 Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
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Support the Monkey! Tell All your Friends and Teachers |
Table of Contents HISTORICAL INFORMATION The Shakespeare tetralogy that begins with Henry VI, Part I, and ends with Richard III covers a span of English history that was the most bloody and uncivil in its history. The cause of the civil strife had its genesis in two families, the house of Lancaster and the house of York, and their attempts to vie for the throne after Henry V died. The questionable circumstances of Richard II's abdication of the throne and the rise of Henry IV to the crown caused much of the dispute between the two families. The tetralogy begins with Henry VI's ascension to the throne as a nine-month old infant in 1422 and ends with the fall of Richard III in 1485. While Henry was a minor, England was ruled through a council with his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester acting as his protector. Henry's marriage to Margaret of Anjou involved the surrender of French towns conquered by his father Henry V, which earned him much displeasure. After the coronation of Margaret in 1445, conspiracies were formed to take power from Gloucester, the Protector of Henry. These had begun when Henry's cousin Richard III, Duke of York laid claim to the throne. The claim was based on the grounds that York was the maternal great-great-grandson of Lionel Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III whereas Henry was the great-grandson of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster the fourth son. York chose as his badge a white rose while the Lancastrians, led by York's enemy Somerset, wore red. This period in time became known as the War of the Roses and involved much civil unrest and a war-like atmosphere between the feuding families. Henry VI's claim was further weakened by the fact that his grandfather Henry IV had usurped the throne and murdered the childless Richard II. Rebellion broke out in Ireland and York who was assigned to put it down took the opportunity to make his army serve his own ambition by winning the first battle of St. Albans on 22 May 1455. With this victory, Henry VI, Part 3 starts. Table of Contents | |
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