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27
Britain in Late Middle Ages
LANCASTER DYNASTY. WARS OF THE ROSES. THE TRIUMPH OF THE TUDORS. ECONOMIC
DEVELOPMENT OF BRITAIN. THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY OF HENRY VII, TUDOR.
Key words, terms and concepts:
1. Wars of the Roses
2. Indentures
3. Knights and esquires
4. Bastard feudalism
5. Vassals
6. A crest
7. Annihilation
8. Esquire
9. A printing press
10. A village common.
11. To disband baronial armies
12. Controversial arbitrary developments
13. Saint Joan of Arc
The Lancaster Kings continued campaigns in France in the Hundred Years' War: Henry V (1413-1422) was
successful in his expeditions in France, Henry VI though having been crowned to Britain and France, lost those
French lands and probably Saint Joan of Arc helped the French. Henry VI's reign ended in (1422-1461),
confusion, deposition and a cruel war – the Wars of the Roses, a term coined by Sir Walter Scott (1455-1485).
During the Wars of the Roses, great men attached lesser men to their service by lip indentures; the Duke of
Lancaster had pointed the way in the late fourteenth century. When he indentured a large number of knights and
esquires, most of them were retained for life in his service and in war and peace. Such bastard feudalism as this
has been called, was quite different from feudalism. The retainer was not a vassal, who owed loyalty to his lord
and was linked to him through ties of mutual obligations. The retainer's lord was his patron, and he was his
follower, wearing his livery and being maintained by him.
The Wars of the Roses began when in 1399 barons of the North supported the Lancaster who had a red rose
in their crest. The Barons of the South supported the Yorks whose crest was decorated by a white rose. The
bloody struggle for the crown and rule practically lasted for about 30 years (1455-1485) with some breaks, it
was a merciless annihilation of the old aristocracy with rights and claims to become rulers, and its romantic
name the War of the Roses only emphasizes the ruthlessness by a degree of contrast.
Finally, the two dynasties had been destroyed, and a distant relative of the Lancaster family – Henry Tudor
married Elisabeth of York in 1485 (the two roses united) and Henry Tudor was crowned Henry VII of England
(1485-1509).
The 15th century with its baronial wars though putting brakes on the development of the economy could not
stop the progress of productive forces released by the disintegration of dependent feudal relations in
agriculture.
The 15th century saw a development of woolen textile manufacture, steel making developed (South Wales,
Birmingham and Sheffield), trade development facilitated the growth of the Navy and shipbuilding.
The formation of the common national language manifested itself in fiction and Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-
1400) works (Canterbury Tales) and in geographical, commercial, etc. books.
William Caxton (1477) brought a printing press and started book printing in England.
Since the middle of the 15th century the English language became the one working language in the whole of
England.
The 15th century saw a development of folklore – ballads of Robin Hood's were dramatized on the village
commons; singing and other musical arts, dramatic arts, portrait painting left wonderful examples for us to
admire.
So, in the 15th century for all the conflicts, the forces of progress were breaking through, laying foundations
for destroying feudalism, for developing capitalism and formation of the English national economy.
Questions: