The Wars of the Roses: The Key Players in the Struggle for Supremacy

In the second half of the fifteenth century, for over thirty years, civil war tore England apart, but its roots were deeper and its thorns felt longer than this time frame suggests. The Wars of the Roses were not a coherent period of continual warfare. There were distinct episodes of conflict, interspersed with long periods of peace. But the struggles never really ceased. Motives changed, fortunes waxed and waned, the nature of kingship was weighed and measured and the mettle of some of England’s greatest families was put to the test. Matthew Lewis examines the people behind these events, exploring the personalities of the main players, their motives, their successes and their failures. This book will uncover some of the lesser known tales lost within the broad sweep of the Wars of Roses, the molehills that made up the mountain, in a very personal look at a period of complex loyalties and shifting fortunes. By exploring some of the lesser known events, the period as a whole will become clearer. We will discover when the Wars of the Roses really began, what drove England into civil war and whether it is possible to pinpoint an end to the troubles.