The Wars of the Roses in a nutshell; a very brief guide

Edward 111 was King of England from 1327 to 1377.  He had 12 children and that is where the problem started. There were several claimants to the throne. The eldest son and heir, Edward the Black Prince died in 1376 and his son 10 year old Richard 11 inherited the throne from his grandfather Edward 111 in 1377. Richard 11's character is largely shaped for us by Shakespeare but Richard is considered to have been an unpopular king. He was usurped, imprisoned and is believed to have suffered a hideous death at the hands of his cousin Henry Plantagenet known as Bollinbrooke who became Henry 1V. 

Henry was descended from the 3^rd live son of Edward 111, John of Gaunt.  Henry’s family had inherited much land in Lancashire through his mother Blanche of Lancaster who brought the Lancashire lands to the family as part of her dowry. The family therefore became known as the House of Lancaster. When Henry became Henry 1V in 1399, he legitimised his half siblings on condition that they and their descendants could never inherit the  English throne. The Lancasters had a red rose as their emblem. 

The House of York, who were descendants of the 2^nd and 4^th live sons of Edward 3^rd  had a white rose as their emblem. They felt that by the laws of kingship and primogeniture ( a hereditary system where rights passed through order of birth ) that they should have the throne because they were descendants of the 2^nd live son and Lancasters were from the 3^rd live son. Thus followed a series of battles and skirmishes between the cousins, from 1455 to 1487 resulting eventually in Edward 1V of the House of York taking the throne from his feeble minded Lancaster cousin Henry V1 in 1461. Edward ordered  Henry to be killed whilst under arrest. 

In the mid 1460's, Edward 1V secretly married the stunningly beautiful Elizabeth Woodville and had ten children by her. This marriage was deemed invalid though because Edward was already secretly plight trothed to the Earl of Shrewsbury’s daughter Nan Talbot- Butler, a plight troth being a binding religious contract of marriage stronger than engagement but not yet a marriage. This made Edward's ten children by Elizabeth Woodville illegitimate. Nan Talbot- Butler was dismissed to a convent in Norfolk and died. The Bishop of Bath and Wells who conducted the plight troth ceremony of Edward and Nan Talbot- Butler confirmed the event had indeed taken place. Edward's brother George, Duke of Clarence, is believed to have known about the plight troth and this is why Edward had him murdered.

When Edward 1V died suddenly in 1483, his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester of the House of York, took the opportunity to claim the crown to “protect his nephews”, Edward’s sons, from their Woodville relatives. An act of Parliament declared Edward's children to be illegitimate. Richard then had the young Princes put into the Tower of London " again for their protection " where they disappeared from view forever. Richard, Duke of Gloucester became the Yorkist King Richard 111 in 1483.

Henry Tudor was a very weak claimant to the throne being descended from a mistress of the third live son of Edward 111 and as previously stated, that line was legitimised on condition they could never inherit the throne.  His Tudor claim was hence, from an illegitimate legitimised female line who were barred from inheritance. The House of Lancaster however supported his claim and at The Battle of Bosworth 1485, Welsh Henry Tudor’s forces defeated the English King Richard 111. Richard’s body was buried in Leicester Cathedral and recently discovered under a nearby car park and reinterred in the splendour befitting a King. Henry Tudor (now Henry V11 )  legitimised Edward 1V's children and married Edward 1V’s daughter, Richard's niece, Elizabeth, to cement his claim and unite the two Houses of York and Lancaster. The red rose and white rose combined became the Tudor Rose.

Should the rightful king have been a York or a Lancaster?  Was Richard responsible for the disappearance of the two young princes?