How Did The Wars of The Roses Start?

By the 1440s, England was on the brink of defeat in the Hundred Years War. Disunity amongst the English nobles was beginning to set in, finances were heavily stretched and all that could be done to stave off defeat was occasional peace treaties and the actions of battle hardened warriors like John Talbot. All the same, final defeat was now only a matter of time. It was during one of the truces that the King of England, Henry VI, was betrothed to Margaret of Anjou, who was a niece of the French King Charles VII. Charles’ wife, Marie, was the sister of Margaret’s father, Duke Rene. The marriage between Margaret, just turned 15, to the 23 year old Henry took place in April 1445. She was crowned a few weeks later. Margaret, in her life as Queen consort of England, would make quite the impression. Margaret’s arrival in England coincided with increasing tensions in the country. These tensions centred around enmity between Richard Duke of York and Edmund Beaufort. Edmund was quite clearly jealous of the Duke of York and he began to use the new and impressionable young Queen to advance his agenda against Richard. The Duke of York was recalled to England where he was ordered to go and oversee matters in Ireland and Beaufort was now made lieutenant of France. Margaret, who had taken a liking to Beaufort, had actively encouraged this rearrangement thereby fostering huge resentment between York and Beaufort.

This did nothing for English prospects in France and, by 1450, after the battle of Formigny, Normandy fell into French hands. Three years later, Gascony would fall after the defeat at Castillon leaving England  holding only Calais. Anger at loss after loss was substantial and those closest to the king like Beaufort, William De La Pole, Duke of Suffolk, and the Queen herself were widely blamed. After numerous failed military expeditions, the English crown and the country’s economy began to suffer and rebellions were inevitable. In January 1450, a man named Thomas Cheyne, who called himself Bluebeard, was arrested in Kent for inciting rebellion against the King, with De La Pole being one of his primary targets. Cheyne, or Bluebeard, was Hanged, Drawn and Quartered at Tyburn just a few weeks later. But it would not be the last of the king’s troubles. A couple of weeks after Cheyne’s execution, the king’s palace at Eltham was severely damaged by a lightning strike which caused a fire to burn down a number of rooms including the kitchen and hall. In the midst of all the country’s troubles, this was hardly the most pressing of matters but some at the time may well have taken it as an ominous sign of more problems to come. If so, they would be proved right.

After the fall of Normandy, Henry VI and William De La Pole had to face the wrath of a furious Houses of Parliament. De La Pole was arrested and thrown into the Tower of London. Even though the King was a man of simplicity, even Henry had enough sense to realise that De La Pole’s life was in jeopardy and he banished him from England for five years, for his own protection more than anything. As well meaning as Henry had been in sending De La Pole out of the country, it did the Duke of Suffolk little good. He made preparations to sail to Brittany with a few vessels and, in late April 1450, he set off from Dover. However, he didn’t get very far. His little fleet was confronted by a huge ship named Nicholas of The Tower. Its occupants arrested De La Pole, gave him a mock trial before cutting his head off. The hated De La Pole, who chroniclers refer to as “the evil Duke” was dead and his corpse lay on the beach for a number of weeks before it was eventually collected and buried.

Still, the king’s troubles kept on coming. Another protest broke out in Kent, a notoriously troublesome area throughout the medieval period. This was led by a man named Jack Cade. Cade intended for the protest to be as peaceful as possible. King Henry sent some notables, including the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, to treat with Cade and see what his demands were. Essentially, Cade wanted an overhaul of government which the king’s advisers, and Henry himself, viewed as impertinent and dismissed them out of hand. At least, though, Cade and his followers were peaceful. Or so it appeared. The problem was, although Cade said he wished to avoid violence, it would be hard to control the large band of men that were following him particularly when they felt justifiable grievances against the crown and its government. And Cade was perfectly aware of that. The disregard Cade’s requests were shown would have done nothing to cool the heated atmosphere and Cade himself grew steadily more agitated.

