Chapter Four: War Years

With roots in Yorkshire, the 15th century War of the Roses was fought between two branches of the Royal House of Plantagenet, which had placed kings on the English throne starting in the 12th century. When King Richard II, in 1399, was overthrown, the House of Lancaster first took over the throne with the coronation of Henry of Bolingbroke as Henry IV -- his son Henry V, and his son Henry VI, both also ruled, but only for a short time, when Richard, Duke of York, claimed the throne for the House of York. Both the House of Lancaster and the House of York refused to back down from their claims.

Starting in 1455, Lancastrians fought Yorkists in bloody war, all over England, with several major battles in Yorkshire. The final result in 1485 was a compromise, with the Lancastrian Richard marrying Elizabeth of York, forming the new House of the Tudor Rose, the new source of kings and queens for the English throne. To this day, the antagonism between Yorkists and Lancastrians is manifest in several sporting rivalries between sports clubs and universities, of Lancashire and Yorkshire.

1489 was the year of the Yorkshire Rebellion, against King Henry VII, over taxes demanded by the king to fund a war against France. Though the Yorkist rebels lost, the king acquired little from his victory, and was unable to continue the French war as he wished.

Between 1536 and 1540, King Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries throughout England, including many in Yorkshire. The property of over one-hundred-twenty religious institutions in Yorkshire was sold, and most of the buildings destroyed or closed.

Yorkshire had loyalties on both sides during the English Civil War in the middle of the 17th century, which pitted the English King against the English Parliament, but most primarily sided with the King. In fact, several prominent Royalist families in Yorkshire, upon the loss of the war to the Parliamentarians, fled to the American colonies. In 1642, King Charles I and his Court established residence in York, though only for six months. From that point on, York was regarded a Royalist city; it was put under siege, and captured in 1644 by Lord Fairfax and his Parliamentary forces. The Commonwealth of England, and the Protectorate, under Cromwell, ruled England for the next twenty years; many stronghold and castles held by Royalist families in Yorkshire were demolished. By 1660, though, York had grown enough to be, after Norwich and London, the third largest city in England. In 1660, Scottish armies backing the Royalist cause pushed through Yorkshire and marched on London. In 1661, the English Crown was restored, and King Charles II came back from exile to rule England.