The state of England after the Wars of the Roses.

What the destructive wars of the Roses had left behind as Henry VII came to the throne.

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The state of England after the Wars of the Roses.

Causes

  • On August 22nd, 1485 Henry,Earl of Richmond, won one of the successive battles on the wars of the Roses in Bosworth. His opponent, whose army was halved by treason was killed and the throne was left vacant by Richard III.
  • The England that Henry VII came to rule was the product of war and plague. Profits came from loot and ransom, leaving more legitimate trading to suffer.
  • The reign of Edward I marked the transition of a society which was properly feudal to one which is now commonly described as ******* feudalism.
  • Until the accession of Henry VII, the crown continued to be weak and uncertain, though both Yorkist Kings, Edward IV & Richard III had made a credible start on regaining it to strength.
  • Law and order fell over the sway of over powerful individuals (for example. Richard Neville) with armed men at their backs.
  • The Plague spread through countrysides and then made its way into cities.

Effects

  • Now begins the years of Tudor rule, which would produce an England that would be wealthier, more firmly unified, more fully national, more modern in outlook and properly equipped to to play her part in the wider world which also emerges during the sixteenth century.
  • The wars of the Roses consisted in the growth of unstable social structure that was thriving on disorder and lawlessness, and in the rapidly increasing weakness of the crown.
  • ******* feudalism was not only a corrupted and decayed version of feudalism but a social structure different and new in essentials.  Feudalism embodied the link between Lord and peasant in a system of land tenure. An example of this is how peasants working on Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick's lands had to serve him before Edward IV. giving him more power than the kind and allowing him to set up an army against Edward if he so wished. ******* feudalism was evidently a more unstable system, loyalties were based on payment and were balanced by persistence of personal and family ties.
  • The decline of English Kingship in the late fourteenth century ended in the wild murders and civil wars of the fifteenth.When ******* feudalism allowed nobles to be at their most dangerous, the crown which had the most interest and potential power was in decay.
  • The outbreak of the plague lead to a decrease in population, This naturally had far reaching economic effects. In the thirteenth century the increasing population made land cheap and Lords found it easy to enforce the burdens of Villeinage. In the fifteenth century. this process was reversed. Lords found it impossible to enforce duties on men who could escape elsewhere.

Overall summary

Overall, the wars of the Roses had lead to the crown being weakened and nobles to be more powerful than ever. Serious disorder and rebellion were taking place and certain individuals were over powerful. The reign of the Tudors would build England to be one of the most powerful countries in the world.

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