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Wars of the Roses (Military History)

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  1. Introduction
  2.  
  3. The Wars of the Roses is the 19th-century name given to the English civil wars fought roughly between 1450 and 1509. The principal conflicts took place in 1459–1461 (First War), 1469–1471 (Second War), and 1483–1485 (Third War). The wars developed during the reign of King Henry VI (1422–1461) and they stemmed from the loss of the Hundred Years’ War, the consequent near-bankruptcy of successive governments, and the deepest point of the economic slump following the Black Death in 1348. Following the acute crisis of 1450, a kaleidoscope of short-term shocks occurred, notably Henry VI’s madness (1453–1455) and the first battle of St. Albans (1455). Starting from reform against what were regarded as corrupt and treasonable evil councilors, Richard, Duke of York (d. 1460), became a dynastic rival in 1460: the Yorkist rival to the Lancastrians. York was killed at the battle of Wakefield. His son Edward IV (r. 1461–1483), the first Yorkist king, decisively defeated the Lancastrians in 1461. His reign was punctuated by a Second War, in which Warwick the Kingmaker (d. 1471) made Henry VI briefly king again (the Readeption, 1470–1471). Edward recovered his throne at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. Following Edward IV’s death and the succession of his son Edward V, in 1483, the throne was usurped by Edward’s uncle, Richard III (r. 1483–1485), who was overthrown at the battle of Bosworth in 1485 by Henry Tudor, who reigned as Henry VII (r. 1485–1509). Yorkist contenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck threatened Henry VII’s hold on the throne until 1499 and others did so beyond that date. The wars constituted a period of exceptional instability marked by dozens of violent episodes. The political and financial weaknesses of the Crown were compounded by the political activism of the Commons, who rebelled in 1460 and 1470 in numbers beyond those that any monarch proved capable of resisting. Opponents of each regime repeatedly sheltered in Calais, France, and/or in Ireland, or they were given shelter by the rulers of Burgundy, France, or Scotland. They launched a series of invasions against England, four of which were successful. The wars played a part in the power struggles of France and Burgundy. From 1460, all monarchs had rivals with competing claims to the Crown. Rivals weakened all kings, who were unable to command the allegiance that all monarchs needed. The most influential commentator was Chief Justice Fortescue, who blamed a flawed political system. Tudor historians today credit Henry VII with ending the wars by means of his ruthless social control. However, it is also true that economic recovery made the Crown solvent once again and, in so doing, removed many of the grievances of the people at the same time that the great continental powers lost interest in destabilizing English governments.
  4.  
  5. General Overviews and Textbooks
  6.  
  7. The Wars of the Roses has attracted a series of top-flight historians. Most influential among later contributors has been McFarlane’s brief paper (McFarlane 1981). Harriss 2005 and Pollard 2000 are contrasting detailed narratives, respectively, up to 1461 and of the whole 15th century. Goodman 1981 is still the best military history of the wars. Pollard 2001 and Carpenter 1997 are favorite textbooks and offer contrasting interpretations. Royle 2009 recycles the traditional story, which the author traces back to 1399. Hicks 2010 seeks to explain the entire era. Ross 1976 takes a broader and less narrative approach.
  8.  
  9. Carpenter, Christine. The Wars of the Roses: Politics and the Constitution in England, c. 1437–1509. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1997.
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  11. The most thorough and up-to-date survey that is the standard student textbook. Follows Watts 1996 (cited under The First War and Its Lengthy Preamble) in discounting Henry VI and takes a very favorable view of Edward IV.
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  13. Goodman, Anthony. The Wars of the Roses: Military Activity and English Society, 1452–97. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1981.
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  15. The best military history that deals thoroughly with recruitment, manpower, and logistics.
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  17. Harriss, Gerald L. Shaping the Nation: England 1360–1461. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005.
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  19. Now the standard history for the preliminaries. Especially strong on the period before 1447, but has much of value to say regarding the preamble to, and the outbreak of, the Wars of the Roses.
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  21. Hicks, Michael. The Wars of the Roses. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010.
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  23. Full-length survey that explains why the wars began, why they kept recurring, and why they ceased in terms of wider economic context. Less unfavorable than most to Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou; skeptical of Henry VII.
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  25. McFarlane, Kenneth B. “The Wars of the Roses.” In England in the Fifteenth Century. By Kenneth B. McFarlane, 231–268. London: Hambledon Press, 1981.
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  27. Brilliant and superbly researched lecture by the inspirer of all modern studies.
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  29. Pollard, Anthony J. Late Medieval England 1399–1509. Harlow, UK: Longman, 2000.
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  31. A very full account of political history before and during the Wars of the Roses that comprehensively reviews all the relevant literature. Does tend to sit on the fence.
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  33. Pollard, Anthony J. The Wars of the Roses. 2d ed. Basingstoke, UK: Macmillan, 2001.
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  35. First published in 1988. Concise, accessible, reliable, and comprehensive survey of the whole sequence of wars. A student favorite.
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  37. Ross, Charles D. The Wars of the Roses. London: Thames and Hudson, 1976.
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  39. Succinct and well-illustrated account of most aspects of the wars.
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  41. Royle, Trevor. The Road to Bosworth Field: A New History of the Wars of the Roses. London: Little, Brown, 2009.
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  43. Takes a very long view and offers a highly accessible traditional interpretation.
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  45. Reference Works
  46.  
  47. The Handbook of British Chronology ref="obo-9780199791279-0066-bibItem-0012"/> supplies details of key individuals and events. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography contains up-to-date and authoritative biographies of all politically important individuals. All the other sources provide accurate details of different categories of people, including peers (Cokayne 1982–1998), members of Parliament (Bindoff 1982), household officers (Myers 1959), officials of the principality of Wales (Griffiths 1972) and of the duchy of Lancaster (Somerville 1953). Wedgwood 1936–1938 is less reliable, but indispensable until the new House of Commons 1422–1504 is completed.
  48.  
  49. Bindoff, Stanley T. House of Commons 1509–1558. 3 vols. London: Secker and Warburg for History of Parliament Trust, 1982.
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  51. Digest of biographies of all known members of Parliament.
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  53. Cokayne, George E. The Complete Peerage of England. 6 vols. Edited by H. Vicary Gibbs, et al. Microprint ed. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1982–1998.
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  55. Traces descent of all peerages and contains short biographies of all peers. Standard comprehensive directory originally published in 1910–1959.
  56. Find this resource:
  57. Fryde, Edmund B., Diana E. Greenway, Stephen Porter, and Ian Roy, eds. Handbook of British Chronology. 3d ed. London: Royal Historical Society, 1986.
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  59. Key details of royal family, high nobility, bishops, officers of state, and parliaments.
  60. Find this resource:
  61. Griffiths, Ralph A. The Principality of Wales in the Later Middle Ages: The Structure and Personnel of Its Government. I. South Wales 1277–1538. Cardiff, UK: University of Wales Press, 1972.
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  63. Comprehensive biographical register of local and royal officials. No North Wales equivalent.
  64. Find this resource:
  65. Myers, Alec R. The Household of Edward IV. The Black Book and the Ordinance of 1478. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1959.
