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I did not realize that there were Wars (plural) rather than a War of the Roses that lasted 32 years, 3 weeks and 4 days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses
Various ancestors come from Lancashire and Yorkshire, and neighboring counties like Durham, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, as well as others. A good number come from areas on the border area of Yorkshire and Lancashire. I can trace the paternal name as far back as the 1400s, and less reliably back to 1224, based on some historical texts and anecdotes. I expect ancestors were on both sides of the conflict, and they survived, when many others did not. According to the Wikipedia article, an there were an estimated 105,000 dead.
Other ancestors come from Scotland, Wales and Ireland, as well as Germanic Europe, Norway and Sweden/Denmark. The latter set were probably Agles/Saxons/Jutes and Vikings who settled along the east coast of England, as well as some on the west coast.
When I first learned about the War of the Roses, I did not know how it related geographically to my family's ancestry. Only recently did I develop and understanding based on the geographical locations of various ancestors. Wakefield is more or less halfway between Halifax and Pontefract, and various ancestors were born within the corridor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wakefield (30 December 1460)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses#Defeat_of_Richard_III
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bosworth_Field (22 August 1485)
https://www.bosworthbattlefield.org.uk/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses
Various ancestors come from Lancashire and Yorkshire, and neighboring counties like Durham, Cumberland, Westmoreland, Northumberland, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, as well as others. A good number come from areas on the border area of Yorkshire and Lancashire. I can trace the paternal name as far back as the 1400s, and less reliably back to 1224, based on some historical texts and anecdotes. I expect ancestors were on both sides of the conflict, and they survived, when many others did not. According to the Wikipedia article, an there were an estimated 105,000 dead.
Other ancestors come from Scotland, Wales and Ireland, as well as Germanic Europe, Norway and Sweden/Denmark. The latter set were probably Agles/Saxons/Jutes and Vikings who settled along the east coast of England, as well as some on the west coast.
The Wars of the Roses, known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century, fought between supporters of two rival cadet branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: Lancaster and York. The wars extinguished the male lines of the two dynasties, leading to the Tudor family inheriting the Lancastrian claim. Following the war, the Houses of Lancaster and York were united, creating a new royal dynasty, thereby resolving the rival claims. The conflict lasted for approximately thirty years, from 1455 to 1487, with various periods of greater and lesser levels of violent conflict during that period, between various rival contenders for the monarchy of England.
The conflict had its roots in the wake of the Hundred Years' War and its emergent socio-economic troubles, which weakened the prestige of the English monarchy, unfolding structural problems of bastard feudalism and the powerful duchies created by Edward III, and the mental infirmity and weak rule of Henry VI, which revived interest in the Yorkist claim to the throne by Richard of York. Historians disagree over which of these factors was the main catalyst for the wars. It was also used as a proxy War between France and the Burgundian State.
When I first learned about the War of the Roses, I did not know how it related geographically to my family's ancestry. Only recently did I develop and understanding based on the geographical locations of various ancestors. Wakefield is more or less halfway between Halifax and Pontefract, and various ancestors were born within the corridor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Wakefield (30 December 1460)
The Battle of Wakefield took place in Sandal Magna near Wakefield in northern England, on 30 December 1460. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing forces were an army led by nobles loyal to the captive King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster and his Queen Margaret of Anjou on one side, and the army of Richard, Duke of York, the rival claimant to the throne, on the other.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wars_of_the_Roses#Defeat_of_Richard_III
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bosworth_Field (22 August 1485)
https://www.bosworthbattlefield.org.uk/
The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by an alliance of Lancastrians and disaffected Yorkists. Their leader Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first English monarch of the Tudor dynasty by his victory and subsequent marriage to a Yorkist princess. His opponent Richard III, the last king of the House of York, was killed during the battle, the last English monarch to die in combat. Historians consider Bosworth Field to mark the end of the Plantagenet dynasty, making it one of the defining moments of English history.