User:A Thousand Doors/Timeline of the Wars of the Roses

When and how did Henry VI die? Edward IV was supposed to marry a virginal foreign princess

Edward kills his brother George He makes his brother Richard Duke of Gloucester and protector of his children if he died young


 * 1450:
 * 7 September: York begins his return to political prominence. Having left Ireland, he lands in Beaumaris, Anglesey, and begins travelling south-east to London, gathering supporters as he goes.
 * 27 September: York arrives in London with his army.


 * 1452:
 * 2 October: Richard Plantagenet, York's eighth son, is born at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire.


 * 1453:
 * 13 October: Henry's only son, Edward of Lancaster, is born in the Palace of Westminster in London.


 * 1461:
 * 28 June: On his coronation, Edward creates his brother Richard as Duke of Gloucester.


 * 1466:
 * 11 February: In Westminster Palace, Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth is born.


 * 1474?:
 * Edward V moves to Ludlow Castle in the Welsh Marches in Shropshire at age three with his uncle Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers.

The Third War

 * 1483:
 * Edward's health begins to decline. He adds codicils to his will, naming his brother Richard as Lord Protector if he dies young.
 * 9 April: After a short illness, Edward IV dies. His son accedes to the throne as Edward V.
 * 20 April: While Richard is in York, the Royal Council meet in London. They decide to bring Edward V to London for an early coronation on 4 May.
 * 24 April: Under the protection of Rivers, Edward V sets off from Ludlow to prepare for his coronation in London. A few days later, following a warning from his allies on the council, Richard leaves York with an army of 6,000 men to intercept Edward.
 * 29 April: Richard meets with Rivers, Edward's half-brother Richard Grey and their associate Thomas Vaughan in Northampton. With the assistance of his ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, Richard arrests the three men.
 * 1 May: Richard travels south to Stony Stratford, Buckinghamshire, where he captures Edward at the Rose & Crown Inn.
 * 4 May: Richard is recognised by the Royal Council as Lord Protector, making him the head of the government.
 * Elizabeth Woodville takes sanctuary at Westminster Abbey with her daughters and her youngest son, also called Richard.
 * Richard takes Edward directly to Tower of London, postponing the boy's coronation to 22 June.
 * 13 June: During a meeting of the Royal Council at the Tower of London, Richard accuses William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings and two other council members of committing high treason by conspiring with the Woodvilles against him, and has them arrested. Hasting is summarily executed by beheading, while the other council members are imprisoned.
 * 15 June: Richard writes a letter to the citizens of York, asking them to assist him against the Woodvilles.
 * 16 June: Richard convinces the Royal Council that Edward should not be crowned without his young brother present and surrounds the abbey with troops. Elizabeth surrenders her son to Richard, who takes him to the Tower of London.
 * 22 June: At St Paul's Cross outside Old St Paul's Cathedral, theologian Ralph Shaa preaches a sermon that Edward IV had been joined to Eleanor Butler by the Earl of Warwick, and was legally contracted to her. Shaa argues that Edward V is therefore illegitimate, that it would be unjust to crown him, and that Richard is the rightful king.
 * Notables and commoners of London draw up a petition, asking Richard to assume the throne.
 * 25 June: Rivers, Grey and Vaughan are all executed by beheading at Pontefract Castle in West Yorkshire.
 * 26 June: Richard accepts the throne, beginning his reign as Richard III.
 * 6 July: Richard rides from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey, where he is crowned king alongside Queen Anne. The coronation is watched by the majority of England's peerage.
 * 12 July–17 October: Richard and Anne embark on a Royal Progress, touring the kingdom of England.
 * 10 October: Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham instigates a rebellion against Richard. He has support from Henry Tudor.
 * 25 December: At Rennes Cathedral in Brittany, to shore up support for his claim to the throne, Henry Tudor vows to marry Elizabeth of York. English exiles pledge their allegiance to him.


 * 1484:
 * January: Parliament endorses Richard's title to the throne by producing the document Titulus Regius.
 * 9 April: Richard's son, Edward of Middleham, dies, leaving Richard without a legitimate heir.


 * 1485:
 * 16 March: Anne dies of tuberculosis, the same day as a solar eclipse.
 * 7 August: Henry and his army lands at Milford Haven in Wales and march east towards London. His forces totals 5,000 soldiers, consisting of Yorkist defectors, English exiles, contingents of Scots and Welsh, and around 2,000 French mercenaries.
 * Richard summons his nobles to bring their forces to Leicester, a strategic military base, where Henry can be intercepted.
 * 20 August: Richard rides to Leicester.
 * 21 August: Richard and his army march out towards Henry. Crowds gather to cheer them off. They ride across Bow Bridge, down Narborough Road, out of Leicester, past Sutton Cheney, before finally stopping and making camp on Ambion Hill, south of Market Bosworth.
 * 22 August: The Battle of Bosworth Field:
 * Richard's and Henry's armies meet near Ambion Hill. Richard's army battles under the symbol of a white boar and totals between 7,500 and 12,000 soldiers. Henry's forces number between 5,000 and 8,000, and fight under banner of the red Welsh Dragon.
 * The Stanleys betray Richard and switch sides to Henry.
 * John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk is slain in single combat by Sir John Savage.
 * Richard fights bravely and ably, but is ultimately surrounded by William Stanley's men and killed. He becomes the last English king to die in battle.
 * Henry is crowned king, becoming Henry VII, ending the Plantagenet dynasty and beginning the Tudor era.
 * 23 August: Following Richard's death, his body is stripped naked and strapped to a horse's back, with his arms and legs hanging down both sides. Henry and his army parade Richard's body back across Bow Bridge and through Leicester, until he is brought to a church in the city, probably the Church of the Annunciation of Our Lady of the Newarke. Richard's body is put on display there for two days to prove that he is dead.
 * 25 August: Henry leaves for London. Richard is buried in a plain tomb in the church choir of Greyfriars, the abbey of the Franciscan monks in Leicester. William Catesby is executed, also in Leicester.


 * 1486:
 * 18 January: Henry marries Elizabeth of York, uniting the Lancastrian and York dynasties.