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Let's not start up the War of the Roses again.
Earl Knarlic, KSCA, writes:
>
> white roses are the only true flowers the rest are weeds.
>
Truely substantive ;-).
Not that any of this matters to me, being an Anglo-Dane from the Midlands
of Tenth century England, I'm loyal to my king Aethelstan (I think that's
the right spelling) who is recognized by the king of the Scots and all
the Welsh princes as the Bretwalde of the whole British Isle (first guy
to do that, long before Edward Longshanks or James the First and Sixth).
Of course the Scots and those scum Danes from York are always revolting,
but what can you expect.
As for those Lancasterians, well I can understand Henry IV, after all,
Richard was going to disposess him of all this lands and property, after
John of Guant died. Hardly appropriate behavior for a king. Henry V
really didn't have much choice, after all, if he didn't want the job, I
bet his brothers would have been happy to take it. Henry VI of course
was a total waste, because of that bad Royal French blood (Capets, wasn't
it, or was that another dynasty?). Henry VI's wife wasn't much more
help. Richard of York was just trying to get the government of England
on a more even keel. He just overreached too much (reached for the
throne, in fact, but the nobles of England weren't having any of that).
So eventually Edward gets the job, but then he marries that lowlife Lady
Grey (his second, bigamist marraige, the first was a secret kept until he
died). Edward lasts a long time and has a whole brood of kids, including
two boys. George, his next brother (still living) joins Warwick in a
revolt, and gets himself executed and his two children (boy and girl)
attaintered by Parliament so that they can't succeed. So Edward is
getting on in years, and his fast life isn't helping any, so who does he
have to turn to to protect his two minor boys, his last brother, Richard
of Gloscester, who has been busy in the north fighting the Scots and
settling the border (good to this day). So Edward dies and up jump Lady
Grey's relatives trying to seize control of the government. Well,
Richard is having none of that. He comes down from the north and sets
those lowlife Greys straight. So he is setting up the succession for his
nephew, the Prince of Wales, when he finds out about Edward's earlier
marriage. What a shock, he is about to put a bastard on the throne. So
Richard, who is an adult, after all, and has an heir of his own (he
married one of Warwick's two girls, George had gotten the other) decides
to take the throne himself, after getting the of Lady Grey's brood
attaindered by Parliament for being bastards. Now with Henry VI and his
son Edward dead, the Lancasterians really didn't have a legitimate heir
to Henry V available, so they reached back to John of Gaunt's bastard
shoot, the Beauforts (my pardon, Countess Elizabeth) to find a contender
in Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who mostly hung out in France. So
Richard naturally has the Lancasterians against him, and has alienated
the Greys, who had used Edwards reign to bring their family to power. So
those types are plotting off in France while Richard is going on a Royal
Progress through England. Unfortunately, Richard's wife and heir die.
What's Richard to do, make his own bastard son, John, Prince of Wales?
Get the bastards Edward and Richard Duke of York of of the tower? Nope,
he starts to get the bill of attainder against George's son and daughter
reversed, so that he can make George's son (his nephew on both sides,
have you been paying attention?) made his heir. Unfortunately, Henry
Tudor has persauded the French to send him with an army to England.
Richard, still on his progress, mind, gathers his forces to meet Henry.
Unfortunately, Richard miscalculates the loyalty of Lord Scrope, and
manages to lose at Bosworth (sp). So Henry Tudor marches into London,
marries Edward's oldest daughter, and starts to kill all the high
nobility of England, including George's son, Richard's bastard John, the
Poles, and quite possibly his own brothers-in-law, Edward Prince of Wales
and Richard Duke of York. Remember that Richard was king only for two
years, all of which time the two princes were minors, safely held in the
Tower of London, and attaindered for being bastards. Richard had no need
to kill them himself, as he regarded himself as the legitimate heir, by
law and the will of parliament. We know that Henry Tudor had the bill of
attainder against Lady Grey's brood reversed, so that his bride would be
considered legitimate, but he never produced the two princes, who would
then have been more legitimate claiments then him.
Anyway, I'm not going to talk about the Tudors anymore.
In Service
Leifr Johansson