CAUSES OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES: An Overview

by Anniina Jokinen

1)  EFFECTS OF THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR  (THE FRENCH WARS)

The English had just suffered their final defeat in the Hundred Years' War: Maine was surrendered in 1448, Normandy was lost in 1450, and finally Bordeaux in 1453. Nearly a hundred years and five generations' worth of battling and occupying France, and finally losing was a cause of great upset to the populace. Furthermore, to the landowners who lost their French holdings, the financial loss was considerable.

Every version of the complaints put forward by
the rebels in 1450 harps on the losses in France.¹

2)  FINANCIAL PROBLEMS AND SOCIETAL CHANGES

The Black Plague, which had first arrived in England in 1348 and made several returns, had caused enormous losses in population, which in turn caused a dearth of labor force to tend the crops. This caused severe inflation in the prices of labor and agricultural products, and, in years of crop failures, periods of grave famine. Furthermore, the death toll of the plague had caused a great shift in the social order; previously minor landholders grew wealthy and upwardly mobile, taking over lands whose owners had all died. The French Wars also had put a strain on the royal treasury.

"Livery and Maintenance"
Since the fall of feudalism, the "Livery and maintenance" system meant that the great peers of the kingdom could call upon minor lords in their dominions to come fight on their side, under one banner. These, combined with career soldiers turned mercenaries after the French campaigns, meant that the peers could rouse large armies for themselves as easily, and in some cases more easily, than the king. When fighting a common enemy for a century was no longer an option, it was perhaps just a matter of time until the great warriors began to fight each other.


3)  DYNASTIC PROBLEM

After the leadership of King Henry V, "The Flower of Chivalry" and the "Mirror of all Christian Kings," the weak and placid Henry VI was a great disappointment. Somerset and Suffolk, the king's favourites, were nearly universally loathed for their undue power and unwise wielding of the same. Many of the nobles, including Richard of York who had been superseded in France by Somerset, also harbored personal resentments and grudges against Henry's ministers, for slights and lacks of preferment.

Suffolk bore the brunt of the upset over the losses in France (although they were largely due to Somerset's inability). He was impeached on a trumped-up charge of treason and exiled by Parliament. Finally, he was murdered on board the ship carrying him out of England. Henry VI was unable to effect a strong central government, alienating many of his powerful lords by his unwavering support of Somerset. Henry VI further upset the Commons, who wanted Somerset gone, by ignoring their request to have Somerset exiled as well. A tentative peace existed for a few years (1450-53), because the nobles could content themselves with the fact that, should Henry VI die without an heir, they had a strong successor in Richard, Duke of York [see York's claim to the Crown].  Somerset, and the whole Beaufort line, had been excluded from succession by Henry IV's Parliament in 1407.

Richard of York was the only person, save Henry VI, who possessed an unbroken legitimate male descent from King Edward. He was in fact heir
to the reigning sovereign, whether male or female claims were preferred.²

The birth of an heir in 1453 complicated matters—now, if the King were to die or be incapacitated, the kingdom would fall to an infant prince, most likely governed by the loathed Somerset. In 1453 King Henry VI did indeed become incapacitated; he suffered from complete mental derangement to the point of imbecility. He did not even understand that an heir had been born to him. York took over as Protector, but when the King regained his sanity a year later, Somerset was restored to power, and the Yorkists were thrown out. And thus followed the first battle in the Wars of the Roses: The First Battle of St. Albans, 1455.


This is, of course, a simplified explanation of the contributing factors leading up to the Wars of the Roses. For an in-depth discussion, continue on to:

• Causes of the Wars of the Roses
• Wars of the Roses

1. Webster, Bruce. Wars of the Roses. 40.
   
2. Oman, C. The History of England from the Accession of Richard II to
   the Death of Richard III, (1377-1485). NY: Longmans, Green, and Co. 1906. 355.

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How to cite this article:

Jokinen, Anniina. "Causes of the Wars of the Roses: An Overview."
            Luminarium Encyclopedia. Online Resource.
            26 Apr 2007. [Date you accessed this article].
            <http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/roseswarcauses.htm>

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