Realising things were about to turn ugly if he didn’t act, Henry declared that he would arrest all traitors in government and throw them in the Tower of London. He arrested his treasurer and put him in the Tower but it would take more than that to appease Cade and his men now. The treasurer was taken from the Tower and beheaded before Cade then apprehended the sheriff of Kent and beheaded him at Mile End. Cade and his men then became embroiled in a fierce fight with those loyal to the king near London Bridge where scores were killed on both sides. Desperate to try and restore some sense of order, Henry announced a general pardon and the men of Kent, including Cade, eventually began to go home. However, a band of royal officials pursued them and a few days later, Jack Cade was killed. Although Cade had made promises to keep his followers in good order, it was fairly obvious that this wasn’t going to happen. The rebellion of Jack Cade was not quite as destructive or impactful as the Peasants Revolt of 1381, which also found its origins in Kent, it was another damning indictment on the state of England under Henry VI and further undermined what little authority the King had. It didn’t help the king’s cause that Cade had presented him with an opportunity to negotiate but Henry and his advisers clearly felt that was beneath them. A king with more shrewdness would have made empty promises to keep Cade and his band happy, ensuring they left London unharmed and then arrested the rebels after they had gone home. Henry had shown that he was not capable of ruling.

Throughout 1450, England remained in a state of high tension. In September, this was exacerbated by the return of the Duke of York from Ireland and some hated members of government, including John Sutton, Lord Dudley, turned to the Duke for protection. Richard then marched on London. In November, the king called Parliament with most of the nobles bringing an armed retinue with them, fearful that the enmity between Richard Duke of York and Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, coupled with the general anger across the country, could spark a civil war. Violence across the capital was rife and threats were made against Somerset but York instead tried to calm the situation, beheading some of the more serious troublemakers. On 3rd December, the king and his barons marched through London, in a show of unity and a desperate attempt to quell the anger. Across the channel, the French king, Charles VII, ramped up his efforts to seize control of Gascony, England’s last significant holding in France. If there was anger and resentment after Normandy’s fall, the eventual and now inevitable loss of Gascony would send England over the edge.

The state of the country could be summed by a parliamentary roll of 1450. The roll stated that many "murders, manslaughters, rapes, robberies, riots, affrays and other inconveniences greater than before" were committed that year. Although the losses in France certainly didn't help, the mood in the country had worsened over the previous decade by a series of brutal winters and terrible famines. It's hardly a surprise people were angry and in late 1450, and well in to 1451, further riots took place across Sussex. Led by two brothers named John and William Merfold, the common people across the county attacked nobles and clergymen alike. The Merfolds gave a public speech where they demanded that Henry VI be deposed, calling him a fool in the process. Unlike the Cade rebellion, the Sussex uprising overly threatening to the king as it was put down with relative ease although the scenes were still highly concerning and very much in keeping with the mood across the country.

By 1452, it was obvious that Henry was sitting uneasily on the throne as Richard, Duke of York became an ever more prominent figure in English politics. To many, he looked like a natural born king. He had conducted himself well in France and Ireland, proving himself a capable military leader and administrator. Whatsmore, he was a descendant of Edward III, meaning he certainly had a claim to the throne and he was certainly ambitious. But what were those ambitions? For the time being at least, Richard maintained he was loyal to Henry and his only desire was to remove the traitors surrounding the king, namely the Duke of Somerset. However, the king clearly didn't believe him and when he heard the Duke was marching on London again, Henry hastily retreated to Northampton rather than face him. However, in March 1452, the two were reconciled at Blackheath where the Duke swore loyalty to the king. He repeated his vow at St Pauls Cathedral in a more formal ceremony where he stated that rebellion had never entered his mind nor would it in the future. Across the channel, England had been given some brief hope by the actions of John Talbot in Gascony. In a lightning raid, Talbot had swept up a number of towns and castles which had fallen to the French and he even briefly reclaimed Bordeaux. However, he was defeated and killed at Castillon the following year and with him went the hopes of the English in France. With no foreign enemy to fight, England now turned on itself.