The term Wars of the Roses refers to the informal heraldic badges of the two rival houses of Lancaster and York, which had been contending for power, and ultimately for the throne, since the late 1450s.

The Yorkist claimant, Edward, Earl of March, had in 1461 been proclaimed King Edward IV and defeated the supporters of the weak, intermittently insane Lancastrian king Henry VI at the Battle of Towton.

Lancastrian revolts in the far north of England had been defeated in 1464, and the fugitive King Henry had been captured and imprisoned the next year.

His Queen, Margaret of Anjou, and their thirteen-year-old son Edward of Westminster, had been exiled and impoverished in France.

Edward IV's hold on the throne appears temporarily to be secure.

Edward IV owes his victory in large measure to the support of his cousin, the powerful Earl of Warwick, known as the "Kingmaker.” Edward IV has fallen out with Warwick, however, and also alienated many friends and even family members by favoring the family of his queen, Elizabeth Woodville, the daughter of an obscure Lancastrian knight, whom he had married in secret.

Warwick had tried first to supplant Edward with his younger brother George, Duke of Clarence, and then to restore Henry VI to the throne.

This results in two years of rapid changes of fortune, before Edward IV once again wins complete victories at Barnet in April 1471, where Warwick is killed, and Tewkesbury in May of the same year where the Lancastrian heir, Edward, Prince of Wales, is executed after the battle.

Henry is murdered in the Tower of London several days later, ending the direct Lancastrian line of succession.

A period of comparative peace follows.

Richard Neville, the powerful Earl of Warwick, known as "the Kingmaker,” has become the greatest landowner in England.

Already a great magnate through his wife's property, he had also inherited his father's estates and has been granted much forfeited Lancastrian property.

He also holds many of the offices of state.

Convinced of the need for an alliance with pro-Lancastrian France, he had been negotiating a match between Edward and a French bride.

Warwick had told Louis XI that Edward would be delighted to marry the French princess.

However, Edward had married Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of a Lancastrian knight, in secret in 1464.

He later announced the news of his marriage as fait accompli, to Warwick's considerable embarrassment.

This embarrassment had turned to bitterness when the Woodvilles came to be favored over the Nevilles at court.

Many of Queen Elizabeth's relatives have married into noble families and others have been granted peerages or royal offices.

Other factors compound Warwick's disillusionment: Edward's preference for an alliance with Burgundy rather than France and reluctance to allow his brothers George, Duke of Clarence and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, to marry Warwick's daughters Isabel and Anne.

Furthermore, Edward's general popularity is on the wane in this period with higher taxes and persistent disruptions of law and order.

Edward IV and Warwick have fallen out, eight years after the great Yorkists' victory in battle of Towton, in which the Kingmaker had taken crucial part.

No longer exercising any control or even influence over his cousin, the King, in political matters, Warwick has by 1469 formed an alliance with Edward's jealous and treacherous brother George, who marries Isabel Neville in defiance of Edward's wishes in Calais.

The Duke of Clarence is heir to the English throne while the king has no male offspring.

Small rebellions in the North send the King on a slow march in that direction.

With the King's back turned, Warwick's agents spread rumors stating that the King had been bastard-born and that Clarence is York's true heir.

In the North, one of Warwick's captains, calling himself Robin of Redesdale (probably a trusted Neville captain, Sir William Conyers) starts a new rebellion.

When Edward hears of this he believes the rebellion will easily be put down and musters only a few of his men.

He soon learns that the rebels in fact outnumber his own small force, and starts a retreat towards Nottingham to gather more recruits.

Unfortunately the King lacks the popularity he once had and reinforcements are few.

Edward decides to wait in Nottingham for the Earls of Pembroke and Devon, arriving with an army from the south.

Warwick and Clarence on July 12 declare their support for the rebels.

Warwick leaves London on the 18th at the head of a large army to reinforce the rebels.

The rebels hurry south to meet with Warwick, bypassing the King but nearly colliding with Pembroke and Devon at Edgecote Moor.

The two armies become aware of each other on July 25 and join in battle early in the morning of the 26th.

The beginning is a rather one-sided affair as the Earl of Devon and his Welsh archers are some miles away, having stayed the night in a neighboring village.

