor would take the throne 24 years later.

In which Shakespeare play does the rose-picking scene in the Temple Church gardens appear?

In Shakespeare's day the conflict was just 'the civil wars'; the 17th-century English Civil War created the need for a new name.

Which unpopular Lord High Treasurer was executed by Jack Cade's rebels in 1450?

The rebel manifesto, The Complaint of the Poor Commons of Kent, accused the crown of extortion, perverted justice and election fraud.

Henry VI's mental illness may have been inherited from which maternal grandfather?

His passivity left English forces in France weak; the catastrophic defeat at Castillon in July 1453 ended the Hundred Years' War.

Which French king brokered the reconciliation between Warwick and Margaret of Anjou in 1470?

Warwick's daughter Anne was married to Margaret's son Edward of Westminster as part of the deal to restore Henry VI.

How much was Edward IV's annual pension under the 1475 Treaty of Picquigny with France?

He also received an initial payment of 75,000 crowns to withdraw his invasion; in 1482 his forces retook Berwick from Scotland.

Which sister of Edward IV publicly recognised the pretender Perkin Warbeck as Richard of Shrewsbury?

Warbeck was even acknowledged as 'Richard IV' at the funeral of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III before his eventual capture.