FAMILIES AT WAR Knights in armour and men-at-arms fought for power in a conflict that eventually saw the last of the Plantagenet kings, Richard III (left) and the first of the Tudors, Henry VII (right)
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WHAT’S THE STORY?
York versus Lancaster, white rose versus red, Plantagenet versus Tudor - the Wars of the Roses continue to fascinate us. Seen as one of the bloodiest episodes in English history, they’ve inspired not only the pen of Shakespeare but also the typewriters and word processors of an army of historical novelists. It was a period that saw the deaths of kings, the extinction of royal dynasties and the brutal slaughter of much of England’s nobility, but the Wars were much more than a simple fight to the death between two royal houses. Julian Humphrys looks at who fought, what happened and details some of the ambition, heroism, loyalty, treachery, greed and pure self-interest that lay behind this dramatic period of conflict.