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  67. Definitive edition accompanied by list of principal household officers.
  68. Find this resource:
  69. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
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  71. The authoritative collection of biographies of all kings and queens, bishops, and most of the other leading noblemen, statesmen, pretenders, and rebels of the Wars of the Roses. New biographies are still being added to the online edition.
  72. Find this resource:
  73. Somerville, Sir Robert. History of the Duchy of Lancaster, 1265–1603. Vol. 1. London: Duchy of Lancaster, 1953.
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  75. Includes comprehensive list of officers for all the estates.
  76. Find this resource:
  77. Wedgwood, Josiah C. History of Parliament 1439–1509. 2 vols. London: HMSO, 1936–1938.
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  79. Account of parliaments, now superseded, and biographies of all members. Antedates dynastic affiliations and increasingly outdated, but still useful.
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  81. Bibliographies
  82.  
  83. Most articles in major journals are now available electronically, principally through EBSCO and JSTOR, to which major academic libraries subscribe. Commentaries in the older bibliographies—Graves 1975 and Guth 1976—are still useful, but Bibliography of British and Irish History is best to keep abreast of recent publications. DeVries 2002 is a comprehensive bibliography of warfare and technology for all periods. Mullins 1978–1983 is valuable for identifying publications of records.
  84.  
  85. Bibliography of British and Irish History.
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  87. BBIH is an invaluable aid for finding almost all relevant publications wherever published. No commentary. Subscription only.
  88. Find this resource:
  89. DeVries, Kelly. A Cumulative Bibliography of Medieval Military History and Technology. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, 2002.
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  91. The fullest bibliography of military publications. Updated in 2005 and 2008.
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  93. Graves, Edgar B. Bibliography of English History to 1485. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975.
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  95. The standard bibliography. Comprehensive and authoritative, but stops in 1975. For more recent works, Bibliography of British and Irish History is to be preferred.
  96. Find this resource:
  97. Guth, Delloyd J. Late Medieval England,1377–1485. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1976.
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  99. Valuable, succinct, and critical guide that unfortunately misses all the work of the past thirty years.
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  101. Mullins, Edward L. C. Texts and Calendars, I and II: An Analytical Guide to Serial Publications. London: Royal Historical Society, 1978–1983.
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  103. Itemizes all record publications by publisher, including defunct series, down to 1982. Continued online.
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  105. Journals and Essay Collections
  106.  
  107. The characteristic mode of publication is the article in the learned journal or the paper in multiauthored commissioned books, celebratory volumes in honor of distinguished individuals, and conference proceedings. Only The Ricardian, the organ of the Richard III Society, and the relatively new yearbook The Fifteenth Century focus on the period. The most influential essays by the most prolific authors are republished in volumes of collected essays. Although now old, Chrimes, et al. 1972 contains still influential papers on Henry VI (by Wolffe), Edward IV (by Ross), the nobility (by Pugh), Wales (by Griffiths), and the North (by Storey). Lander 1976 collects classic articles mainly about the Yorkist regime, but also including Henry VI’s Second Protectorate and Henry VII’s use of bonds. Griffiths 1981 illuminates the troubles of 1450–1461 in a series of specific studies. Hicks 1991 treats such topics as Lancastrian loyalism and the Warwick inheritance principally through Richard III and his associates. Virgoe 1997 is an authoritative work on the crisis of 1450, Parliament, and especially East Anglia: The book should be read with Richmond 1990–2000 (cited under Letters). Pollard 1995 is a wide-ranging multiauthored study that covers topics not treated elsewhere, such as the sources, economic context, and political principles.
  108.  
  109. Chrimes, Stanley B., Charles D. Ross, and Ralph A. Griffiths, eds. Fifteenth-Century England, 1399–1609: Studies in Politics and Society. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press, 1972.
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  111. Celebrated conference proceedings featuring papers that are still of value on Henry VI (Wolffe), Edward IV (Ross), Henry VII (Chrimes), the nobility (Pugh), Wales (Griffiths), and the North (Storey).
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  113. The Fifteenth Century.
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  115. Annual journal published by Boydell and Brewer that collects articles often originating from annual conferences on the 15th century.
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  117. Griffiths, Ralph A. King and Country: England and Wales in the Fifteenth Century. London: Hambledon, 1981.
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  119. See also Conquerors and Conquered in Later Medieval Wales (Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1994). Two crucial essay collections that include the intentions of Richard, Duke of York, in 1450, recently discovered council minutes of 1453–1455, exhaustive studies of the Percy-Neville and Mountford-Mountford feuds, and the depredations of Gruffydd ap Nicholas in the 1450s.
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  121. Hicks, Michael A. Richard III and His Rivals: Magnates and Their Motivations during the Wars of the Roses. London: Hambledon, 1991.
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  123. Collection of articles centering on Richard III as duke of Gloucester and his contemporaries, including republished papers on the Warwick inheritance dispute, the earl of Northumberland, the Hungerfords, and the countess of Oxford.
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  125. Lander, Jack R. Crown and Nobility 1450–1509. London: Arnold, 1976.
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  127. Collection of classic articles on Edward IV, the Nevilles and the Wydevilles, attainder, and the Yorkist government, which have reshaped understanding of the Yorkist regime, as well as on Henry VII’s repressive use of bonds.
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  129. Pollard, Anthony J., ed. The Wars of the Roses. New York: St. Martin’s, 1995.
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  131. Volume of commissioned papers examining significant themes including the sources (Hicks), the economic context (Britnell), ideas, and principles (Watts).
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  133. The Richardian.
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  135. Annual journal published by the Richard III Society focusing on articles and reviews on Richard III and his era. Is included with a subscription to the Society, which is committed to rehabilitating Richard III in the belief that better knowledge will enhance his reputation.
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  137. Virgoe, Roger. East Anglian Society and the Political Community of Late Medieval England. Edited by Caroline Barron, Carole Rawcliffe, and Joel T. Rosenthal. Norwich, UK: University of East Anglia, 1997.
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  139. Posthumous collection focusing on parliamentary elections and high politics, especially of East Anglia in the age of the Pastons.
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  141. Primary Sources
  142.  
  143. The principal primary sources are Chronicles that narrate events and documents relating to particular moments. Documents are best divided between official Records and Letters. Also worth a look is British History Online, which is rapidly making available rare and expensive sources to anyone with Internet access.
  144.  
  145. British History Online.
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  147. Republishes scholarly texts online free of charge. Rapidly growing collection now includes Parliament Rolls of England (specifically cited under Records), Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae, and most Victoria County Histories.
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  149. Anthologies
  150.  
  151. All original sources are in medieval handwriting and are therefore inaccessible to most readers. Most of the best sources are published, but they are still often in Latin and widely scattered. A series of anthologies seeks to make the materials accessible. Myers 1996 is the most authoritative collection, but the long time period inevitably means selective coverage. Lander 2007 tells the whole story of the wars through long passages arranged in chronological order. Dockray’s two volumes (Dockray 1997, Dockray 2000) contain short abstracts presented thematically and are particularly useful for teaching. Of those focusing on Richard III, Hammond and Sutton 1985 reproduces full translations of all kinds of sources in chronological order. Hanham 1975 supplies authoritative translations of chronicles and Cunningham 2003 of documents in the National Archives, each with full commentaries. Pollard 1913 tells the political narrative of Henry VII’s reign chronologically through short extracts in English.
