May 22, 1455 · England Theater

The opening battle of the Wars of the Roses saw Yorkist forces under Richard, Duke of York, attack the royal procession through the streets of St Albans. The fighting was brief and vicious — Richard of York's ally Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, broke through the town's back lanes to outflank the Lancastrians. King Henry VI was captured, and the Duke of Somerset — York's chief enemy at court — was killed on the steps of a tavern.

September 23, 1459 · England Theater

A Lancastrian force under Lord Audley attempted to intercept a Yorkist column led by Lord Salisbury (father of the Earl of Warwick) marching to join Richard, Duke of York. Audley's cavalry charged across marshy ground repeatedly and were shredded by Yorkist archery. Audley was killed during the fighting and the Lancastrians scattered.

July 10, 1460 · England Theater

Warwick led a Yorkist army south from Calais and confronted the royal Lancastrian army entrenched near Northampton. Treachery decided the battle — Lord Grey of Ruthin, commanding part of the Lancastrian line, lowered his men's weapons and helped the Yorkists clamber over the defences. The Lancastrian position collapsed in minutes. King Henry VI was captured once again, and the Duke of Buckingham was killed.

December 30, 1460 · England Theater

Richard, Duke of York, sallied from Sandal Castle with a smaller force than the Lancastrian army assembling outside — perhaps lured out by a feigned retreat or trusting in a Christmas truce that the Lancastrians ignored. He was overwhelmed and killed in the fighting. His son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, was cut down fleeing over Wakefield Bridge by the vengeful Lord Clifford. York's head was later displayed over the gates of York city, mocked with a paper crown.

February 2, 1461 · England Theater

On the morning of battle, a meteorological phenomenon produced the appearance of three suns in the sky — a parhelion. Edward, Earl of March, turned this omen to advantage, telling his troops it represented the Holy Trinity blessing their cause. His army crushed a Lancastrian force under the Tudors; Jasper Tudor escaped but Owen Tudor — Henry VII's grandfather — was captured and beheaded at Hereford. He reportedly did not believe he was to be executed until the blade fell.

March 29, 1461 · England Theater

Fought in a blizzard on Palm Sunday, Towton was the largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil. Edward IV commanded a Yorkist army that caught a strong Lancastrian force on a plateau above the River Cock. A blizzard drove snow into Lancastrian faces, giving Yorkist archers an enormous advantage — their arrows outranged the Lancastrian return fire. As the line collapsed, fleeing Lancastrians were cut down at the Cock Beck in scenes of wholesale slaughter. Edward reportedly gave no quarter. The fighting lasted ten hours.

July 26, 1469 · England Theater

As the Earl of Warwick openly rebelled against Edward IV, a northern rising led by his agents defeated a royal force under the Earl of Pembroke at Edgecote Moor. Pembroke's Welsh infantry, without their supporting archers who had quarrelled and departed, were overwhelmed. Pembroke and his brother were captured and executed. King Edward IV was subsequently seized by Warwick and briefly imprisoned — the only time a reigning English king was held captive by one of his own subjects.

April 14, 1471 · England Theater

In thick early-morning fog, Edward IV's army clashed with Warwick's at Barnet, north of London. Confused by the fog, part of Warwick's army attacked their own men, mistaking the Earl of Oxford's livery badge for Edward's 'Sun in Splendour'. Cries of treachery broke the Lancastrian line. Warwick, who had abandoned his usual position at the rear to fight on foot, was killed while trying to reach his horse. His death ended the career of England's greatest political manipulator.

May 4, 1471 · England Theater

Three weeks after Barnet, Margaret of Anjou's Lancastrian army — which had landed in the west intending to march into Wales and raise reinforcements — was cornered by Edward IV at Tewkesbury. Somerset attempted a flanking attack through woodland but was counter-attacked and his division destroyed. The Lancastrian line broke and fled; many were cut down in the meadows that became known as 'Bloody Meadow.' Prince Edward of Westminster, Henry VI's only son and the entire future of the Lancastrian line, was killed in the rout.

August 22, 1485 · England Theater

Henry Tudor landed in Wales with a small French-backed army and marched through England, gathering Welsh and English support. Richard III met him at Bosworth in Leicestershire with a larger force — but key retainers, including the Stanley family, held back waiting to see who would win. When Richard charged directly at Henry Tudor with his household knights in a bold attempt to end the battle personally, the Stanleys intervened on Henry's side. Richard was surrounded and killed, fighting to the last. His crown, reportedly found under a hawthorn bush, was placed on Henry's head on the battlefield.

June 16, 1487 · England Theater

Yorkist diehards backed Lambert Simnel, a boy pretender claiming to be the Earl of Warwick, and invaded England from Ireland with German and Irish mercenaries under the command of the Earl of Lincoln. Henry VII met them at Stoke Field in Nottinghamshire. The Yorkist mercenaries fought with unexpected ferocity, but without the noble support they had hoped to attract in England, they were ultimately overwhelmed. Lincoln was killed; Simnel was captured and put to work in the royal kitchens — a deliberate act of contemptuous mercy.