During the weak reign of Henry VI, France was delivered from English rule, mainly through the heroism of Jeanne d’Arc.  In 1450 the commons rose against King Henry and the house of Lancaster, to which he belonged, and declared in favor of the house of York—­these houses having already come into serious rivalry for the supreme power.  The disasters in France strengthened the Yorkists, and brought their representative, Richard, Duke of York, to the front, with armed forces to support his claims.  In 1452 he marched upon London, demanding the removal of the Duke of Somerset, Henry’s chief minister, but a conflict was temporarily averted.  When, in 1454, King Henry became insane, the Duke of York was made protector by parliament.  He might now have seized the crown, but his forbearance was taken advantage of by the rival party, and “proved the source of all those furious wars which ensued”—­the Wars of the Roses, beginning with the first battle of St. Albans, in 1455, and ending with the death of Richard III at Bosworth Field, in 1485.

The wars were signalized by twelve pitched battles; they cost the lives of about eighty princes of the blood; and during their ravages the ancient nobility of England was almost annihilated.  Yet in these fierce wars comparatively little damage was done to the general population or to industry and trade.  The wars derived their name from the fact that the partisans of the house of Lancaster took the red rose as their badge, and those of York chose the white rose.

The enemies of the Duke of York soon found it in their power to make advantage of his excessive caution.  Henry being so far recovered from his distemper as to carry the appearance of exercising the royal power, they moved him to resume his authority, to annul the protectorship of the Duke, and to commit the administration into the hands of Somerset (1455).  Richard, sensible of the dangers which might attend his former acceptance of the parliamentary commission should he submit to the annulling of it, levied an army, but still without advancing any pretensions to the crown.  He complained only of the King’s ministers, and demanded a reformation of the government.

A battle was fought at St. Albans, in which the Yorkists were superior, and, without suffering any material loss, slew about five thousand of their enemies, among whom were the Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Northumberland, the Earl of Stafford, eldest son of the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Clifford, and many other persons of distinction.  The King himself fell into the hands of the Duke of York, who treated him with great respect and tenderness; he was only obliged—­which he regarded as no hardship—­to commit the whole authority of the crown into the hands of his rival.