The Wars of the Roses - A Medieval Civil War

This concise and interpretative book digs under the surface events of the Wars of the Roses to explore the underlying dynamics of a typical civil war. Beginning with a demonstration of why the well-worn storylines of the Wars are so misleading, it moves on to expose the pressure for reform that animated the conflict and helped to shape its outcomes. It continues by looking at the logics of division and the reasons why the Wars, once started, were so hard to resolve. It concludes by returning to debates long discussed by historians: the role of the economy in the conflict, and the interaction between English affairs and the politics of the British Isles and the near continent. Throughout, a central concern is to emphasise the fluidity and uncertainty of these civil wars: once authority broke down, anything could happen.

List of contents

Acknowledgements and Note on Text; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The civil wars we think we know: narrativity and politics; 2. Reform and the common weal; 3. Logics of political division; 4. Political economy and civil conflict; 5. Geographies of contention; Conclusion; Maps; The royal family tree Dramatis Personae; Chronology of the wars; Bibliography; Index.

About the author

John Watts is Professor of Later Medieval History at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford. He is the author of several books and articles on the politics and political culture of later medieval England and Europe, including Henry VI and the Politics of Kingship (1996), and The Making of Polities: Europe, 1300–1500 (2009).

Product details

• Authors: John Watts
• Publisher: Cambridge Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 31.10.2025
• EAN: 9781009422161
• ISBN: 978-1-009-42216-1
• Illustrations: 2 b/w illus. 4 maps 5 tables, Zeichnungen, schwarz-weiss, Karten, Tabellen, schwarz-weiss, Worked examples or Exercises
• Series: The James Lydon Lectures in Medieval History and Culture
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; European History, military history, Medieval History, c 1000 CE to c 1500, HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain / General, Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500, European history: medieval period, middle ages