Can you tell us about the events that led to this between the Lancastrians and Yorkers? I guess just to set the scene a little for us.

Yeah, so I think that's a really important thing to remember when we talk about the Wars of the Roses.

And when we talk about the Wars of the Roses, it wasn't a continuous period of civil war that lasted 30 years.

In a way, that was one of the most sort of effective or sort of long-standing myths that the Tudors invented.

So the Tudor retelling of the Wars of the Roses is this long period of civil conflict that, if you like, Henry VII comes and rescues England from.

In fact, the Wars of the Roses were a series of intermittent rebellions, periods of political unrest, and occasionally open conflict that lasted from about 1455 through to 1487.

So what we're going to be talking about today is really that first stage of the Wars of the Roses, which is very much the struggle between Richard, Duke of York, who would go on to be, well, as we'll see, he becomes named heir to the throne, but never becomes king.

So it may just be this chance encounter.

So I suppose my next question would be, why are there so many misconceptions about the battles of the War of the Roses? And I suppose following on from that, is our old friend William Shakespeare to blame? Because I should imagine that's where a lot of people, the point at which a lot of people access the history of the War of the Roses is via the Shakespearean plays.

Yeah, so Shakespeare obviously is best known for his misrepresentation of Richard III and his account of the Battle of Bosworth and Richard's horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.

We know that that is not the case.

These battles, the ones that I cover in my new book, only really get sort of a bit part mention.

They're mentioned in Henry VI Part III, but they're very sort of tangential to Shakespeare's story.

Shakespeare got his history from a pair of Tudor chroniclers writing in the 1540s, then again in the 1570s and 80s, Edward Hall, the earlier one, and Raphael Hollinshed.

And Hollinshed drew very much on Hall's chronicle.

So are you able to put a more realistic number on Towton, for example, from your research?

Can you tell me why they broke out in fourteen fifty-five, and who the main forces are beyond the Houses of York and Lancaster?

Okay.

So I think we can say the cause of the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in fourteen fifty-five is Henry VI.

So Henry had come to the throne in fourteen twenty-two, aged just nine months.

He had reigned for over thirty years by fourteen fifty-five, and during that time, he had really proven himself inadequate in almost every aspect of kingship.

He had big boots to fill because, of course, his father had been Henry V, and it's Henry V who had conquered Normandy and won the Battle of Agincourt.

By fourteen fifty, Normandy had fallen, and three years later, Gascony, the other large territory under English control, had also fallen.

When she dies in 1509, so soon after her son, what's the reaction? How do people respond to Margaret's life?

Can you tell me why they broke out in fourteen fifty-five, and who the main forces are beyond the Houses of York and Lancaster?

Okay.

So I think we can say the cause of the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in fourteen fifty-five is Henry VI.

So Henry had come to the throne in fourteen twenty-two, aged just nine months.

He had reigned for over thirty years by fourteen fifty-five, and during that time, he had really proven himself inadequate in almost every aspect of kingship.

He had big boots to fill because, of course, his father had been Henry V, and it's Henry V who had conquered Normandy and won the Battle of Agincourt.

By fourteen fifty, Normandy had fallen, and three years later, Gascony, the other large territory under English control, had also fallen.

What was the role of Thomas Stanley and his brother, Sir William Stanley, in the Battle of Bosworth?