Wars of the Roses Timeline

Richard, Duke of York, defeated a Lancastrian force guarding King Henry VI, marking the first open battle of the Wars of the Roses. Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, were killed, and York assumed control of the government.

Image source: First Battle of St Albans

After the king fell ill again, York was restored as Protector of the Realm. His second protectorate was brief, as Queen Margaret maneuvered to restore Lancastrian control and move the court away from Yorkist influence.

Image source: Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York

The Earl of Salisbury defeated a larger Lancastrian army under Lord Audley in Staffordshire, one of the first major engagements after the breakdown of the fragile peace. Audley was killed, but the Yorkists remained strategically vulnerable.

Image source: Battle of Blore Heath

Warwick, Salisbury, and Edward of March returned from Calais, landing at Sandwich with popular support. They entered London unopposed, gaining control of the capital and setting the stage for confrontation with the royal army.

Image source: Wars of the Roses

The Yorkists decisively defeated the royal army thanks to treachery by Lord Grey, who opened his lines to Warwick's men. King Henry VI was captured and taken to London, giving the Yorkists control of both the capital and the king.

Image source: Battle of Northampton (1460)

Richard of York returned from Ireland and claimed the throne outright. Parliament compromised with the Act of Accord, allowing Henry VI to reign for life but naming York and his heirs as successors — disinheriting Prince Edward and provoking Queen Margaret to continue the fight.

Image source: Act of Accord

Riding the momentum of public support in London, Edward of March was proclaimed King Edward IV by his supporters, formally deposing Henry VI. At nineteen years old, he became the first Yorkist king of England.

Image source: Edward IV of England

Fought in a snowstorm near York, Towton was the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil, possibly involving 50,000–80,000 men. Edward IV's decisive victory crushed Lancastrian resistance; Henry VI, Margaret, and their son fled to Scotland.

Image source: Battle of Towton

Edward IV was crowned at Westminster Abbey, cementing Yorkist rule. He rewarded his supporters, most notably elevating his brother George to Duke of Clarence and Richard to Duke of Gloucester, and began consolidating control over the realm.

Image source: Wars of the Roses

Edward secretly married the widowed Elizabeth Woodville, scandalizing the nobility. Her large family received generous marriages and offices, alienating powerful allies like Warwick 'the Kingmaker,' who favored a French alliance through marriage.

Image source: Elizabeth Woodville

After years as a fugitive in northern England and Scotland, the former king Henry VI was captured near Clitheroe and imprisoned in the Tower of London. His captivity seemed to end Lancastrian hopes, though Queen Margaret continued plotting from abroad.

Image source: Henry VI of England

An uprising in the north, likely orchestrated by Warwick and Clarence, challenged Edward IV's rule. Combined with Warwick's invasion, it led to the king's capture and temporary imprisonment by his own cousin, exposing deep divisions within the Yorkist regime.

Warwick's forces destroyed a royal army loyal to Edward IV, killing the king's father-in-law Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers, and his brother John. Edward was taken into Warwick's custody, though he soon regained his freedom as Warwick's rule collapsed.

Image source: Battle of Edgcote

Another rebellion linked to Warwick was crushed by Edward IV at Losecoat Field. Incriminating documents forced Warwick and Clarence to flee to France, where they made a shocking alliance with their old enemy, Queen Margaret of Anjou.

Image source: Battle of Losecoat Field

Backed by Charles the Bold of Burgundy, Edward IV landed at Ravenspur and marched on London, gathering support. He entered the city, freed Henry VI from the Tower, and prepared to confront Warwick's army before Margaret could arrive from France.

In thick fog, Edward IV defeated and killed Warwick the Kingmaker. Confusion in the mist caused Lancastrian troops to attack their own allies. Warwick's death removed the most powerful kingmaker of the era and shattered the Lancastrian cause.

Image source: Battle of Barnet

Edward IV crushed Queen Margaret's army days after her landing in England. Prince Edward of Westminster, the Lancastrian heir, was killed either in battle or executed afterward, extinguishing the direct Lancastrian line of descent from Henry VI.

Henry VI died in the Tower of London on the night Edward IV returned in triumph, almost certainly murdered on the king's orders. With Henry and his son dead, the Lancastrian claim survived only through the obscure line of Henry Tudor, exiled in Brittany.

George, Duke of Clarence, convicted of treason after feuding with his brother Richard and the Woodvilles, was privately executed in the Tower, allegedly drowned in a butt of malmsey wine. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, grew increasingly powerful in the north.

Image source: George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence

Edward IV died unexpectedly at age forty, leaving his twelve-year-old son Edward V as heir and naming his brother Richard as Lord Protector. The succession crisis reopened the dynastic conflict and set the stage for the dynasty's collapse.

Titulus Regius declared Edward IV's children illegitimate due to alleged precontract of marriage. Young Edward V and his brother Richard were confined in the Tower of London and disappeared, presumed murdered. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was crowned Richard III.

Image source: Princes in the Tower

A revolt led by the Duke of Buckingham, with links to Henry Tudor and the Woodville faction, aimed to overthrow Richard III. It failed quickly — Buckingham was executed — but it drove many rebels into exile with Henry Tudor, strengthening his cause.

The death of Richard III's only legitimate son devastated the king and destabilized his regime, raising questions about the succession and encouraging defections to the exiled Henry Tudor, whose claim, however thin, gained credibility.

Image source: Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales

Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, landed in Wales with a small force of French mercenaries and English exiles, claiming the throne through his Lancastrian descent and his pledge to marry Elizabeth of York, uniting the warring houses.

Image source: Henry VII of England

Henry Tudor defeated and killed Richard III, who died fighting heroically after the betrayal of the Stanley family. Bosworth is traditionally regarded as the end of the Wars of the Roses and the beginning of Tudor rule in England.

Image source: Battle of Bosworth Field

Henry VII fulfilled his promise to marry Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, symbolically uniting the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York. Their children combined both claims, helping to heal the dynastic divide.

Image source: Elizabeth of York

Henry VII defeated the pretender Lambert Simnel's army, backed by Yorkist diehards including John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, who was killed. Often called the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, it secured the Tudor dynasty against armed challenge.

Image source: Battle of Stoke Field