<< Chapter < Page Chapter >> Page >

British isles

England

Among the great powers rising on the Atlantic seaboard, England came last. From about 1350 to 1450 the English had had a drastic population reduction from the Black Death, prolonged economic stagnation and sporadic outbursts of the Hundred Years War against France. As noted above, Henry V took most of France for a short period and his death may have saved that continental country, but he almost ruined England because the treasury sank into irremedial debt. Henry VI went mad and there followed the famous War of the Roses, lasting from 1454 to 1485, in which the nobles of the House of York battled those of the House of Lancaster for the throne. It was a suicide of the Anglo-Norman aristocracy and England was left impoverished, destitute and desolate, as the

Lancastrians were scattered or destroyed and many of their nobles decapitated

John Gillingham (Ref. 250 ), lecturer in history at the London School of Economics, presents a considerable different view, denying the destruction, describing the battles as more the wars of gentlemen taking care not to offend the electorate and hardly affecting the social and economic development of England. Jasper Ridley (Ref. 291 ) would agree that the battles were fought by the royal and noble families and their retainers in a few counties only, but does remark that there was widespread breakdown in law and order in neighboring areas during these conflicts
. The victorious Yorkists entered London with King Edward IV, who had already resolved to have as little to do with Parliament as possible. In 1475 he made a token invasion of France through Calais, the one remaining English foothold on the continent, but he soon stopped to parley with Louis XI and a settlement was struck whereby Edward obtained a lump sum of 75,000 crowns and a yearly payment of 50,000. This was almost enough to keep him independent of Parliament and let him live the life of ease, which he so desired.

Some would say that his debauchery and promiscuity caused his early death in 1483, but actually he may well have died of appendicitis. His son Edward V, the apparent heir, was immediately imprisoned and his uncle took over the crown as Richard III, claiming that the boy Edward was a bastard and not entitled to succeed. But Richard, himself, ended up without an heir and the rival claimant to the throne became Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, a Welshman, who had been forced to flee to Brittany many years before. Now both Yorkists and Lancasters left England to join him as he prepared an expedition at the mouth of the Seine. In late summer of 1485, Richmond, with his English supporters and a body of French troops landed at Milford Haven, near the southwestern tip of Wales. The Welsh were more than happy to have the prospect of having one of their own on the throne of England and many Welsh gentry joined his forces so that he had about 5,000 men as he moved through Shrewsbury and Stafford. In the last of what should be called the "nobility wars", on Bosworth Field, Richard III was slain and Henry Tudor (Tydder) became Henry VII, a wise, sad, careful monarch, who reformed the administration, centralized the government and finally left the state respected, orderly, solvent, united and at peace. Henry's claim to the throne was through his mother, from John of Gaunt, founder of the House of Lancaster. He married Elizabeth, a princess of the House of York and thus united the two rival houses. When his first son, Arthur, who had married Catharine of Aragon, died, Henry arranged for his second son Henry (later Henry VIII) to marry the widow, thus strengthening the alliance with Spain. (Ref. 50 , 29 )

Get Jobilize Job Search Mobile App in your pocket Now!

Get it on Google Play Download on the App Store Now




Source:  OpenStax, A comprehensive outline of world history. OpenStax CNX. Nov 30, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col10595/1.3
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.

Notification Switch

Would you like to follow the 'A comprehensive outline of world history' conversation and receive update notifications?

Ask