What does the "Wars of the Roses" refer to?

Between the years 1399 and 1485 England was locked into decades of civil wars between the competing royal houses of Lancaster, (represented by the Red Rose) and York (represented by the white rose). Immortalized through the 16th century plays of William Shakespeare, this period is one of the most turbulent yet significant in England's history, replete with a full cast of eccentric characters culminating in the diabolical Richard the III. This era ushered in one of the most famous and widely known royal dynasties, the Tudors. With the defeat of Richard III in 1485 by Henry Tudor at the battle of Bosworth Field, Henry (head of the house of Lancaster) married Elizabeth of York (daughter of Edward IV) thereby uniting the two royal houses into one represented by the Tudor Rose; a combination of red and white.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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79 Comments

Bill Coe

Miryam Hammond, The question is fine as is. "To what does ..." may have been the only way to express this 50 years ago. But language does evolve and it is now perfectly acceptable to end a sentence with a preposition.

Diane Brown

I had better get that right as my ancestors are of the Royal House of the Plantagenet

Lynne Norris

Richard III was not diabolical all. This is a figment of imagination that has wrongly been perpetuated for centuries.. He has been portrayed in literature as evil and diabolical, and of murdering his two nephews (heirs to the throne), but academic research has completely all of disproved this.

Glenis Nichols

Hey! Less of the diabolical Richard 111rd. The King, who traveled the country listening to people's concerns (POOR people, that is, and gave them justice in a way no other king had, who bravely fought his own battles, unlike Henry 7th; when he died he left the Tudors who destroyed any resemblance of justice for the common man ... if he had lived a fairer country would have have prevailed. And f he was that deformed how could he have fought so bravely the way he did? Yes, he had curvature of the spine, but this would not have been noticeable in his clothes. You are going to tell me he murdered his nephews. Very sad, if he had. But that is not proved yet.

Lynne Zeman

This is supposed to be a fun trivia game but several responders have become nit-picky or snipe at the others. Let's just have fun testing ourselves and perhaps learning a few things.

Steve McVey

Miryam Hammond, It would be nice if your comment was too.

Chris Braun

I've never understood sticklers for grammar. I mean, realistically, would you have answered correctly had the question been rephrased? 😉

Charles Nath

Bill Coe, reminds me of what Winston Churchill said: "This is the type of language up with which I shall not put".

Margaret Martin

Lynne Norris, history is always written by the victors

Cottec

Richard III was much maligned by Shakepeare, but then he did live in The Elizabean age. Wouldn’t have done his neck any good to say different. It is still disputed that Richard murdered the two princes, Margarite Beaufort is in the picture.

Jackie

The story is that Richard 111 asked for the princes to be taken care of and this was misinterpreted.

Rochelle

More British stuff every Canadian learned about in school...when I saw horse racing I choked on my mineral water...lol

faithfoxx

Idk what it was talking about I look at the picture and see that the man with red rose had his hand on his sword getting ready to fight. P.s. 50/50 in these question did not pay attention in social studies class but I listened and you'll be surprised how much I know about these questions.

Player

maggiemaylupton, it was between the houses of Lancaster and York not the counties.

maggiemaylupton

It was called the war of the Roses. Lancashire against Yorkshire. Not Lancaster.

jadefalcon

And how about that murdering fat old Henry Tudor VIII, loping off all of his wife's heads, especially Anne Boleyn who was innocent of all charges..

Andy the educated troglodyte

Good question Larry

rlitman

Diane Brown, Ditto! Wm. The Conqueror! Over 60% of the United States decsended from this line, I am told!

Rac

Oh how can i forget this one "War of the Roses" the movie starred by Michael Douglas & Kathleen Turner an adaptation /tragicomedy🤔

donald lafreniere

Its the football game in my book!

ronwellings

AB, "If you don't like it then don't read the comments or be on for that matter." You moan, groan, complain, judge, criticize about others comments on a daily basis yet have the hypocritical audacity to call someone out? What a fool you are!

dmc

Brought back memories of sitting in History classes getting the sides mixed up. just wishing the bell would ring so we would be dismissed and we could go home!