  152.  
  153. Cunningham, Sean. Richard III: A Royal Enigma. London: National Archives, 2003.
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  155. A commentary supports useful reproductions of key and representative documents.
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  157. Dockray, Keith. Richard III: A Source Book. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1997.
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  159. Another collection of translated extracts, again well connected through thematic commentary.
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  161. Dockray, Keith. Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou and the Wars of the Roses: A Sourcebook. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 2000.
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  163. Collection of translated extracts skillfully linked by thematic commentary.
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  165. Hammond, Peter W., and Anne F. Sutton. Richard III: The Road to Bosworth Field. London: Constable, 1985.
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  167. Comprehensive collection in chronological order of translated documents about Richard III. Minimal commentary.
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  169. Hanham, Alison. Richard III and His Earlier Historians, 1483–1535. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975.
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  171. A brave survey that reprints and translates some sources (e.g., Rous, Vergil) and advances their understanding. Some propositions, such as regarding the date of death of Lord Hastings and Thomas More’s satirical drama, have not been accepted.
  172. Find this resource:
  173. Lander, Jack R. The Wars of the Roses. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 2007.
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  175. Originally published in 1965. Chronological narrative linking lengthy extracts from primary sources.
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  177. Myers, Alec R. English Historical Documents, iv, 1327–1485. London: Routledge, 1996.
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  179. First published in 1969. Authoritative selection, although texts are generally abridged.
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  181. Pollard, Alfred F. The Reign of Henry VII from Contemporary Sources. Vol. 1. London: Longman, Green, 1913.
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  183. Chronological selection of translated extracts relating to Henry VII’s retention of his throne.
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  185. Chronicles
  186.  
  187. Historical understanding of the Wars of the Roses depends principally on numerous narratives written at or soon after the time. The quality is not high. Kingsford 1913 is a useful guide. So are The Richard III Society website (which is predominantly pro-Richard III) and the works listed under Anthologies. Among many often scrappy narratives, the most celebrated is Thomas More’s Richard III (More 1963). However, modern historians particularly prefer Benet’s Chronicle (Harriss and Harriss 1972) as well as, for the various reigns, the English Chronicle (Marx 2003) for Henry VI, Warkworth’s Chronicle and The Arrival (Dockray 1988), together with Crowland Continuations (Pronay and Cox 1986) for Edward IV, Mancini 1984 for Edward V, and Vergil 1950 for Henry VII. Most are now available in excellent modern editions.
  188.  
  189. Dockray, Keith. Three Chronicles of the Reign of Edward IV. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1988.
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  191. Reprints Warkworth’s Chronicle, The Arrival of Edward IV, and the Chronicle of the Lincolnshire Rebellion. There is also a new edition of Warkworth’s Chronicle by Lister M. Matheson.
  192. Find this resource:
  193. Harriss, Gerald L., and Mary A. Harriss. “John Benet’s Chronicle for the Years 1400 to 1462.” Camden Miscellany 24.3 (1972): 151–233.
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  195. An exemplary edition of an independent chronicle by a London clergyman.
  196. Find this resource:
  197. Kingsford, Charles L. English Historical Literature of the Fifteenth Century. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913.
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  199. Brilliant pioneering study that is still an essential point of reference after a hundred years.
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  201. Mancini, Dominic. The Usurpation of Richard III. 2d ed. Edited by Charles A. J. Armstrong. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1984.
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  203. A unique account of the short reign of Edward V in 1483 written by a foreign visitor to London later the same year. Rediscovered and first published in 1936, it is genuinely independent. Hostile to Richard III. Although seldom an eyewitness, not fluent in English, and ignorant of English conditions, Mancini mixed with influential churchmen who spoke Latin.
  204. Find this resource:
  205. Marx, William, ed. An English Chronicle 1377–1461: A New Edition. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell and Brewer, 2003.
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  207. Authoritative modern edition of a partisan Yorkist chronicle that is especially full for the years 1458–1460.
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  209. More, Thomas. History of King Richard III. Edited by Richard S. Sylvester. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1963.
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  211. Collates Latin and English versions of Thomas More’s unfinished history to establish authoritative modern text. Very readable, it was the accepted orthodoxy for Shakespeare and most subsequent historians up to about 1950, but it has since been attacked as Tudor propaganda against Richard III. Although literary and prone to exaggeration and literary effect, More consulted the well informed and often can be confirmed by other sources.
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  213. Pronay, Nicholas, and John C. Cox, eds. The Crowland Chronicle Continuations 1459–86. Stroud, UK: Richard III Society, 1986.
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  215. A good modern edition of the most authoritative chronicle of Yorkist politics completed in 1485. Although anonymous, the author worked within the central bureaucracy and most probably attended Parliament and the royal council. His testimony is authoritative, but too often he stated less than he knew.
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  217. Vergil, Polydore. The Anglica Historica of Polydore Vergil AD 1485–1537. Edited and translated by Denys Hays. Camden Series. London: Office of the Royal Historical Society, 1950.
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  219. Authoritative edition of the best of the early Tudor chronicles.
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  221. Records
  222.  
  223. Historians of the Wars of the Roses depend heavily on surviving records, which give precise dates to developments outlined by the chronicles and, in particular, illuminate the actions and public stance of governments. Particularly important are the Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Given Wilson 2005, Hinds 1913, and the incomplete records of the Royal Council (Nicolas 1834–1837). Hammond and Horrox 1979–1983 is a complete modern edition of Richard III’s unique register of the signet, the office closest to the king’s decision-making powers. Ancient editions of the council proceedings, exchequer records (Devon 1835), and the records of ceremonies retain considerable value. Many individual documents have been published in articles in journals (some now collected). Crawford 1992 republishes the fullest financial records of any politically active lord. The best collection of propaganda for the years 1446–1460 is contained in John Vale’s Book (Kekewich, et al. 1995); others are contained in The English Chronicle (see Marx 2003, cited under Chronicles) and in the Anthologies. Brown 1989 (cited under Constitution and Government) is the best guide to the organization and, hence, the records of the Crown.
  224.  
  225. Calendar of the Patent Rolls 1436–1509. London: HMSO, 1897–1910.
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  227. Politically important source that collects most royal grants and appointments.
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  229. Crawford, Anne, ed. The Howard Household Books. Stroud, UK: Richard III and Yorkist History Trusts, 1992.
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  231. Reprints two 19th-century editions supplemented by other materials relating to the important Yorkist John Lord Howard and Duke of Norfolk. It underpins Crawford 2010 (cited under Organization and Recruitment).
  232. Find this resource:
  233. Devon, Frederick, ed. Issues of the Exchequer. London: n.p., 1835.
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  235. Some useful extracts from exchequer rolls.
