X-Nico

3 unusual facts about House of Lancaster


Cock Beck

In the aftermath of the 1461 Battle of Towton remnants of the Lancastrian forces fleeing the victorious Yorkists were forced to try to cross the Cock Beck, having already disposed of most of their arms.

Norham Castle

The following year a Lancastrian army besieged the castle for eighteen days until it was relieved by Yorkist forces.

Roses rivalry

The name of the rivalry is derived from the historic Wars of the Roses which was carried out between the House of Lancaster and the House of York.


Andrew Trollope

At the Battle of Ludford Bridge Trollope commanded part of the Yorkist army of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, but betrayed him to the Lancastrians bringing with him 'valuable intelligence' regarding York's army.

Battle of Hedgeley Moor

It was fought at Hedgeley Moor, north of the village of Glanton in Northumberland, between a Yorkist army led by John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu and a Lancastrian army led by the Duke of Somerset.

Coventry Cross

It was particularly strong in Coventry which supported the House of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses, and which in 1456 was home to Queen Margaret, wife of Henry VI, who moved the court there as London grew increasingly Yorkist in sympathy.

Denbigh Castle

During the Wars of the Roses, Jasper Tudor, the Lancastrian Earl of Pembroke, tried twice and failed to take the castle in the 1460s.

Flag of Lancashire

The Red Rose of Lancaster is a symbol for the House of Lancaster, immortalised in the verse "In the battle for England's head/York was white, Lancaster red" (referring to the 15th century War of the Roses).

Harlech Castle

In the 15th century, Harlech was involved in the series of civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses that broke out between the rival factions of the House of Lancaster and York.

During the 15th century Wars of the Roses, Harlech was held by the Lancastrians for seven years, before Yorkist troops forced its surrender in 1468, a siege memorialised in the song Men of Harlech.

Hunsdon House

It was originally constructed of brick in 1447 by Sir William Oldhall in the shape of a tower, but as Oldhall supported the House of York during the Wars of the Roses, he was stripped of the property by the Lancastrian Henry VI.

Modus Tenendi Parliamentum

During the reign of Richard II, prominent members of the House of Lancaster wished to play up the importance of the Commons, compared to that of the Lords, prelates and magnates, and to legitimate processes in the Commons to depose a king who had lost the support of the people.

Naish Priory

The extant 14th century buildings evidence primary links to the important de Courtenay family of the medieval period, Earls of Devon, close blood relatives of the Plantagenet, Lancastrian and Tudor kings, and one of the most important English Renaissance families.

New Monarchs

England did not have as hard a time as France in weakening the nobles because Henry VII comes to power after the War of Roses, which was between two noble families, his family, the House of Lancaster and his rivals, the House of York.

Philip De Carteret, 6th of St Ouen

During the Wars of the Roses, Queen Margaret, the wife of Henry VI, made an agreement with Pierre de Brézé, Comte de Maulevrier, the seneschal of Normandy, to raise an army, in aid of the Lancastrian cause, to capture Jersey and in the process to provide a refuge if it should be needed in the event of Yorkist success.

The Way of the Roses

The route should not be confused with The Wars of the Roses, a fifteenth-century war between to dynastic families Lancaster and York and from which the name of the path is derived.

Thomas Tuddenham

During the Wars of the Roses in the 1450s Tuddenham and his associates aligned themselves with the Lancastrian forces of Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI, and at the end of 1458 Tuddenham was appointed Treasurer of the Royal Household.

Tudur Penllyn

Tudur lived through the Wars of the Roses, in which his patrons (notably Rheinallt ap Gruffudd of Mold, also a patron of Lewys Glyn Cothi, and Dafydd Siencyn, a supporter of Jasper Tudor) mainly adhered to the Lancastrian party.

William Bonville, 6th Baron Harington

William survived the Yorkist defeat at the Battle of Wakefield, but was executed on 17th February 1461 immediately after the Second Battle of St Albans by the troops of the Queen consort, Margaret of Anjou, who headed the Lancastrian faction.


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