The rebels attack across the river, forcing Pembroke to retreat and pull his men back some distance.

Pembroke is attacked again in his new position, but he puts up a brave defense while awaiting Devon.

At one o'clock the Earl receives the news he has been waiting for: Devon is rapidly advancing with all his men.

However, at the same time the advance guard of Warwick's army arrives upon the field.

Rebel morale is instantly boosted.

Seeing Warwick's livery among the enemy, Pembroke's men presume his whole force of expert soldiers is upon them.

The royal army breaks and flees the field, possibly before Devon could even reinforce them.

The Earl of Pembroke and his brother Sir Richard Herbert are captured and executed the following day on Warwick’s order.

The Earl of Devon suffers a similar fate a few days later, captured by a mob at Bridgwater in Somerset, and executed on August 17.

The victory has been by no means bloodless; the rebels have lost Henry Neville, the eldest son and heir of George Neville, 1st Baron Latimer, Sir James Conyers, the son of their general (presumably "Robin of Redesdale"), Sir Oliver Dudley, the youngest son of John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley, another of the Neville family group, and many more.

Earl Rivers, father of the Yorkist Queen Elizabeth Woodville, and his second son John are taken prisoners at Chepstow following the battle.

Edward is captured at Olney, Buckinghamshire, and imprisoned …

…at Middleham Castle in Yorkshire. (Warwick briefly has two Kings of England in his custody.)

Warwick, after conducting a hasty show trial, has the queen's father, Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, and her brother John beheaded at Kenilwort on August 12, 1469.

He makes no immediate move, however, to have Edward declared illegitimate and place George on the throne.

England is in turmoil, with nobles once again settling scores with private armies (in episodes such as the Battle of Nibley Green), and Lancastrians being encouraged to rebel.

Thomas Talbot, 2nd Viscount Lisle, and William Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley, have long been engaged in a dispute over the inheritance of Berkeley Castle and the other Berkeley lands, Lisle being heir-general to Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley and Berkeley heir-male.

Lisle impetuously challenges Berkeley to a battle, and the latter agrees, the battle to be fought the next day at Nibley Green.

In the little time available, Lisle can only raise a force among his ill-equipped local tenants.

Berkeley, however, can draw upon a garrison from Berkeley Castle as well as his local levies, and he is reinforced by men led by his brother Maurice and miners from the Forest of Dean.

This gives him a considerable advantage in numbers, about one thousand to three hundred.

Philip Mead (or Mede) of Wraxall an Alderman and Mayor of Bristol in 1459, 1462 and 1469, sends some men on the Berkeley side.

Maurice Berkeley had married Isabel Mead, Philip's daughter, for which act of marrying beneath his social status he had been disinherited of the Berkeley lands by his elder brother, William.

This is hardly a mark of gratitude for Mead's assistance.

Lisle leads his men in a charge against Berkeley's troops as they emerge from a stand of woods.

Berkeley's archers open fire and breaks up the charge.

One of the Dean Foresters, an archer named "Black Will", shoots Lisle in the left temple through his open visor and unhorses him.

A few dagger-strokes from the archers ensure Lisle's death, and his leaderless army breaks and flees.

As Lisle's army disperses, Berkeley advances to Lisle's manor of Wotton-under-Edge and sacks it.

Few of the English nobles are prepared to support Warwick's seizure of power.

Edward is escorted to London by Warwick's brother George Neville, the Archbishop of York, where he and Warwick are reconciled, to outward appearances.

The King, with the help and support of his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, has by now regained power.

Despite the nominal reconciliation of Warwick and the king, by March 1470 Warwick finds himself in a similar position to that which he had been in before the battle of Edgecote.

He is unable to exercise any control over, or influence, Edward's policies.

Still wanting to place George, Duke of Clarence, on the throne so that he could regain his influence, Warwick calls on former supporters of the defeated House of Lancaster.

Robert Welles, 8th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, a former Lancastrian, turns to Warwick for help when his family falls foul of Edward in 1470 Warwick judges the time was ripe for another coup d'état, to kill or remove Edward from the throne.

Welles starts gathering armed forces at his base in Lincolnshire, ready for a show of arms against the King.

The unrest in Lincolnshire prompts the King to act, and he starts gathering men for his army on March 4.

The news of the King's intention to march to Lincolnshire quickly spreads panic among people there.

Due to Welles' deliberate misinterpretation, rumors are quickly spread that the King i coming to try the previously pardoned rebels from Edgecote, and that he will "hang and draw a great number" of them.

With the encouragement of Warwick and Clarence, Sir Robert Welles sets himself up as a "great captain" of the people of Lincolnshire.

Summons are sent on March 4 to all the surrounding estates requesting every able man to join him in the resisting of the King.

The King hears on the 7th that the rebels are marching towards Stamford with an army of one hundred thousand men, having recruited many men from the local counties, especially from Yorkshire.

The King later receives letters from Clarence and Warwick stating they are marching North with all their men to support the King.

The King then unsuspectingly issues commissions of array that include Warwick's name, authorizing him to raise his own army of professional soldiers.

Edward then receives news that the rebels have changed course for Leicester, as have Warwick and Clarence, no doubt leaving the King with a good idea of their intentions.

Sir Robert Welles receives a letter from the King telling him to disband his rebel army, or his father (Lord Welles, previously taken prisoner by Edward) will be executed.

Welles quickly turns back with his army to Stamford.

Edward's confidence grows when Welles fails to rendezvous with Warwick and his experienced forces.

Edward's scouts inform him that the rebel army is some five miles from Stamford, arrayed for battle beside the Great North Road to the north of Tickencote Warren near Empingham in Rutland.

Edward positions his men in a battle line to the north of Welles' army, and then, in the space separating the two forces, has Lord Welles executed in view of both armies.

This action sets off the rebels (currently numbering thirty thousand), advancing with cries of á Warwick and á Clarence.

A single barrage of cannonballs is fired, then Edward had his men charge towards the enemy.

Before the leaders of this attack can even come to blows with the rebel front line the battle is over.

The rebels break and flee rather than face the King's highly trained men.

Both captains, Sir Robert Welles and his commander of foot Richard Warren, are captured during the rout and a week later on March 19 are executed.

Welles confesses his treason, and names Warwick and Clarence as the primary instigators of the rebellion.

Documents are also found proving the complicity of Warwick and Clarence, who, as declared traitors, are forced to flee to France, where his former enemy, Margaret of Anjou, wife of the deposed Henry VI, is already in exile.

Louis XI of France, who wishes to forestall a hostile alliance between Edward and Edward's brother-in-law Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, suggests the idea of an alliance between Warwick and Margaret.

Neither of those two formerly mortal enemies entertain the notion at first, but eventually they are brought round to realize the potential benefits.

However, both are undoubtedly hoping for different outcomes: Warwick for a puppet king in the form of Henry VI or his young son; Margaret to be able to reclaim her family's realm.

In any case, a marriage is arranged between Warwick's daughter Anne and Margaret's son Edward of Westminster, and in the autumn of 1470 Warwick invades England.

Edward IV had already marched north to suppress another uprising in Yorkshire.

Warwick, with help from a fleet under his nephew, the Bastard of Fauconberg, lands at Dartmouth and rapidly secures support from the southern counties and ports.

He occupies London in October, freeing the imprisoned Henry VI, and parades him through the streets of London as the restored king.

Warwick's brother John Neville, who had recently received the empty title Marquess of Montagu and who has led large armies in the Scottish marches, suddenly defects to Warwick.

Edward is unprepared for this event and has to order his army to scatter.

He and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, flee from Doncaster to the coast, and thence to Holland and exile in Burgundy.

They are proclaimed traitors, and many exiled Lancastrians, such as the Percys, return to reclaim their estates.

Warwick's position nevertheless remains precarious.

His alliance with Louis of France and his intention to declare war on Burgundy is contrary to the interests of the merchants, as it threatens English trade with Flanders and the Netherlands.

Clarence has long been excluded from Warwick's calculations.

Parliament in November 1470 declares that Prince Edward and his descendants are Henry's heirs to the throne; Clarence will become King only if the Lancastrian line of succession fails.

Unknown to Warwick, Clarence secretly becomes reconciled with his brother, King Edward.