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  237. Given Wilson, Christopher, ed. The Parliament Rolls of England 1275–1504. 16 vols. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2005.
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  239. Definitive edition of principal parliamentary records relating to the wars. For unenrolled acts, see Rotuli Parliamentorum, Vols. 5 and 6 (London: Record Commission, 1832).
  240. Find this resource:
  241. Hammond, Peter W., and Rosemary E. Horrox, eds. British Library Harleian Manuscript 433. 4 vols. Upminster, UK: Richard III Society, 1979–1983.
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  243. Invaluable transcript of only surviving signet registers (for Edward V and Richard III), supplemented by substantial introduction and comprehensive index by Horrox.
  244. Find this resource:
  245. Hinds, A. B., ed. Calendar of State Papers and Manuscripts Relating to English Affairs in the Archives and Collections of Milan. London: HMSO, 1913.
  246. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  247. Collects relevant material from dispatches of Milanese ambassadors to Northern Europe. Valuable dated commentary on events, although often based on gossip and rumor.
  248. Find this resource:
  249. Kekewich, Margaret L., Colin F. Richmond, Anne F. Sutton, Livia Visser-Fuchs, and John L. Watts, eds. The Politics of Fifteenth Century England: John Vale’s Book. Stroud, UK: Richard III and Yorkist History Trust, 1995.
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  251. Long overdue critical edition of crucial collection of contemporary copies hitherto known only via John Stow’s Annals and manuscripts and Sir Henry Ellis’s Original Letters. Includes principal opposition propaganda of 1450–1471, a contemporary version of Fortescue’s Governance of England, and a critical assessment (by Richmond) of Edward IV’s second reign.
  252. Find this resource:
  253. Nicolas, Sir Nicholas H., ed. Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council of England, 1386–1542. Vol. 4. London: Record Commission, 1834–1837.
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  255. Essential selection of fragmentary records of the Royal Council and Great Council up to 1461.
  256. Find this resource:
  257. Letters
  258.  
  259. Few sources more immediately capture political relationships than private letters, but regrettably very few survive from the 15th century. Three principal collections are now available in good modern editions: the incomparable letters of the Pastons (Biddle, et al. 2004–2005 and Gairdner 1986), who were excellent correspondents and whose in- and out-letters both survive; the letters of the Plumptons (Kirby 1996), politically important Northerners; and the letters of the Oxfordshire Stonor family. Excellent modern studies are available of the Pastons (Castor 2004, Richmond 1990–2000) and the Stonors (Noble 2009).
  260.  
  261. Biddle, Richard, Norman Davis, and Colin Richmond, eds. Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century. 3 vols. Early English Text Society supplementary series 20–22. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004–2005.
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  263. Complete edition to modern standards of letters by each Paston to each Paston, and Volume 3 of other letters and papers, including hitherto unpublished Fastolf papers, but not items unrelated to the Pastons printed in Gairdner 1986. As this edition is not chronological, the correspondence cannot easily be followed. Gairdner’s edition remains a necessary key.
  264. Find this resource:
  265. Castor, Helen M. Blood and Roses: The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century. London: Faber and Faber, 2004.
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  267. Reliable narrative that is easier read than Richmond 1990–2000.
  268. Find this resource:
  269. Gairdner, James. The Paston Letters 1422–1509. Microprint ed. 1 vol. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1986.
  270. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  271. The edition itself has been superseded, bar papers that appear nowhere else, but this edition remains the easiest guide to the correspondence.
  272. Find this resource:
  273. Kirby, Joan, ed. The Plumpton Letters and Papers. Camden 5th ser. 8. London: Royal Historical Society, 1996.
  274. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  275. Important collection of in-letters to the Plumptons, an important and highly politicized family of leading Yorkshire gentry. Improves on and supersedes the edition of Stapleton 1839, but omits some ancillary documents.
  276. Find this resource:
  277. Noble, Elizabeth. The World of the Stonors. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell and Brewer, 2009.
  278. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  279. Up-to-date history of well-documented gentry family.
  280. Find this resource:
  281. Richmond, Colin. The Paston Family in the Fifteenth Century. 3 vols. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1990–2000.
  282. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511560309Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  283. Amazingly comprehensive account of the rise and politics of a parvenu East Anglican family that involved itself in high politics and civil war during the Wars of the Roses. Nevertheless, a work in progress, as Richmond later corrects earlier volumes. Dense and difficult: a simpler more accessible guide is Castor 2004. Manchester University Press published volume 3.
  284. Find this resource:
  285. Constitution and Government
  286.  
  287. Chrimes 1936 sets out the political theory that underpinned a political system that required cooperation between the monarch and the nobility, authoritatively studied in McFarlane 1973. Bellamy 1970 explores the limits to political action and the penalties. Brown 1989 is now the best account of political structures and Wolffe 1971 of royal finance and its critics, especially Fortescue, who is discussed in Kekewich 1998. Gross 1996 also treats Fortescue and other aspects of the last years of Lancastrian rule. Hicks 2002 explores the practical applications of these systems and ideas and alternative interpretations of such notions as law, treason, and the public interest.
  288.  
  289. Bellamy, John G. The Law of Treason in England in the Later Middle Ages. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1970.
  290. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511522369Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  291. Excellent detailed study. Does not treat popular perceptions, for example, of Jack Cade’s rebels.
  292. Find this resource:
  293. Brown, Alfred L. The Governance of Late Medieval England 1272–1461. London: Arnold, 1989.
  294. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  295. Comprehensive account of the structure and organization of the government machine.
  296. Find this resource:
  297. Chrimes, Stanley B. English Constitutional Ideas in the Fifteenth Century. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1936.
  298. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  299. Essential exposition of the climate of ideas, now supplemented by Hicks 2002.
  300. Find this resource:
  301. Gross, Anthony. The Dissolution of the Lancastrian Kingship: Sir John Fortescue and the Crisis of Monarchy in Fifteenth-Century England. Stamford, UK: Sean Tyas, 1996.
  302. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  303. Loosely connected essays linking Fortescue and Margaret of Anjou.
  304. Find this resource:
  305. Hicks, Michael. English Political Culture in the Fifteenth Century. London: Routledge, 2002.
  306. DOI: 10.4324/9780203462522Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  307. Explores the operation of the system and the application of ideas on politics.
  308. Find this resource:
  309. Kekewich, Margaret L. “‘Though shalt be under the power of man’: Sir John Fortescue and the Yorkist Succession.” Nottingham Medieval Studies 42 (1998): 188–230.
  310. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  311. Clarifies the nature and interrelationships of Fortescue’s writings on the Lancastrian title and on government.
  312. Find this resource:
  313. McFarlane, Kenneth B. The Nobility of Later Medieval England. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.
  314. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  315. Foundation of all subsequent work on the political power of the nobility.
  316. Find this resource:
  317. Wolffe, Bertram P. The Royal Demesne in English History: The Crown Estate in the Governance of the Realm from the Conquest to 1509. London: Allen and Unwin, 1971.
  318. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  319. Fundamental study of the parlous royal finances.
  320. Find this resource:
  321. Relations with France and Burgundy
  322.  
