Wars Of The Roses Causes

Introduction
The Wars of the Roses were a series of battles fought over the throne of England in the 15th century between 1455 and 1485. The thirty-year conflict is so named based on the symbols of the rival houses, House York (a white rose) and House Lancaster (a red rose). This era consisted of several battles and control of the throne changed five times as both factions gained and lost power. The cause of the conflict has been heatedly debated by historians but is actually a myriad of socio-political and economic causes coming to a boiling point all around the same time. Some of these causes began taking effect over a century before, others were more immediate.

Among the long-term causes we have the legitimacy of both factions
Henry VI was born December 6, 1421, became king of England on September 1, 1422, and finally king of France as well when his maternal grandfather, Charles VI passed two months later. Due to his minority, a council of regents was appointed to handle the governance from Henry V’s relations: brothers Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester and John, Duke of Bedford, his uncle Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, and another uncle, Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester. Bedford also served as Henry VI’s heir. Henry V left England at the height of its power, with his devastating victory in the Battle of Agincourt, essentially giving France to his descendants. Gloucester and Bedford were effective leaders, leaving Henry VI a prosperous England and an even larger France than he had originally inherited. However, as time went on, a rivalry grew between Dukes Gloucester and Exeter. As Henry VI approached the end of his minority, Bedford died and Gloucester and Beaufort sought to establish for themselves future positions of power as advisors to Henry VI. With Bedford’s death, Gloucester was now the heir
While Suffolk endorsed the king’s policy of appeasement with regard to France, Gloucester was the most influential detractor, proposing conquest. Gloucester was dead a few days later, with Henry Beaufort soon after, leaving Suffolk the dominant voice among Henry VI’s advisors.

During this time, Richard, Duke of York had mostly been serving in Ireland and was gaining influence as a champion of the public’s discontent with the crown after its series of losses in France and economic difficulties. As Henry VI was still childless, Richard was now the heir presumptive, as a distant relative of Henry VI through a different son of King Edward III. William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk was widely believed to be at fault for the loss of Normandy, and was directly accused of such by Richard, Duke of York. Suffolk was then sentenced to exile, but was murdered during his flight.

In the course of a decade and a half, Henry VI’s kingdom was unrecognizable, with Henry’s chief advisors Dukes Bedford, Gloucester, Suffolk, and Henry Beaufort now dead, most of England’s French territories retaken, and the crown’s debts at an all-time