War of the Two-Pinks - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

The war of the Two-Pinks indicates a series of civil wars which took place in England between the royal house of Lancaster and the royal house of York. The war ended in 1485, when the last of the kings Plantagenêt Richard III of England died in the field of honor, and that Henri VII became king.

The house of Lancaster went down from Jean of Ghent, duke of Lancaster and 3rd wire of the king Edouard III. That of York went down from his/her brother Edmond de Langley (1341-1402), 4th wire of the king Edouard III, become duke of York in 1385.

The emblem of the house of Lancaster was the pink red (), while that of York was the white pink (), which is at the origin of the name given a posteriori to this conflict.

A disputed succession

Antagonism between the two houses occurred in 1399 when the king Richard II was détrôné by his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Duc of Lancaster. As it went down from Jean of Ghent, the third wire of Edouard III, the rights of Bolingbroke to the crown were debatable. According to the laws of succession, it should have passed to the male descendants of Lionel of Antwerp, the second wire of Edouard III, and in fact, it is the grandson of Lionel, Roger Mortimer, 4th Count de March, that Richard II had designated as its heir apparent.

Despite everything, Bolingbroke was crowned under the name of Henri IV; it was accepted, because the government of Richard II had been extremely unpopular. Bolingbroke died in 1413. His/her son and successor, Henry V, was a large strategist and its military successes against France in the One hundred Year old war were worth an enormous popularity to him, which enabled him to ensure the maintenance of the Lancaster on the throne. However, during its reign, which was to be short, Henri V had to face a carried out conspiracy drum beating against him, organized by Richard, Count de Cambridge, wire of Edmund de Langley, the fourth wire of Edouard III. Cambridge was carried out in 1415 for treason at the beginning of the countryside which ends in the battle of Azincourt; his wife Anne Mortimer had also some rights on the throne, being girl of Roger Mortimer and by there downward of Lionel of Antwerp.

Henri V died in 1422 and Richard, duke of York, the son of Richard, count de Cambridge, and of Anne Mortimer, was to draw up itself against its successor, the weak king Henry VI, to assert the crown.

Henri VI

The king of England Henri VI of Lancaster was surrounded unpopular regents and advisers. Most known of them were Edmond Beaufort, 2nd duke of Somerset, and Guillaume of the Pole, 1st duke of Suffolk, to which one reproached badly for directing the government and for leading in a lamentable way War the One hundred year old which was prolonged with France. Under Henri VI, practically all the English possessions on the continent, including the territories gained by Henri V, had been lost. Henri VI was regarded as a weak and ineffective king. Moreover, he suffered per moments from mental disorders which he had perhaps inherited his grandfather, the king of France Charles VI. Before the years 1450, much regarded already Henri as an incompetent. Kings Lancaster had been tormented besides by the question of their legitimacy and the House of York thought of having rights on the throne much stronger.

The disorder growing at the court was reflected in all the country, where the noble families devoted themselves to private quarrels and less and less respected the royal authority and the courts. The Percy-Neville quarrel was most known of these private wars, but of others achieved themselves with complete freedom. In many cases they were fights between families established for a long time and the minor nobility formerly whose Henri IV had increased the capacity and the influence following the rebellions organized against him. The quarrel between Percy, for a long time dukes of Northumberland, and Neville which compared to them were only parvenus, was done on this model; another example was the quarrel between Courtenay and Bonville in Cornouailles.

An element in these quarrels was apparently the presence of a great number of soldiers whom one had returned of the English armies to France. The noble ones engaged much of them to organize raids, or to take by storm of the courts, intimidating plaintiffs, witnesses and judges.

The increase in dissatisfaction in the population, the great number of noble which quarreled thanks to their private armies and corruption at the court of Henri VI made the political climate ripe for a civil war.