  323. The Wars of the Roses have been described as a part of the struggle between France and Burgundy that was fought on English soil. Following the English loss of the Hundred Years’ War, conventionally dated to 1453, no peace treaty was signed. Northeastern Europe was dominated by the rivalry between a resurgent France and the duchy of Burgundy, a powerful conglomeration of territories made up of much of present-day eastern France and most of the modern Benelux countries. Each of these powers, in turn, backed different English contenders, launching or permitting invasions, four of which were successful. The key chronicler is the author of Commynes 2004. Kendall 1971, supplemented by Calmette and Périnelle 1930 and Duclos 1745, is best on French relations with England. Thielemans 1966, Vaughan 2004, and Weightman 2009 offer much on Burgundy and England. These volumes complement other works in the chronological sections on The Second War, 1469–1471, The Battle of Bosworth, 1485, and Resistance to Henry VII, 1485–1509.
  324.  
  325. Calmette, Joseph, and Georges Périnelle. Louis XI et l’Angleterre (1461–83). Paris: Éditions Auguste Picard, 1930.
  326. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  327. Valuable narrative. Includes supplementary documents.
  328. Find this resource:
  329. Commynes, Philippe de. Mémoires. Edited and translated by Joël Blanchard. Paris: Pocket, 2004.
  330. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  331. Superb inside view of both the French and the Burgundian regimes. See also Joël Blanchard’s Philippe de Commynes (Paris: Fayard, 2006). A complete translation into English is available with The Memoirs of Philippe de Commynes, 2 vols., edited by Samuel Kinser, translated by Isabelle Cazeaux (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1969).
  332. Find this resource:
  333. Duclos, C. P. L’Histoire de Louis XI. 3 vols. Paris: n.p., 1745.
  334. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  335. Includes key documents on preparations for Warwick’s invasion in 1470. A new edition is urgently needed.
  336. Find this resource:
  337. Kendall, Paul M. Louis XI. London: Allen and Unwin, 1971.
  338. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  339. Best modern life of the “universal spider” who orchestrated the Readeption of Henry VI in 1470–1471.
  340. Find this resource:
  341. Thielemans, Marie-Rose. Bourgogne et l’Angleterre. Relations politiques et économiques entre les Pays-Bas Bourguignons et l’Angleterre 1435–67. Brussels: Presses universitaires de Bruxelles, 1966.
  342. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  343. The most authoritative account of relations down to the death of Philip the Good.
  344. Find this resource:
  345. Vaughan, Richard. Charles the Bold. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2004.
  346. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  347. Originally published in 1973. Best modern life in English of the last Valois duke and Louis XI’s greatest rival, who was slain in 1476. See also Vaughan’s Philip the Good: The Apogee of Burgundy (London: Longmans, 1970) for relations with England before 1467.
  348. Find this resource:
  349. Weightman, Christine. Margaret of York, the Diabolical Duchess. Stroud, UK: Amberley, 2009.
  350. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  351. Reissue of 1989 book that is the sole study in English of the principal backer of opponents to Henry VII.
  352. Find this resource:
  353. Warfare
  354.  
  355. The wars constituted a series of brief campaigns fought by armies raised for the occasion. They generated none of the normal records for musters, pay, or casualties. Historians are dependent primarily on narratives for the scale of the wars, what happened, and to explain the results. The Battle of Bosworth, 1485 illustrates all these deficiencies.
  356.  
  357. Organization and Recruitment
  358.  
  359. Few professionals outside of Calais are documented, now discussed in Grummitt 2008, and logistics and fortifications are scarcely featured. Traditionally, historians have presumed that recruits came from the bastard feudal connections of the nobility, who supplied companies of their own retainers. Hicks 1995, Bean 1958, and Dunham 1955 are indispensable, but Goodman 2005 stresses the military obligations owed by all adult males. Crawford 2010 shows how they may have been recruited.
  360.  
  361. Bean, John M. W. The Estates of the Percy Family 1416–1537. London: Oxford University Press, 1958.
  362. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  363. Definitive study of assembly, income, and expenses of estates that sets out just how much the family spent on their retainers.
  364. Find this resource:
  365. Crawford, Anne. Yorkist Lord: John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, c. 1425–1485. London: Continuum, 2010.
  366. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  367. Biography of Yorkist administrator who became the right-hand man of Richard III. His accounts document his military and naval campaigns, for example, in Wales in 1463–1464 and against Scotland in 1481, and they are particularly revealing on logistics and recruitment, especially of tenants from his estates.
  368. Find this resource:
  369. Dunham, William H. Lord Hastings’ Indentured Retainers 1461–83. New Haven, CT: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences 39, 1955.
  370. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  371. Substantial biography built around edited indentures of retainers, but lacks the regional dimension explored in Hicks 1995 and others since.
  372. Find this resource:
  373. Goodman, Anthony. The Wars of the Roses: The Soldiers’ Experience. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2005.
  374. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  375. Broad in focus and full of illuminating detail, it treats prior military experience and equipment, casualties and medical care, pillage and billeting, provisions and other logistical issues—in short, the organization and impact of the wars on the combatants.
  376. Find this resource:
  377. Grummitt, David. The Calais Garrison: War and Military Service in England, 1436–1558. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2008.
  378. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  379. Grummitt documents the sole professional garrison in England’s sole fortress, which was the base for Yorkist invasions in 1459, 1460, and 1469. Grummitt charts the gradual reassertion of royal authority and the “professionalization” of the garrison.
  380. Find this resource:
  381. Hicks, Michael. Bastard Feudalism. Harlow, UK: Longman, 1995.
  382. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  383. Up-to-date overview of how the manpower for the wars was recruited.
  384. Find this resource:
  385. Strategy and Fighting
  386.  
  387. There are many accounts of the campaigns, the best being Gillingham 1981 and Sadler 2010, but regrettably little is known about the size, composition, and identities of armies, about tactics—were battles preceded by showers of arrows?—and about casualties, apart from the leaders. Some shafts of light are cast by the mass grave related to the battle of Towton (see Fiorato, et al. 2000). Haigh 1995 takes an overview. Dockray and Knowles 1992, Hammond 1990, and Hodges 2001 are full accounts of what is known. Richmond 1998–1999 is the best work on naval activity. The Battle of Bosworth, 1485 has its own section. Hicks 2003 focuses on strategy and contains excellent campaign maps.
  388.  
  389. Dockray, Keith, and Richard Knowles. The Battle of Wakefield. The Richardian (June 1992).
  390. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  391. Full discussion of the battle in which Richard, Duke of York was killed. See also P. A. Haigh’s The Battle of Wakefield, 30 December 1460. (Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1996).
  392. Find this resource:
  393. Fiorato, Veronica, Anthea Boylston, and Christopher Knüssel. Blood Red Roses: The Archaeology of a Mass Grave from the Battle of Towton AD 1461. Oxford: Oxbow, 2000.
  394. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  395. Analysis of Lancastrian victims of violent death. Most were mature, had suffered previous injuries, and perished from blows to the head, consistent with inadequate head protection, and from the rear, probably killed in flight.
