Such a baron might, with a bit of royal blood through a distant relative, be able to command the loyalty of other barons who were keen to see a change of regime to gain more wealth and power for themselves, especially if they were out of favour with the incumbent monarch. Some barons might even harbour ambitions of becoming king themselves, as was the case with Richard, Duke of York. The wealthiest barons thus became what some historians have called the 'over-mighty' because they were able to take over many of the functions of the royal government at a local level and have undue influence on the king at court. Retainers, often sporting a badge to identify themselves as followers of a particular local lord, were subject to that lord's laws and were loyal to him rather than the king. Rich landowners were able to possess private armies of retainers, accumulate wealth, and diminish the power of the Crown at a local level. This was because the 15th century CE witnessed the phenomenon of 'bastard feudalism' which involved the partial degradation of medieval feudalism. The instability caused by the Wars of the Roses allowed nobles to take advantage and promote their own position at the expense of others. a continued inspiration for later writers such as William Shakespeare.the creation of the House of Tudor by Henry VII. the reassertion of the Crown's superiority over the nobility by the war's victor Henry VII.the destruction of half the nobility of England.an increase in the use of violence and assassination as political tools.an increase in the power of nobles compared to the Crown during the wars.The various consequences of the Wars of the Roses may be summarised as: 1457 CE), who finally won the war for the Lancasters and became Henry VII of England (r. There were additional reasons why the wars rumbled on such as the ceaseless rivalry for wealth amongst the nobility, disagreements over relations with France, the impoverished economy, and finally, the ambition of Henry Tudor (b. 1442 CE) who became Edward IV of England (1461-70 & 1471-83 CE), and then Edward's brother Richard who reigned as Richard III of England (r. 1422-61 & 1470-71 CE) and the ambition of Richard, Duke of York (1411-1460 CE), then his son Edward (b. Although there were several reasons why the wars continued over four decades, the main causes for the initial outbreak were the incompetent rule and episodes of insanity of the Lancastrian king Henry VI of England (r. The 'wars' were really a series of intermittent, often small-scale battles, executions, murders, and failed plots as the political class of England fractured into two groups which formed around two branches of Edward III of England's descendants (r. The Wars of the Roses was a series of dynastic conflicts between the monarchy and the nobility of England in the second half of the 15th century CE. Smabs Sputzer (CC BY) A Dynastic Conflict
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |