The Wars of the Roses are a series of civil wars in England between supporters of the Houses of Lancaster and York (both tracing descent from King Edward III).When the Lancastrian King Henry VI proves as he grows up to be ineffectual and unstable, those dissatisfied with the government by his favorites rally around Richard, Duke of York, head of the rival House of York.

Although armed clashes had occurred previously between supporters of Henry and Richard, the first open fighting breaks out in 1455 and resumes more violently in 1459.

Henry is captured and Richard becomes Protector of England, but is dissuaded from claiming the throne.

Inspired by Henry's Queen, Margaret of Anjou, the Lancastrians resume the conflict, and Richard is killed in battle at the end of 1460.

His eldest son is proclaimed King Edward IV after a crushing victory early in 1461.After several years of minor Lancastrian revolts, Edward quarrels with his chief supporter and advisor, the Earl of Warwick (known as the "Kingmaker"), who tries first to supplant him with his jealous younger brother George, and then to restore Henry VI to the throne.

This results in two years of rapid changes of fortune, before Edward once again wins a complete victory in 1471.

Warwick and the Lancastrian heir Edward, Prince of Wales dies in battle and Henry is murdered immediately afterwards.A period of comparative peace follows, but Edward dies unexpectedly in 1483.

His surviving brother Richard of Gloucester first moves to prevent Edward's widow Queen Elizabeth's unpopular family from participating in government during the minority of Edward's son, Edward V, and then seizes the throne for himself, using the suspect legitimacy of Edward IV's marriage as pretext.

This provokes several revolts, and Henry Tudor, a distant relative of the Lancastrian kings who has nevertheless inherited their claim, overcomes and kills Richard in battle at Bosworth in 1485.Yorkist revolts flare up in 1487, resulting in the last pitched battles.

Sporadic rebellions continue to take place until the last (and fraudulent) Yorkist pretender is executed in 1499.Fought largely by the landed aristocracy and armies of feudal retainers, support for each house largely depends upon dynastic factors, such as marriages within the nobility, feudal titles, and tenures.

It is sometimes difficult to follow the shifts of power and allegiance because nobles acquire or lose titles through marriage, confiscation or attainture.

For example, the Lancastrian patriarch John of Gaunt's first title is Earl of Richmond, the same title which Henry VII later holds, while the Yorkist patriarch Edmund of Langley's first title is Earl of Cambridge.

However it is not uncommon for nobles to switch sides and several battles are decided by treachery.