In 1455, tensions between the White Rose of York and the Red of Lancaster, two royal dukedoms descended from Edward III, boiled over at the Battle of St Albans. Richard of York won the right to govern in place of the mentally unstable Henry VI, but Queen Margaret managed to defeat and kill him at Wakefield in 1460.

Richard of York’s son Edward assumed the White Rose cause, and was crowned Edward IV following victory at Towton in 1461. Betrayed by Richard Neville in 1470, Edward was forced to regain his throne at Tewkesbury a year later. However, the Red Rose prevailed when Henry Tudor defeated Edward’s brother Richard III at Bosworth in 1485, and became Henry VII.

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