mametupa: After 30 years of dynastic wars for the throne of England between two rival houses of Plan
mametupa:After 30 years of dynastic wars for the throne of England between two rival houses of Plantagenet, house of Lancaster and York, Henry Tudor defeated the last Yorkist king, Richard III in the battle of Bosworth Field. After assuming the throne Henry had to find support for his claim and strengthen his position as a new monarch. Henry Tudor had agreed to marry Elizabeth of York (daughter of Edward IV) to gain the support of Richard III’s enemies (the house of York had been divided after the death of King Edward IV). This marriage would be a union that promised to reconcile a divided England. But Henry needed something that would reinforce this union, something that would link this new dynasty with the English crown in the minds of his subjects. So, he brought in the decorators. At Westminster, the seat of government, he plastered his family emblems across the walls, ceilings and windows. They included a symbol so powerful in its simplicity that we still recognize it to this day. Henry’s revival of a rather obscure Lancastrian emblem, the red rose, was a masterstroke. What it allowed him to do was to put his own rather sketchy credentials on a par with those of his wife, Elizabeth of York, the white rose. And together these two roses would combine to create the most potent and enduring emblem in English royal history, the rose both red and white…The Tudor rose.We will unite the white rose and the red:Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction,That long hath frowned upon their enmity!What traitor hears me, and says not amen?England hath long been mad, and scarred herself;The brother blindly shed the brother’s blood,The father rashly slaughtered his own son,The son, compelled, been butcher to the sire:All this divided York and Lancaster,Divided in their dire division,O, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth,The true successors of each royal house,By God’s fair ordinance conjoin together!And let their heirs, God, if thy will be so.Enrich the time to come with smooth-faced peace,With smiling plenty and fair prosperous days!William Shakespeare: Richard III -- source link
#history#english history#henry tudor