  396. Find this resource:
  397. Gillingham, John. The Wars of the Roses: Peace and Conflict in Fifteenth-Century England. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1981.
  398. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  399. High-quality narrative that is especially strong on the campaigns and battles.
  400. Find this resource:
  401. Haigh, Philip A. The Military Campaigns of the Wars of the Roses. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1995.
  402. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  403. Briefly surveys all of the campaigns.
  404. Find this resource:
  405. Hammond, P. W. The Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. New York: St. Martin’s, 1990.
  406. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  407. Modern discussion of the key battles of the Second War, described by an eyewitness at the time (The Arrival) in Dockray 1988 (cited under Chronicles).
  408. Find this resource:
  409. Hicks, Michael. The Wars of the Roses 1455–85. Essential Histories. Oxford: Osprey, 2003.
  410. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  411. Modern survey, best on strategy. Excellent campaign maps.
  412. Find this resource:
  413. Hodges, Geoffrey. Ludford Bridge and Mortimer’s Cross: The Wars of the Roses in Herefordshire and the Welsh Marches, and the Accession of Edward IV. 2d ed. Little Logaston, UK: Logaston Press, 2001.
  414. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  415. Updates Welsh dimension to the First War.
  416. Find this resource:
  417. Richmond, Colin. “The Earl of Warwick’s Domination of the Channel and the Naval Dimension to the Wars of the Roses 1456–60.” Southern History 20–21 (1998–1999): 1–19.
  418. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  419. Full and comprehensive insights into the naval activities that made Warwick’s reputation. See also Hicks 1998 (cited under The Second War, 1469–1471).
  420. Find this resource:
  421. Sadler, John. The Red Rose and the White: The Wars of the Roses 1453–87. Harlow, UK: Longman, 2010.
  422. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  423. The most accessible and engaging accounts of the rather poorly documented campaigns. All the sites have been inspected anew.
  424. Find this resource:
  425. Counties and Towns
  426.  
  427. The Wars of the Roses were waged across the regions and counties of England. Much light on the participants is shed by studies of the regions, counties, and towns. The most ambitious and revealing are Pollard 1990 on the Northeast and Carpenter 1992 on Warwickshire. London was the key to the kingdom, repeatedly entered by rebels and invaders. Barron 2004 is definitive and Bolton 1986 illuminates the internal ructions exploited by the Yorkists. York and Coventry were each recipients of valuable correspondence, published in Attreed 1991 and Harris 1907–1913, respectively.
  428.  
  429. Attreed, Lorraine C. York House Books 1461–90. 2 vols. Phoenix Mill, UK: Sutton for Richard III and Yorkist History Trust, 1991.
  430. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  431. A comprehensive modern edition of the principal source for Richard III’s dominance of the North, especially before 1483.
  432. Find this resource:
  433. Barron, Caroline M. London in the Later Middle Ages: Government and People 1200–1500. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  434. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199257775.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  435. Authoritative and comprehensive account of the principal city, the target of every invasion.
  436. Find this resource:
  437. Bolton, James L. “The City and the Crown 1456–61.” London Journal 12.1 (1986): 11–24.
  438. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  439. Excellent discussion of the City of London politics.
  440. Find this resource:
  441. Carpenter, Christine. Locality and Polity: A Study of Warwickshire Landed Society 1401–99. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
  442. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511522376Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  443. Most comprehensive history of any county.
  444. Find this resource:
  445. Harris, Mary D., ed. “The Coventry Leet Book or Mayor’s Register.” Early English Text Society 134–135.138, 146 (1907–1913).
  446. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  447. Valuable record of national politics as it affected Coventry.
  448. Find this resource:
  449. Pollard, Anthony J. North-Eastern England during the Wars of the Roses: Lay Society, War, and Politics 1450–1500. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990.
  450. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  451. Brave study of a whole region that was heavily involved in all the wars, where the Nevilles, Gloucester/ Richard III, the Percies, and the rivals of Henry VII were active. Yorkshire and Northumberland really have different histories.
  452. Find this resource:
  453. The Course of the Wars
  454.  
  455. Historians do not agree about the definitive dates of what are now recognized to have been a series of wars. This survey divides them into the First War of 1459–1461, the origins of which are traced back to 1450 and which resulted in the replacement of the Lancastrian Henry VI with the Yorkist Edward IV (see The First War and Its Lengthy Preamble, 1450–1461); The Second War, 1469–1471, resulting from divisions among the Yorkists, and during which Henry VI briefly replaced Edward IV; and The Third War, 1483–1509, in which Richard III usurped the throne and was defeated in battle, followed by a succession of Yorkist claimants who failed to remove Henry VII.
  456.  
  457. The First War and Its Lengthy Preamble, 1450–1461
  458.  
  459. An essential prerequisite to the wars is the rebellion of Jack Cade, authoritatively studied in Harvey 1991. Conflicting interpretations of Henry VI’s rule are given in Griffiths 1998 (impressively comprehensive), Wolffe 2001, and Watts 1996 (all of which see him as willful and absent, respectively), and in the various sources cited under General Overviews and Textbooks. Johnson 1986 is an authoritative account on “the leader of the opposition,” Richard, Duke of York, and Boardman 2005 on the most serious fighting before the First War. Storey 1986 argues that the Wars of the Roses resulted from “the escalation of noble feuds” and includes documentation of a dozen of them from judicial records in the National Archives. Improved versions of most of Storey’s case studies have been published, some separately, others in books listed elsewhere, for example, in Castor 1994, Cherry 1981, and Griffiths 1998.
  460.  
  461. Boardman, John. The First Battle of St. Albans, 1455. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2005.
  462. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  463. A thorough reexamination of the sources and the terrain, and their interpretation. Uncritically Yorkist.
  464. Find this resource:
  465. Castor, Helen. “‘Walter Blount was gone to serve traytours’: The Sack of Elvaston and the Politics of the North Midlands in 1454.” Midland History 19 (1994): 21–39.
  466. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  467. Good modern analysis of one of the private feuds (in the North Midlands) that preceded the Wars of the Roses.
  468. Find this resource:
  469. Cherry, Martin. “The Struggle for Power in Mid-Fifteenth-Century Devonshire.” In Patronage, the Crown and the Provinces in Later Medieval England. Edited by Ralph A. Griffiths, 123–144. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1981.
  470. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  471. Good modern analysis of the important West Country feud that spilled over into the Wars of the Roses.
  472. Find this resource:
  473. Griffiths, Ralph A. The Reign of King Henry VI: The Exercise of Royal Authority 1422–1461. 2d ed. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1998.
  474. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  475. Fundamental. Vast and superbly documented, but difficult to find one’s way around. First published in 1981.
  476. Find this resource:
  477. Harvey, Isobel M. W. Jack Cade’s Rebellion of 1450. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991.
  478. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198201601.001.0001Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  479. Traces the troubles back to its roots and based on exhaustively researched persons and criminal records, but underplays the divisive issues.
  480. Find this resource:
  481. Johnson, Paul A. Duke Richard of York 1411–460. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1986.
  482. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  483. Well-documented narrative of a key player at the start of the Wars of the Roses.