In 1453, Henry undergoes his first crisis of mental disease, following what the Council of Regency was set up, directed by the powerful one and popular Richard Plantagenêt, duke of York and chief of the House of York as a Lord Protector. Richard well quickly expressed his capacity with an audacity ever equalized (although there is no proof that it had then aspired to the throne). He made imprison Somerset and he supported his partisans, Salisbury and Warwick, in a series of minor conflicts with the powerful partisans of Henry, like the dukes of Northumberland. The cure of Henry in 1455 opposed the ambitions of Richard and the duke of York was isolated court by the woman of Henri, the Marguerite queen of Anjou. Since Henri was not able to be the chief, it is it, powerful and voluntary woman, who had placed herself in fact at the head of Lancastriens. It tied alliances against Richard and conspired with the other noble ones to reduce its influence. Richard increasingly in a hurry resorted finally to the weapons in 1455 with the first Battle of Saint-Albans.

Beginning of the hostilities (1455-60)

Although armed confrontations had occurred before between the partisans of Henry and Richard, the principal period of armed conflict in the War of the Two Pinks occurred between 1455 and 1489.

Richard, duke of York walked towards London with a small troop and faced the forces of Henry with Saint-Albans, in the north of London, on May 22nd, 1455. The First Battle of Saint-Albans, relatively limited, was the first open conflict of the civil war. The goal of Richard was apparently to drive out the “bad advisers” of king Henry. The result was a defeat for Lancastriens. Several their chiefs were killed, including Somerset and Northumberland. After the battle Yorkistes found Henry sitting calmly under his tent, completely given up by its advisers and its servants, and having apparently undergone a new crisis of mental disease. York and its allies recovered their influential position, and during some time the two sides appeared shocked that a real battle had proceeded, so that they made all their possible to alleviate their disagreements. Since the king was sick, York was again named Protecteur and Margaret was isolated, charged to look after the king.

After the first Battle of Saint-Albans, the compromise of 1455 seemed somewhat to succeed, and York kept the preponderance on the Council even after the cure of Henry. The problems at the origin of the conflict re-appeared, especially the question of knowing if it would be the duke of York or Edouard, the son of Henry and Margaret, still with the cradle which would succeed to him on the throne. Margaret refused to accept any solution which would disinherit his/her son and it became clear that it would only tolerate the situation as a long time as the duke of York and its allies would keep military supremacy.

In 1456, Henry went solemnly in the Midlands, where the King and the Queen were popular. Margaret did not enable him to return to London where the merchants were dissatisfied with the decline of the businesses and the disorder which grew wide. The court of the King was reinstalled in Coventry. There, the new duke of Somerset appeared like the favorite of the court, inheriting the favor of his father. Margaret persuaded Henry to revoke the nominations that York had made as Protecteur, profiting owing to the fact that York itself had had to turn over to its post of Lieutenant to Ireland. The disorder grew in the capital, as well as the hacking on the southern part, but the King and the Queen were only worried to guarantee their own positions, the Queen for example establishes for the first time the conscription in England. During this time, the ally of York, Warwick (called the “Maker of kings later”), grew in popularity in London as a champion of the merchants.

York having returned of Ireland without authorization, the hostilities began again. September 23rd, 1459, at the Battle of Blore Heath in Staffordshire, an large army lancastrienne did not manage to prevent a troop yorkist under the orders of the count de Salisbury from going since Middleham Castle in Yorkshire to associate its forces with those of York with Ludlow Castle. Soon the armies joined together yorkists faced the army lancastrienne, much more, with the Battle of Ludford Bridge. One of lieutenants de Warwick passed to Lancastriens and the yorkists chiefs fled; York itself turned over to Ireland and Edouard, count de March (the oldest son of York, future Edouard IV of England), Salisbury and Warwick fled in Calais. Lancastriens now again controlled completely the situation and Somerset was sent to Calais as governor. Its attempts to expel of it Warwick were easily pushed back and Yorkistes even started to launch raids on the English coast from Calais in 1459-60, thus adding to the feeling of chaos and disorder.

