House of Lancaster - Wars of The Roses

Wars of The Roses

Henry VI was a weak monarch who suffered from periods of mental illness. In 1461, he was usurped and imprisoned by his cousin Edward of York, who proclaimed himself Edward IV of England.

Henry VI was eventually able to fight back and reestablished his rule in 1470, but a little under six months later was forced from the throne once again by Edward IV. He died in captivity in 1471, 17 days after his son and heir, Edward of Westminster, died at the Battle of Tewkesbury, leaving no legitimate heir of John of Gaunt.

None houses used a rose emblem,even though many think so. Lancaster had a lion and York had a Boar, even though people say Lancaster had a red rose and York a white, so the conflict between the two houses was dubbed the "Wars of the Roses" by historians. However this is a mistake, since both houses used many emblems - one very popular Yorkist emblem was "the sun in spendour". It is far more likely that Henry VIII usurped the minor badges of both houses, because his own badge was a red and white rose - the Tudor rose - and he wished to bask in the reflected glories of both York and Lancaster - each a cadet branch of the royal Plantagenet House. Also, the conflict was not known at the time as the Wars of the Roses, but the Wars of the Cousins, since Henry and Edward were both Plantagenets, and first cousins.