The War of the Roses was a civil war in England that lasted from 1455-1487. It was a struggle to claim the throne between the families descended from Edward III and the families descended from Henry IV. The last Angevin ruler, King Richard II died without an heir
The exact image of warring flowers was a late invention, and the general idea of each rose being a factional symbol originates in Shakespeares day. In Renaissance literature, writers linked the House of York with a white rose and the House of Lancaster with a red rose. The red and white roses were only insignia worn as part of the household servants for the Houses of Lancaster and York. They were not part of the official coat-of-arms for either aristocratic house. The phrase "War of the Roses" is even later.
The war began in 1455 when Richard, Duke of York challenged the current king's right to the throne. Richard, Duke of York, descended ultimately from the same family as King Richard II, whom Henry IV deposed. The king at the time was the Lancastrian Henry VI, a pious but weak ruler prone to bouts of insanity. He descended from Henry IV. Richard, Duke of York, argued that Henry IV's descendants have no right to the throne because Henry IV usurped the position unlawfully. Richard's son Edward becomes King Edward IV in 1461 and Henry VI flees the country for nine years. Edward IV ruled for nine years without too much trouble until 1470, when Henry VI returned with an army.
On Edward IV's death in 1483, his son Edward V was the next Yorkist ruler slated to ascend to the throne but he was still a child. His uncle Richard (the guy who later becomes King Richard III) set himself up as regent until the boy Edward reached adulthood. Richard sent young Edward and Edward's younger brother into the Tower of London. Richard then declared himself King Richard III as the next Yorkist in line for the throne.
The house of Lancaster continued its warfare against Richard III.
The struggle ended abruptly at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 when the Lancastrian faction won a decisive victory. Henry Tudor, an obscure Welsh prince, raised an army to fight Richard III. Henry Tudor declared himself King Henry VII. In the first few years of his reign, he eliminated all his rivals. He then married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth to strengthen his descendants claim to the throne. The marriage was a brilliant move politically. Thus, Henry VII's children would have both Yorkist and Lancastrian blood.
