What were the major political transitions in England in the fifteenth century?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answers will vary. The last participant from the English line in the Hundred Years' War, Henry V, passed the throne on to his often incapacitated and incompetent son, Henry VI. Many attempts were made to depose him, ultimately succeeding in 1461 with the ascendency of Edward IV of the House of York. The attempts to remove Henry VI from the throne initiated a series of battles known as the Wars of the Roses, and these battles continued even after Edward IV took the throne because supporters of Henry's house of Lancaster attempted to depose Edward. These civil wars continued through most of the fifteenth century. When Edward died, he left his young son (also named Edward) as heir, but the young boy did not reign long before being sidelined and possibly murdered by his uncle, Richard III. In 1485, Richard III's chief opponent, Henry Tudor, from the Lancastrian faction, married into the York family and provided a peaceful settlement that saw the installation of the Tudor dynasty on the throne. The Tudor family would remain in power throughout the sixteenth century. As a result of these ongoing political wars and shifts in power, there was relatively little attention paid to the Renaissance going on in the continental nations.