The white rose was just one of many badges used by the Yorks, and the red rose of Lancaster was likely not adopted until the 1480s when the conflict was nearly over. This legend took root after William Shakespeare and others wrote about it, but most modern historians maintain that neither side was identified solely by a floral symbol. The Wars of the Roses take their name from the color of the roses-red for Lancaster and white for York-that each house supposedly used as their emblem. Neither side used a rose as its sole symbol.

Albans, the first armed confrontation between York and Lancaster-aligned armies. The conniving and jockeying for power that ensued eventually led to 1455’s First Battle of St. Richard, Duke of York was made protector of the realm during one of Henry VI’s spells and was reluctant to step down even after the King had recovered.

The sorry state of affairs was compounded by the weak and witless reign of the Lancastrian King Henry VI, who suffered from a mental illness that often rendered him nearly catatonic. The realm was still reeling from its recent defeat in the last phase of the Hundred Years’ War with France, which had drained royal coffers, fractured the nobility and sent legions of unemployed soldiers flooding into the countryside. The Wars of the Roses might never have happened if not for the tenuous state of English politics in the 1450s. Fallout from the Hundred Years’ War helped spark the unrest. Nevertheless, when the Wars of the Roses first kicked off, the Lancasters had been entrenched on the throne since 1399, when Henry IV usurped power from his cousin Richard II. This complicated family tree ensured that both factions had a legitimate case for their royal lineage, though by modern standards the Yorkists’ claim was undoubtedly stronger.

The Yorks were descended from the female relatives of Edward’s second and fourth sons, while the Lancasters were related to Edward’s third son, John of Gaunt.

The Houses of York and Lancaster both traced their lineage to the sons of Edward III of the House of Plantagenet, who ruled as England’s king from 1327 until 1377. The Yorks and Lancasters were descended from the same family.

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