  484. Find this resource:
  485. Storey, Robin L. The End of the House of Lancaster. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1986.
  486. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  487. Highly original and controversial records-based analysis that documents the numerous feuds that, arguably, escalated into civil war and determined who was on each side. First published in 1966.
  488. Find this resource:
  489. Watts, John L. Henry VI and the Politics of Kingship. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1996.
  490. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511583179Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  491. Very well-documented, brilliant discussion, but marred by overemphasis on Henry VI’s political inactivity.
  492. Find this resource:
  493. Wolffe, Bertram P. Henry VI. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2001.
  494. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  495. First published in 1981. The standard life. Treats all aspects of the king’s career, including his religious foundations. Attributes many official actions to the king himself.
  496. Find this resource:
  497. The Second War, 1469–1471
  498.  
  499. Scofield 1967 and Ross 1997 give the fullest accounts of Edward IV and his government. The Lancastrians did not give up in 1461: One of the three Yorkshire rebellions of 1469 discussed in Dockray 1983 was Lancastrian. The others were launched by Warwick (Hicks 1998 and Pollard 2007) and Clarence, who also rebelled in 1470 as described in Hicks 1980 and Pollard 2007. This power vacuum allowed the Berkeley-Lisle dispute to explode into the battle of Nibley Green (see Fleming and Wood 2003). Hicks 1980 recounts the reconciliation between them and the Lancastrian Margaret of Anjou brokered by Louis XI and the Readeption (Second Reign) of Henry VI. Pollard 1979 contributes to an understanding of the causes that led to the Second Reign and Richmond 1970 to the collapse of this regime.
  500.  
  501. Dockray, Keith. “The Yorkshire Rebellions of 1469.” The Richardian 83.6 (1983): 246–257.
  502. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  503. Distinguishes the rebellions and identifies the leaders.
  504. Find this resource:
  505. Fleming, P., and M. Wood. Gloucestershire’s Forgotten Battle of Nibley Green 1470. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2003.
  506. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  507. Excellent account of the last private battle on English soil.
  508. Find this resource:
  509. Hicks, Michael. Warwick the Kingmaker. Oxford: Blackwell, 1998.
  510. DOI: 10.1002/9780470753415Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  511. Thoroughly researched narrative that treats all aspects of this large topic. Shows how Warwick made his reputation in the late 1450s, his dominance in the early 1460s, his popularity, and what he stood for.
  512. Find this resource:
  513. Hicks, Michael A. False, Fleeting, Perjur’d Clarence. George Duke of Clarence 1449–78. 1st ed. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1980.
  514. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  515. Detailed study that seeks to make sense of the middle brother of Edward IV and Richard III, who twice changed sides and was central to the political upheavals of 1469–1471. Fullest account of the Readeption.
  516. Find this resource:
  517. Pollard, Anthony J. “Lord FitzHugh’s Rising in 1470.” Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 52 (1979): 170–175.
  518. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  519. Significant rising that diverted Edward IV from the real threat in 1470 and thus contributed to his expulsion from England.
  520. Find this resource:
  521. Pollard, Anthony J. Warwick the Kingmaker: Politics, Power and Fame. London: Hambledon, 2007.
  522. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  523. Extends Hicks 1998 to demonstrate more boldly how Warwick “responded to the pressure of the public more directly and more dramatically than any of his contemporaries.”
  524. Find this resource:
  525. Richmond, Colin. “Fauconberg’s Kentish Rising of May 1471.” English Historical Review 95 (1970): 673–692.
  526. DOI: 10.1093/ehr/LXXXV.337.673Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  527. Splendidly documented account of a forgotten rebellion that followed (rather than coincided with) the decisive battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury.
  528. Find this resource:
  529. Ross, Charles D. Edward IV. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1997.
  530. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  531. First published in 1974. A comprehensive rewriting of Edward IV’s career and reign along the lines required by modern research. Despite much that has been written since, this is still the standard account of the reign.
  532. Find this resource:
  533. Scofield, Cora L. The Life and Times of King Edward the Fourth. 2 vols. London: Frank Cass, 1967.
  534. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  535. First published in 1923. Massive, splendidly researched, and comprehensive study by a great expert, but its interpretations are often out of date.
  536. Find this resource:
  537. The Third War, 1483–1509
  538.  
  539. When Edward IV died naturally in 1483, he was succeeded by his son, Edward V, who was usurped by his uncle, Richard III. There is much debate about the usurpation. Richard failed to win over the Yorkist establishment, which rebelled in 1483 (Buckingham’s Rebellion) and which, in 1485, backed Henry Tudor. Henry killed Richard at Bosworth and succeeded as Henry VII. Henry, in turn, met with resistance from a series of Yorkist claimants, all of whom failed to overthrow him. The Yorkist threat was not completely ended until 1509.
  540.  
  541. Edward V and Richard III, 1483–1485
  542.  
  543. Richard III’s usurpation in 1483 restarted the Wars of the Roses. Vilified for five centuries, he now has many proponents—in particular, the Richard III Society (see Hammond 1986)—and has therefore attracted many biographers. Pollard 1991 is the most accessible. Although he reigned for only two years, his government is relatively well documented; so too are the continental origins of the Tudor opposition. The foundation of modern historiography is now Ross 1999. Pollard 2001 is a collection of a series of authoritative articles on Richard’s Northern context. Hicks 2003 is the best source for Edward V. Horrox 1989, supplemented by Gill 1999, is a comprehensive analysis of Buckingham’s Rebellion that is in line with Tudor tradition, but see Hicks 2000 for an account that is not.
  544.  
  545. Gill, Louise. Richard III and Buckingham’s Rebellion. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1999.
  546. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  547. Soundly researched discussion of the rebellion.
  548. Find this resource:
  549. Hammond, Peter W., ed. Richard III: Loyalty, Lordship and Law. Stroud, UK: Sutton for Richard III and Yorkist History Trust, 1986.
  550. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  551. Conference proceedings hosted by Richard III Society that includes papers on Bosworth (by Richmond), the Stanleys (by Jones), and the legitimacy of the princes (by Helmholz).
  552. Find this resource:
  553. Hicks, Michael. Richard III. 2d ed. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2000.
  554. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  555. Expands 1991 edition. Explains two successful propaganda campaigns: by Richard in 1483 and against him thereafter. Rejects Tudor inspiration behind Buckingham’s Rebellion.
  556. Find this resource:
  557. Hicks, Michael. Edward V: The Prince in the Tower. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2003.
  558. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  559. The only biography of the boy king. Assembles what is known and sets the context for his reign and demise.
  560. Find this resource:
  561. Horrox, Rosemary E. Richard III: A Study of Service. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
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  563. Thoroughly researched study of the reign that is particularly strong on Richard’s government and patronage. Establishes makeup and organization of Buckingham’s rebellion.
  564. Find this resource:
  565. Pollard, Anthony J. Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1991.
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  567. Balanced and reliable modern narrative.
  568. Find this resource:
  569. Pollard, Anthony J. The Worlds of Richard III. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 2001.
  570. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  571. Significant collection of articles on Richard III’s North.
