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War Of The Roses Essay : The War Of The Roses

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The Wars of the Roses The succession line for the English throne has always been a confusing, and sometimes violent process, but never has this statement been more true than during the Wars of the Roses. The war of the Roses was a series of battles for control of the English monarchy between two rival houses. The Wars of the Roses was a major destabilizing and violent event in English history. Both families had strong claims to the throne, had a strong family history, enough men to engage in full scale battles, and in the end, both houses got their wish of having a descendant on the throne. The struggle for the English throne first started in 1455 when Richard, Duke of York, challenged Henry VI’s, the current king, claim to the throne. Henry VI was a direct descendant of Henry IV who deposed king Richard II. Because of this Richard, Duke of York, saw all of Henry IV’s descendents as having no ancestral rights to the English throne. Richard, Duke of York, was of the same bloodline as Richard II giving him a strong claim to the throne (Wheeler). The instability in England at the time allowed for such claims to be taken seriously and not crushed immediately by the current ruling monarch. This instability was caused by the one-hundred years war that had just recently ended, and the fact that Henry VI surrounded himself with untrustworthy noble and was known to have fits of insanity. The House of York was founded by King Edward III’s fifth son, Edmund of Langley, in the late

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