What was the War of Roses? I believe some background information is necessary for those of you with social lives who don't memorize the genealogy of English Kings for fun. The war can be traced back to King Edward III of England. He reigned for 50 years and helped create a strong and militaristic England that was the poster child for the medieval world. Edward and his decedents were technically all part of the House of Plantagenet but his sons' children would go on to create factions within the family. He had eight sons, five of whom lived long enough to amass power and pass large titles onto their heirs. These sons were Edward Duke of Cornwall, Lionel Duke of Clarence, John Duke of Lancaster, Edmund Duke of York, and Thomas Duke of Gloucester. John of Gaunt became the patriarch of the House of Lancaster when his son Henry usurped the throne from Richard II (son of Edward Duke of Cornwall) and became Henry IV. Edmund's son Richard married the great granddaughter of Lionel Duke of Clarence and founded the House of York. It was Edmund's Yorkist great grandson Edward that fought against the Lancaster king Henry VI and won the throne of England as Edward IV. The House of Lancaster divided even further to produce the House of Tudor. Lancastrian king Henry V married Catherine of Valois but died right after his son Henry VI was born. Catherine got remarried to a man named Owen Tudor and they had a son named Edmund Tudor. Edmund went on to marry John Duke of Lancaster's great granddaughter Margaret Beaufort and their son Henry VII became the first Tudor king. Confused yet? :) Basically one family, the Plantagenet family, divided into two factions Lancaster and York. Lancaster divided even further and produced the House of Tudor. So the line of kings went Plantagenet, Lancaster, York, Tudor. The red rose of Lancaster fought against the white rose of York and lost. These roses represented each family and that is why it is called the War of Roses. Tudor King Henry VII married the daughter of Yorkist King Edward IV and combined the red and white roses to create the Tudor Rose. Here is a picture for those of you who need a visual aid.


I hope this makes more sense now. Or not :) The family tensions and divisions resulted in one of the well known wars in history thanks to the fabrications of one William Shakespeare. 

I finally arrived in England today! I was thoroughly surprised by the lack of rain upon arrival and while it isn't sunny at the moment I would consider this a lovely day :)

Now on to the actual project. Before arriving in England I tried to do as much research as I could. I read novels that took various stances on Richard's reputation, watched movies that portrayed him in different lights, and read textbooks that showed what is written down in history and taught to schoolchildren. The novel I read was The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman. A light read of 936 pages the book has all of the historical facts mixed in with  fascinating and interesting dialogue between main characters. The book also jumps around and is told from various characters points of view. I found it interesting to observe the same event from three or four different points of view. Overall I can say that I appreciate Ms. Penman's enthusiastic approach to trying and redeeming Richard's reputation. She put all of the issues he had to deal with into context and sheds light on what he was able to accomplish as king for only two years and two months. I own a textbook titled The Lives of the Kings & Queens of England. Written by Antonia Fraser the book is the straight facts with all the names and dates. This book helped me gain an understanding of the situation that Richard found himself in. I learned about the warring factions of the House of Plantagenet, the Lancasters, Yorks, and Tudors. The kings I examined were Henry VI (Lancaster), Edward IV, Edward V, Richard III (York), and finally Henry VII (Tudor). All of these men played an important role in the War of Roses and the book helped me grasp just how complex the monarchy of England was. Lastly, I watched three movies based on Richard III. I watched the Ian McKellen and Robert Downey Jr. 1995 version of Shakespeare's famous Richard III, Sir Laurence Olivier's 1955 version, and Al Pacino's 1996 version titled "Looking For Richard". Here are two links for the movies.

http://www.solarmovie.so/watch-richard-iii-1995.html

http://www.solarmovie.so/watch-looking-for-richard-1996.html

The original plan was that tomorrow we would head north to Leicester and visit the parking lot where Richard III's body was recently dug up. Before we headed up there without asking around I emailed Marian Mitchell, the Visits Officer of the Richard III Society. She responded quickly and with a lovely long note about how unfortunately the car park is not open to the public (thank God I asked before I went up there and embarrassed myself) but that there is a exhibit across the street. She was also nice enough to include a list of other places we could visit. We can not go tomorrow because something came up with my nephews. We will instead go next Tuesday. I am very excited about this project. Not only am I getting to research one of my favorite topics but I also get to visit my favorite country and test out writing a blog. Wish me luck!