Wars of the Roses | HistoryExtra

The Wars of the Roses were the civil wars fought in England and Wales between the houses of York and Lancaster – represented by a white and a red rose respectively – between 1455 and 1485. They heralded the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, and the dawning of the Tudor age...

Wars of the Roses backgrounders: what happened and why?

The battle of Towton during the War of the Roses, 1461. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The Wars of the Roses: the 15th-century clash of kings that heralded the dawn of the Tudor dynasty

The ‘Princes in the Tower’

The 5 greatest mysteries behind the Wars of the Roses

A 20th-century fresco 'Plucking the Red and White Roses in the Old Temple Gardens' by Henry Payne. It depicts a scene by Shakespeare, showing Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset being challenged by Richard, 3rd Duke of York to choose between the white rose of York and the red rose of Lancaster. (Photo by Artefact / Alamy Stock Photo)

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about the houses of Lancaster and York

An illustration of Elizabeth of York and Henry VII.

Did the Tudors invent the Wars of the Roses?

An 1864 illustration depicts King Henry VI and the Dukes of York and Somerset, after York's return from Ireland in 1450. Artist James William Edmund Doyle. (Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)

The Wars of the Roses: York v Beaufort?

The Wars of the Roses: everything you wanted to know. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Key figures in the Wars of the Roses

Margaret of Anjou married Henry VI of England in 1445

Margaret of Anjou: a brief guide to the 'She-Wolf of France'

A portrait of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York

Like father, like son: Richard Plantagenet and Richard III

A portrait of Edward IV, the first Yorkist king of England. From the National Portrait Gallery. (Photo by Ann Ronan Pictures/Print Collector/Getty Images)

Edward IV: champion of the Wars of the Roses

Pragmatist or heartless? A portrait of the young Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492). The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The power behind the throne: women in the Wars of the Roses

Henry VI of England. (Photo by iStock/Getty Images)

Henry VI may have had a "sex coach" - plus 4 more curious facts about his life

Richard III: your guide to the last Yorkist king of England

Anne Neville was queen consort of Richard III, the last Yorkist king of England

Anne Neville: wife of Richard III, daughter of Warwick the Kingmaker, and a modern enigma

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick and known as the Kingmaker, meets his end at the battle of Barnet in 1471

Q&AWhy was Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the Kingmaker?

Margaret Beaufort, shown in a c16th‐century oil on panel painting

Margaret Beaufort: mother of the Tudors

A portrait of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch

Henry VII: your guide to the first Tudor king

Battles of the Wars of the Roses

Sketch of the battle of Blore Heath, howing the final disastrous charge of the Lancastrians

9 battles that shaped the Wars of the Roses – from St Albans to Tewkesbury

The Battle Of Towton, fought on 29 March 1461, was brutal clash in the driving snow fought during the Wars of the Roses

The battle of Towton: did the biggest, bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil take place during the Wars of the Roses?

Battle of Barnet: This lively, if inaccurate, 15th- century illustration of the shows a coronet- wearing Edward skewering Warwick with his lance

The battle of Barnet, 1471: the Wars of the Roses clash that killed the Kingmaker

Miniature depicting scenes from the Battle of Tewkesbury, where Edward IV defeated the Lancastrian forces of Margaret of Anjou

How Edward IV reclaimed his throne at the battle of Tewkesbury

Bosworth and the rise of the Tudors

Battle of Bosworth, 22 August 1485

10 things you need to know about the battle of Bosworth

Henry VII is crowned near Bosworth

Q&AWhat Happened After The Battle of Bosworth?

A painting of the Princes in the Tower

Did Richard III really kill the Princes in the Tower?

Princes in the Tower HistoryExtra podcast series title card

Princes in the TowerEpisode 1: The case. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Richard III

What if…Richard III had won at Bosworth?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Tudors: 51 moments that shaped the royal dynasty

Read more about the Wars of the Roses