In 1460, Warwick and the others started an invasion of England and were established quickly in Kent and in London, where they enjoyed a broad support. Supported by an emissary of the pope who had taken their party, they went towards North. Henry carried out an army towards the South to their meeting, while Margaret remained in North with Prince Edouard. The Battle of Northampton, on July 10th, 1460, proved to be disastrous for Lancastriens, helped by treason in the rows of the king; the army yorkist under the orders of the count de Warwick was able to overcome Lancastriens. After the battle, and for the second time during the war, Yorkistes found king Henry under a tent, entirely given up by its escort. It had apparently undergone a new crisis of madness. Now holding the king in their capacity, Yorkistes returned to London.

The Act of Agreement

Such a military success pushed Richard to assert the throne while being based on the illegitimacy of the line lancastrienne. Coming from the North of Wales, him and its Cecily wife entered to London with the usually reserved apparatus to a monarch. The Parliament was gathered and when York had entered it moved directly towards the throne, undoubtedly expecting that the Lords encouraged it to take it for him as they had done for Henry IV in 1399. Instead of that there was a deathly hush. He announced his claim on the throne, but the Lords, even Warwick and Salisbury, were shocked of such a presumption; at this time they did not want any to reverse Henry. Their ambition was always restricted to draw aside from him its bad advisers.

The following day, York produced genealogies detailed to support its claim while being based on the fact that it went down from Lionel of Antwerp and it met more comprehension. The Parliament agreed to study the business and admitted that the claim of York was founded better, but with five votes of majority, they decided that Henry VI would remain king. A compromise was elaborate in October 1460 with the act of Agreement, which recognized York like successor of Henry, disinheriting Edouard, the son of this one which was only six years old. York accepted this compromise as what one proposed to him of better. It gave him most of what it had wanted, especially owing to the fact that it was also made Protecteur Kingdom and had the capacity to control in the name of Henry. One banishes Margaret of London with Prince Edouard; the act of Agreement proved however unacceptable for Lancastriens, which joined in Margaret and formed in North an large army.

Counter-attack of Lancastriens

The duke of York left London towards the end of the year, with the count de Salisbury, to consolidate his position in North against the army of Margaret, which one said that it had gathered close to the town of York. Richard occupied a defensive position with Sandal Castle close to Wakefield with Christmas 1460. Although the army of Margaret carried it of number on that of Richard to more than two against one, the York on December 30th ordered with its forces to leave the castle and passed to the attack. Its army undergoes a defeat cuisante with the Battle of Wakefield. Richard himself was killed in the battle while Salisbury Edmund, Count de Rutland, second wire of Richard and seventeen years old, were taken and decapitated. Margaret ordered that their heads to all the three were placed on the doors of York. It is this event, or the final failure of Richard III, who inspired thereafter the mnemotechnical sentence “Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain” for the seven colors of the rainbow.

The act of Agreement and the events of Wakefield had made duke of York and heir to the throne Edouard, count of Walk, oldest son of York and 18 years old. The death of Salisbury had made of Warwick, its heir, the land great landowner in England. Margaret went to Scotland to negotiate the Scottish assistance. Mary de Gueldres, queen of Scotland agreed to give him an army provided that it yielded the town of Berwick to him and that the girl of Mary would be promised in marriage to Prince Edouard. Margaret accepted, although it did not have any money to pay its army and could not that to promise the rich person spoils to him whom England of the south would offer to him, it was necessary only that no plundering took place in the north of the Trent. It took its army with Hull, while being with the head of more than men than when it had come.

Edouard of York during this time, with an army coming from the steps pro-Yorkistes (the zone bordering between England and Wales), met the army of the count de Pembroke who arrived from Wales and a severe defeat with the Battle of Mortimer' S Cross in Herefordshire inflicted to him. He gave courage to his men in their showing a “vision” of three suns at dawn (a phenomenon known under the name of “parhelion”), and in their saying that it was there one victory predicts since he represented three surviving wire of York: itself, George and Richard. This episode explains why, thereafter, Edouard was to adopt the sign of the “sunne” in splendor like personal emblem.

