Though the Lancastrian Claim comes from Edward III’s THIRD son, it relies on a) possession and b) that the crown can not pass through a woman – Philippa Mormer – so must fall to the next male in line. The Yorkist Claim relies on their descent from Edward III’s SECOND son, and says it can pass through Philippa. The Tudor Claim ignores the fact of passing through a woman – Lady Margaret Beaufort – or that John, Earl of Somerset, was born illegimate.

Factions in the Wars of the Roses

Principal Yorkist leaders in 1460

Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, senior Yorkist claimant to the throne (died at the Battle of Wakefield, 1460).

Edward Plantagenet, Earl of March, son of the Duke of York (to become King Edward IV).

Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland, second son of the Duke of York (died at the Battle of Wakefield, 1460).

Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury – powerful magnate (executed after Wakefield, 1461).

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick – Earl of Salisbury’s son, later known as the ‘Kingmaker’ having helped Edward IV to become king.

Lord Fauconberg – Earl of Salisbury’s brother, a fine soldier.

William Hastings – Earl of March’s friend and pimp.

Principal Lancastrian leaders in 1460

King Henry VI – Son of Henry V, weak willed and possibly insane.

Margaret (of Anjou) – Henry VI’s strong-willed French wife.

Henry, 3rd Duke of Somerset – Margaret’s favourite, good soldier, louche.

In addition almost every other magnate in the land, including the Dukes of Buckingham, Exeter, Devon, the Earls of Shrewsbury, Wiltshire, Northumberland, as well as Lords Scales, Roos, Hungerford, Ruthyn and Clifford.

Prologue

DURING THE 1450S England was in a sorry state: her hundred-year war in France had ended in humiliation, law and order had broken down in the towns and shires, and at sea, pirates were everywhere so that the wool trade – which had once kept her coffers brimming – had withered to nothing. Meanwhile her king, Henry VI, was prey to bouts of madness that robbed him of his wits, and with no strong leader, his court had become riven by two factions: one led by the Queen – a strong-willed Frenchwoman named Margaret from Anjou; the other by Richard, Duke of York, and his powerful allies the Earls of Warwick and of Salisbury.

Relations between the two factions first broke down in 1455 and each summoned its men to arms. In a short sharp action in the shadow of the Abbey of St Albans in Hertfordshire, the Queen’s favourite, Edmund, second Duke of Somerset, was killed, and the Duke of York and his allies won the day.

But York’s ascendancy was short-lived. By the end of the decade the King had regained his wits and the Queen her control of the court, and the sons of those killed at St Albans sought vengeance for their fathers’ sakes.