The Wars of the Roses, sometimes referred to collectively as a single War of the Roses, were a series of civil wars fought over the control of the monarchy in 15th century England.
The two rival factions were King Henry VI's Lancastrians and the York family, initially headed by Richard of York prior to his death on the battlefield. In 1471, Richard's son defeated Henry and claimed the throne as Edward IV. Aside from a few minor uprisings, England enjoyed peace during his reign of twelve years, which ended upon his death in 1483. Edward was briefly succeeded by his child, whom history remembered as Edward V, before they were replaced by their uncle Richard III, who had previously been assigned as the young King's Lord Protector. In 1485, Richard's forces were defeated by those of the House of Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth and Henry Tudor was crowned as Henry VII. Henry quickly united the warring families with his marriage to Elizabeth of York, thus establishing a dynasty which lasted for over a century.
History[]
Origins[]
Speaking in 1485, King Richard III blamed the reign of Henry VI for the Wars of the Roses, branding him "a feeble-minded king". (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
Earlier battles[]
At a time when the future Richard III was a "young lad" and living in the old castle in Middleham, Richard's father, (AUDIO: The Kingmaker) Richard of York, (TV: Sky) often sustained battle wounds which Doctor Grey would tend to. On one such ocassion, the young Richard and a time travelling creature who was visiting him heard the screams of pain. This startled the creature who quickly left after Richard told it "there was a doctor looking after things". (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
According to the Space Records Bureau, the Doctor was sighted at the War of the Roses. (PROSE: Doctor Who Meets Scratchman)
George, Duke of Clarence claimed to have gotten his nickname of "One-Armed Clarrie" after breaking it during the Battle of Tewkesbury while fighting off twenty Lancastrians with only a spoon. In reality, however, Erimem broke it in response to having her posterior fondled. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
Reign of Edward IV[]
Edward IV of the York family successfully mounted a claim to the throne of England in 1471. According to the Fourth Doctor, by the time of his death in 1483 England had known peace for twelve years.
Edward knew it was important to keep the line going for the stability of crown and country. When his first-born was a daughter, Elizabeth, he did not worry too much. However, according to one account, his second child was also a girl, causing him to panic. As Edward's brother the future Richard III stated, the ascenion of a queen to the throne was not feasible as England was a "country stuffed with power-hungry knobs with their own private armies, just waiting for their chance to make it their own do-it-yourself monarchy". Not wanting a repeat of the decades of fighting that made up the Wars of the Roses, Edward lied and announced to the world that his second-born daughter was a son in order to "stop the jitters going through the kingdom". When his third-born was another girl, Edward carried on the pretence to have two, "one for the succession and one for a spare". (AUDIO: The Kingmaker) According to another account, Edward's final two children were not daughters named Susan and Judith but really were sons called Edward and Richard, (PROSE: Sometime Never...) as history recorded. (PROSE: Sometime Never..., AUDIO: The Kingmaker, The Battle of the Tower)
During Edward's reign, George, Duke of Clarence led an uprising against him, eventually being caught and sentenced to death. Their brother Richard later claimed George had not been malicious in his actions, simply an idiot, with it being the family of his consort Elizabeth Woodville who had forced Edward into delivering the sentence. Richard helped George escape and allowed him to live out his days in relative anonymity as the landlord of the Kingmaker tavern.
On 9 April 1483, Edward IV caught a chill and died suddenly, paving the way for his son Edward to be crowned as Edward V, scheduled to occur in London on 24 June that year. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
Richard III's seizure of the crown[]
The death of Edward IV threatened the peace which England had enjoyed during his reign. The Woodvilles manoeuvred to keep the new King, barely a teenager, under their control. Meanwhile, the King's uncle Richard of Gloucester had previously been nominated as his sole protector but that role had been partially revoked and the King's Council, which was dominated by the Woodvilles and their allies, were put in his place.
Earl Rivers, Elizabeth Woodville's brother, was sent to bring the King back to London under close escort for his coronation. Richard and the Duke of Buckingham Henry Stafford intercepted the convoy on their journey and negotiated a compromise that they would both accompany Edward to London. After Rivers retired for the night in a Stony Stratford inn, Richard had a brief panic when he realised Edward had escaped out of a window but his fears were soon allayed after Peri Brown and Erimem arrived with the unconscious King, who they had found in a nearby forest. Richard convinced the two women to tend to Edward's injuries but they fled after Peri discovered a detatched metal part on him and concluded he had been replaced by a robot. Richard's fears momentarily returned upon being told of Peri and Erimem's disappearance, suspecting them of being Woodville spies, but he found Edward and his brother still in their bedroom. However, he noticed the loose metal Peri had abandoned on the floor, which was really a codpiece, and worked out that Edward and Richard were both girls and were merely posing as boys.