Margaret moved towards the South, by ransacking all on its passage, its army provided for its requirements while plundering while it crossed thrives it England of the south. In London, Warwick made use of these confusions to support its propaganda and to reinforce adhesion with the party yorkist in all the South - the town of Coventry changed allegiance into its favor. Warwick failed when it started to recruit an army quickly and, without the army of Edouard to lend to him hand-strong, was taken with deprived by the fast arrival of Lancastriens with Saint-Albans. With the Second Battle of Saint-Albans the Queen gained a decisive victory and, while fleeing, the forces yorkists gave up King Henry, whom one found unscathed, quietly sitted under a tree.

Henry anoblit thirty soldiers lancastriens immediately after the battle. What shows that the war became increasingly pitiless, it is that the Margaret Queen showed with her son seven year old Edouard of Westminster, how to determine the way in which one would carry out the knights yorkists who had been charged to protect it and had remained at his side during the battle.

The advance towards the south of the army lancastrienne caused in London a wave of terror; the rumors ran on the intention to plunder city which the cruel soldiers of the North of England had. The Londoners closed the doors of the city and refused to supply the army of the queen, who plundered the surrounding counties of Hertfordshire and Middlesex.

Triumph over Yorkistes

During this time, Edouard advanced towards London while coming from the West where it had joined his forces to those of Warwick. At the same time the queen withdrew herself towards North, in Dunstable, which allowed Edouard and Warwick to enter London with their army. They were accommodated with enthusiasm by the city which was largely acquired to them and provides them money and supply. It was not possible any more in Edouard to only claim to try to tear off the king with bad advisers. It was now about a battle for the crown itself. Edouard needed from now on the authority and the thing appeared imminent when the bishop of London requested his opinion from the people of London: one answered him with the cries of “King Edward! ” The Parliament hastened to confirm and Edouard was crowned, though not officially, during a ceremony hastily organized with the abbey of Westminster in the middle of a great jubilation, although Edouard had sworn that there would be no crowning forms some until Henry and Margaret had been carried out or exiled. He also announced that Henry had lost his rights on the crown while allowing the queen to take the weapons against those which the act of Agreement had done its legitimate heirs, even if at this time he were largely allowed that the victory of Edouard was only one restoration on the throne of the legitimate heir, since Henry and his Lancaster predecessors had been only usurpers. It is this argument which the Parliament had accepted the previous year.

Edouard and Warwick walked towards north, joining together an large army as they progressed, and met in Towton an army lancastrienne not less impressive. The Battle of Towton, close to York, was the greatest battle of the wars of the Two-Pinks until there. The two sides had been appropriate as a preliminary that the question was to be distinct this day, without it being asked nor that one made district. Between 40.000 and 80.000 men took approximately there share and more than 20.000 left the life during (and afterwards) the battle, quantifies enormous for the time and largest in only day ever recorded on the English ground. Edouard and his army gained a decisive victory, Lancastriens were put in rout, and the majority of their killed chiefs. Henry and Margaret, who waited York with their Edouard son, fled towards north with the advertisement of the result. Much Lancastriens noble survivors passed immediately to king Edouard and those which did not do it were pushed back towards the frontier zones of the North and some castles of Wales. Edouard advanced to take York where he saw the heads rotting of his father, his brother and Salisbury, which were replaced soon by those of lords lancastriens overcome like celebrates it John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford de Skipton-Craven, which one reproached the execution of Edmond, the brother of Edouard, count de Rutland, after the Battle of Wakefield.

Henry and Margaret fled in Scotland where they remained with the court of Jacques III, holding their former promise to yield Berwick to Scotland and by leading an attack against Carlisle during the year. But, money lack, they were easily pushed back by the men of Edouard who pursued the remaining forces lancastriennes in the counties of North.