England
Cast of Players
The two main players at the beginning of the Wars were Richard, Duke of York and Edmund, Duke of Somerset. The two men despised each other and worked unceasingly to cause each other harm. This also meant that both men jockeyed for position at court. These were the founders, as it were, of the Wars of the Roses.
The Duke of Somerset belonged to the Beaufort family. Related to that key family were the Tudors and the de la Poles. The Beauforts could trace a lineage back to the Plantagenets by way of John Beaufort, who was the son of John of Gaunt's third wife (John was the third son of Edward III).
On the York side, we have the Courtenays, the Nevills, and the Woodvilles (not an important family, but they became so). The York claim came by way of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York and fourth son of Edward III.
Now, there are going to be lots of names in this narrative, so I've made some reference tables, but a word here about naming conventions. Despite the family names, once a man became lord of thisandthat, he was normally referred to not by his given name but by his title. So, for example, Edmund Beaufort was Duke of Somerset. He thenceforth is simply called Somerset.
You'll encounter that a lot in the following pages. You'll hear about Warwick and Salisbury and York and Somerset and Buckingham and Clarence. It's bad enough that half the players in our tale were Edward or Henry or Richard. Each Edward or Harry or Richard was also a York or a Salisbury or a Warwick. And, just to stir the pot further, a number of the duchies and earldoms changed hands, so that the Northumberland of last year isn't necessarily the same fellow as the Northumberland of this year.
I'll do my best to make the narrative clear, but I think you're gonna need a scorecard!