When Richard emerged from the room, his manner drastically changed. According to Buckingham, he became "twitchy and troubled, almost addled in his mind". When the escort got back to London, he went "completely loopy" and arrested many without reason yet let most go almost immediately also without cause. In fact, Richard was rounding up and executing everyone who knew the truth about the Princes. This included Hastings, a loyal friend of Edward IV. He then bribed Elizabeth Woodville, Edward's widow, to keep quiet about the whole affair, who was as petrified about the truth coming out as Richard himself. After that, Richard declared the "boys" bastards by voiding the marriage of their parents, allowing him to legally crown himself king. Richard later said that exposing the lies of the "beloved and dearly departed king [...] would have torn the whole kingdom apart". (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
According to another account, Edward's second and third children had been boys named Edward and Richard, though the Duke of Gloucester did not kill them to seize the throne. They "lack[ed] for nothing", with Edward the Prince of Wales and Richard the Duke of York, and their uncle saw to everything they needed. (PROSE: Sometime Never...)
Reign of Richard III[]
Around six months into Richard's reign, the Duke of Buckingham believed the country to be ripe for uprising though observed that the Woodvilles were the only family powerful to attempt it and they would need a catalyst, such as the death of Elizabeth Woodville's children the Princes in the Tower. Buckingham joined forces to enact this plan with Richard's advisor "Mr Seyton" (really a time-displaced William Shakespeare) who wanted Richard to bloody his own hands to clear any suspicion that his beloved Queen Elizabeth I's grandfather Henry Tudor was not responsible for their disappearances. However, Shakespeare betrayed Buckingham and Richard had them both locked up for treason. After "all the murder and kidnap plots started buzzing", Richard sent Susan and Judith to live with their Uncle Clarrie at the Kingmaker and forced Peri and Erimem to pretend to be the Princes in their stead.
In 1485, following a series of events, Richard III travelled to 1597 in the TARDIS with the Fifth Doctor, Peri, Erimem and Shakespeare. Richard had previously been made aware of his fate to die at the Battle of Bosworth from various time-travelling visitors and was ready for it so, intent on "fulfilling his destiny", asked to be taken straight to Bosworth upon his return to the 15th century. However, it was Shakespeare who ultimately left the TARDIS at Bosworth, having returned to the craft in the hope of going back to Richard's time to retrieve Susan and Judith. He threatened the Doctor to do as he asked but had his arm broken by Erimem and sustained a limp courtesy of a publisher's robot. As Shakespeare was pursued out of the TARDIS by what onlooking soldiers though to be a "huge knight", his injuries matched the stereotypical description of King Richard. He was soon cornered by Henry Tudor's troops and forced to climb a tree to save himself from being cut to pieces. One of the King's supporters who witnessed this vowed to let it be recorded that "Richard died fighting like a lion and not blubbing like a big baby hiding up a tree". (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
Richard III is saved during the Battle of Bosworth. (COMIC: A Rose by Any Other Name)
According to another account, the King at Bosworth begun quoting Shakespeare's Richard III towards the end of the battle and was crying out "My horse! My horse! My kingdom for a" until a unicorn materialised in front of him, saving his life. This event was caused by the meddling of Rose, the Tenth Doctor's cat. (COMIC: A Rose by Any Other Name)
According to a third account, Richard was present at Bosworth and truly met his end. He had said his goodbyes to his nephews Edward and Richard before the feast of the eve of the battle, though was confident he would see them again. Lord Scrote was one of his men at the forefront of the army. (PROSE: Sometime Never...)
Aftermath[]
Following the defeat of Richard III, Henry Tudor of the House of Tudor claimed the throne as Henry VII. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker) Soon afterwards, he married Elizabeth of York, thus uniting the previously warring families. (TV: The Coach with the Dragon Tattoo)
In one universe "somewhere close by" to N-Space, Henry VII murdered the Princes in the Tower near the beginning of his reign. (PROSE: Sometime Never...) According to one account, the Doctor took the "Princes" in the Tower Susan and Judith to live with their uncle Richard in 1597 after Bosworth. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker) According to another account, the Princes were removed from time on the eve of the battle by the Council of Eight and eventually went to live with Ernest Fleetward in the 21st century. (PROSE: Sometime Never...)
The Tudors would rule continuously in England for over one hundred years, until 1603. (PROSE: Birthright, AUDIO: The Marian Conspiracy)
Legacy[]
William Shakespeare's play Richard III depicted an unflattering portrayal of the titular monarch's reign up until his defeat in the Battle of Bosworth.
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of the Princes of the Tower endured into the 20th century. While working for UNIT, the Fourth Doctor began writing a book called Doctor Who Discovers Historical Mysteries focused on this aspect of the Wars. (AUDIO: The Kingmaker)
Most of Chase Mansion was built during the wars. Harrison Chase thought the wars were "charmingly named, but rather a bloodthirsty period in history". (TV: The Seeds of Doom)
Alternate timeline[]
Flyer of the River Song's World. (TV: The Wedding of River Song)
In an alternate timeline where River Song refused to kill the Eleventh Doctor and all of history took place at the same time at 5:02pm on 22 April 2011, the Londinium Cotide reported that the War of the Roses had entered its "second year". (TV: The Wedding of River Song)
Behind the scenes[]
In the unproduced Doctor Who movie, Doctor Who Meets Scratchman, it is mentioned that the Doctor was sighted during the War of the Roses. This fact eventually made it into the short story Doctor Who Meets Scratchman, an adaptation of the film.
