War of the Roses
The War of the Roses was a series of civil wars between two houses, the House of Lancaster and the House of York, essentially for the Crown. The name of this war was based off of the badges of each house (as seen in the first picture below); the House of York's badge was a white rose and the House of Lancaster's badge was a red rose. There were 5 major causes for this war: 1) The members of both Houses were direct descendants of King Edward III, 2) King Henry VI, who also happened to be a Lancastrian, surrounded himself with unpopular nobles, 3) The "civil unrest" of the population, 4) Many powerful lords were available and had their own private armies, and 5) The King Henry VI's unfortunate timing of his episodes of mental illness. In the middle of the war, the House of York managed to get Richard III on the throne; however, the House of Lancaster fought back. At the end of the War of the Roses, the House of Lancaster ended up winning and put another Tudor on the throne, Henry VII. Henry VII married a woman from the House of York to help settle the everlasting battle between the two Houses, and also made the "Tudor Rose" badge. The Tudor Rose was a combination of the Red Rose of the House of Lancaster, and the White Rose of the House of York (See second picture below). Also, the Howard's own John Howard was a part of the Battle at Bosworth (on the side of the House of York), where Richard the third lead the Yorks, and Henry VII lead the Rebels. The Rebel's were greatly out numbered, 10,000 to 5,000; however, the Rebel's and Henry Tudor managed to pull out a victory. John Howard was killed at some point in the battle.
