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Paper Topic:

the significance of the War of the Roses to England

Annotated Bibliography

: The Significance of the War of the Roses To England

Thesis : The War of the Roses marked the end of the medieval era and a shift toward national stability . More importantly the War of the Roses had social and political consequences for England , largely shifting the balance of power away from feudal autonomy together with the rise of the merchant class . The purpose of this research is to explore the social and political changes brought on as a result of the War of the Roses with a view to demonstrating

the significant impact the war had on England

Castor , Helen . Blood and Roses : One Family 's Struggles and Triumph During the Tumultuous Wars of the Roses . US : Harper Collins , 2006

Helen Castor presents a picture of the impact of the Wars of the Roses on the average citizenry by isolating one family . This family portrait demonstrates how the Wars of the Roses forced England 's citizens to break from tradition and think independently . Having suffered the toils of peasantry as a farmer , and survived the Plague or Black Death of the Middle Ages , and the hard times brought about as a result of the Wars of the Clement Parson and his wife Beatrice were determined to provide a better life for their son (Castor , 20

Castor demonstrates that the diminishing population of England following the Plague , the Hundred Years Wars and the ensuing Wars of the Roses changed the dynamics of the two class system . Out of these newly created circumstances a Middle Class like the Parsons would emerge . A class hungry for a share of the economic progress . The farmer would evolve into a land owner and would insist that his offspring become educated . These new opportunities came about as a result of the Wars of the Roses . The citizenry gained new strength , left to largely govern themselves and to protect what little properties they had as a result of a primarily lawless nation

Women would gain new strength and recognition as well . While their husbands were either jailed or at war , these women would learn to take charge of their families and lives . In this way , Castor takes the reader on a personal and detailed journey by isolating the Parson family and presenting them as an example of both the social costs and gains of the Wars of the Roses

D 'Alcorn , Fran . The Wars of the Roses and Henry VII : England 1459-c .1513 . Heinemann Educational Publishers , 2004 Fran D 'Alcorn takes a thorough approach to the conflicts brewing within the Royal families , the Houses of Lancaster and York which ultimately gave way to a series of civil wars . D 'Alcorn continues to highlight the difficulties that spilled over after the war and how it impacted Henry VII 's attempt to set up the Tudor dynasty in post-war England

D 'Alcorn traces the tensions between the two houses that eventually gave way to the main civil war in (D 'Alcorn , 16-23 ) In to...