  572. Find this resource:
  573. Ross, Charles D. Richard III. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999.
  574. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  575. First published in 1981. Thoroughly researched and wide-ranging, this is the standard life even though so much has been written since.
  576. Find this resource:
  577. The Battle of Bosworth, 1485
  578.  
  579. Traditionally marking the victory of the Tudors, the end of the wars, and the end of the Middle Ages, the battle is poorly documented in almost every aspect. After Bennett 1985 redefined what was known, Griffiths and Thomas 2005 provided an updated understanding of the Tudors and Richmond 1986 threw most orthodoxies into disarray, including the site of the battle. Foss 1990 painstakingly collates documentary and antiquarian evidence pertaining to the terrain and the findings have been substantiated by the archaeology. Jones 2002 argues for the decisive roles of pike-bearing foreign mercenaries. Recent archaeological fieldwork may have identified the area of the fighting (see Bosworth Battlefield), but it has certainly not settled the other debates. It was neither the first battle to be decided by cannon nor the first battle of the Wars of the Roses to use cannon.
  580.  
  581. Bennett, Michael. The Battle of Bosworth. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1985.
  582. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  583. Best modern account, although already superseded in some particulars.
  584. Find this resource:
  585. Bosworth Battlefield.
  586. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  587. Records archaeology fieldwork that has established, from small-find scatter, the location of the battle. Twenty-three projectiles are no surprise, since artillery featured at every battle from 1455.
  588. Find this resource:
  589. Foss, Peter J. The Field of Redemore: The Battle of Bosworth, 1485. Leeds, UK: Rosalba, 1990.
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  591. Thorough reassessment of the site in light of the terrain and of antiquarian scholarship.
  592. Find this resource:
  593. Griffiths, Ralph A., and Roger S. Thomas. The Making of the Tudor Dynasty. 2d ed. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 2005.
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  595. Originally published in 1985. Roots Henry VII in his Welsh antecedents. Particularly strong on his father’s generation and the planning for his invasion in 1485.
  596. Find this resource:
  597. Jones, Michael K. Bosworth 1485: Psychology of a Battle. Stroud, UK: Tempus, 2002.
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  599. Sets out the roots of the battle. Argues for a crucial French and Scottish role (convincingly) and for the decisive role of pikes.
  600. Find this resource:
  601. Richmond, Colin. “1485 and All That, or What Was Going on at the Battle of Bosworth?” In Richard III: Loyalty Lordship and Law. Edited by P. W. Hammond, 172–208. Stroud, UK: Sutton for Richard III and Yorkist History Trust, 1986.
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  603. Iconoclastic paper that reassesses the significance of the battle and argues that very few nobles fought it.
  604. Find this resource:
  605. Resistance to Henry VII, 1485–1509
  606.  
  607. Henry VII’s accession did not bring peace, but he was the last successful usurper of the Wars of the Roses. The Tudors successfully transmitted the message that the new dynasty was permanent and rivals were mere pretenders, two myths that modern historians have dispelled. Dockray 1986 summarizes the Northern conspiracies against Henry. Bennett 1987 on Lambert Simnel and Arthurson 1987, Arthurson 1994, and Wroe 2003 on Perkin Warbeck have revealed these individuals to have enjoyed substantial foreign backing and to have been genuine threats. Cunningham 2007 and Horowitz 2009 have established how well organized and how formidable Henry’s countermeasures were. Ross 2011 is a study of Henry’s key military commander.
  608.  
  609. Arthurson, Ian. “The Rising of 1497: A Revolt of the Peasantry?” In People, Politics, and Community in the Later Middle Ages. Edited by Colin F. Richmond, and Joel T. Rosenthal, 1–18. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1987.
  610. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  611. Valuable study of Cornish rebellion that came close to success; complements Arthurson 1994.
  612. Find this resource:
  613. Arthurson, Ian. The Perkin Warbeck Conspiracy 1491–1499. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1994.
  614. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  615. Authoritative account of the international conspiracies of the 1490s.
  616. Find this resource:
  617. Bennett, M. Lambert Simnel and the Battle of Stoke. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1987.
  618. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  619. Excellent account of the important but little known campaign in 1487.
  620. Find this resource:
  621. Cunningham, Sean. Henry VII. London: Routledge, 2007.
  622. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  623. The best modern life. Confirms the traditional interpretation with much new information, especially on Henry VII’s use of bonds for political control.
  624. Find this resource:
  625. Dockray, Keith. “The Political Legacy of Richard III in Northern England.” In Kings and Nobles in the Later Middle Ages. Edited by Ralph A. Griffiths and James W. Sherborne, 205–227. Stroud, UK: Sutton, 1986.
  626. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  627. Traces the political evolution of the North after Richard III.
  628. Find this resource:
  629. Horowitz, Michael R. Who Was Henry VII? Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2009.
  630. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  631. Special commemorative work of the Institute of Historical Research of the University of London showcasing excellent modern work by Cunningham and Horowitz.
  632. Find this resource:
  633. Ross, James A. John Earl of Oxford: John de Vere, Thirteenth Earl of Oxford (1442–1513) “The foremost man of the kingdom.” Woodbridge, UK: Boydell, 2011.
  634. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  635. Biography of the most important of Henry VII’s noble supporters.
  636. Find this resource:
  637. Wroe, Ann. Perkin: A Story of Deception. London: Jonathan Cape, 2003.
  638. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  639. Convincing rehabilitation of Warbeck and his cause.
  640. Find this resource:
  641. Victims
  642.  
  643. All wars have victims, both combatants and their dependents, but relatively little is known about mortality outside of those who are in the leadership and the sufferings of their families. Lander 1961, a classic article, documents the forfeitures of the lands of the defeated and how successful they were in securing rehabilitation. Rosenthal 1987 explores the misfortunes of widows and wives. Jones and Underwood 1992 and Hicks 1988 look at particular instances. Much work remains to be done in this area—very little is known about victims who were not aristocrats.
  644.  
  645. Hicks, Michael. “The Last Days of Elizabeth Countess of Oxford.” English Historical Review 100.406 (1988): 76–95.
  646. DOI: 10.1093/ehr/CIII.CCCCVI.76Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  647. Discusses one of the best documented cases of an elderly and infirm dowager who was dispossessed of her inheritance.
  648. Find this resource:
  649. Jones, Michael K., and Malcolm G. Underwood. The King’s Mother: Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
  650. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  651. Splendid study of the mother of Henry Tudor (Henry VII) that brings together the disparate evidence of her attempts to bring Henry back before 1483 and of her important role in Henry VII’s regime.
  652. Find this resource:
  653. Lander, Jack R. “Attainder and Forfeiture, 1461–1509.” Historical Journal 4 (1961): 119–151.
  654. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  655. Classic article setting out the proscription, rehabilitation, and other fates of those condemned to death and forfeiture, and their dependents.
  656. Find this resource:
  657. Rosenthal, Joel T. “Other Victims: Peeresses as War Widows 1450–1500.” History 72.235 (1987): 211–392.
  658. Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
  659. Pioneering survey that has attracted surprisingly few followers. Available online by subscription.
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