The TV series "Game of Thrones" still dominates the screen. Author George Maritin's depiction of Game of Thrones is clearly based on British history, and the struggle between families actually has a story archetype. One of the most important historical backgrounds is the English Wars of the Roses. One of the protagonists of the book, Cersei Lannister, is also one of the famous Queen Marguerite d'Anjou of England in the Wars of the Roses.
In 1450, the War of the Roses, which lasted 30 years, broke out in England. "War of the Roses" is a common phrase in the historical drama Henry VI that marked the beginning of the war marked by the removal of two roses, derived from the family crests chosen by two families, the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York. During this period, the political situation in England was unpredictable, many monarchs died, dynasties continued to change, and many nobles were splashed on the battlefield. And women played prominent roles during the war, especially Queen Margaret, the wife of Henry VI.
Margaret of Anjou, queen of King Henry VI of England
<h1>Originally queen of England </h1>
In 1444, the King of England sent a delegation to negotiate with France, and Britain and France finally signed the Agreement of Tours, one of which was that Henry VI would marry Margaret, the niece of Charles VII. Margaret was born in 1430 to the cousin of King Charles VII of France and to the son of a King of Naples known as "a man of many crowns but no kingdom".
Therefore, in the face of Margaret's life, the British felt humiliated, not only by marrying a French princess to consolidate the French succession to the French throne, but also, Margaret's father could not provide real estate for his daughter as a dowry, naturally will not increase the land for Britain. It can be said that Henry VI's marriage was a desperate choice for peace in order to avoid further humiliation of losing the city and land.
For Margaret herself, all she could do was accept the marriage, after all, she had no say in herself, and her marriage to her was nothing more than "collateral for the peace between England and France."
In 1445, Margaret came to England, and at the wedding ceremony between Henry VI and Margaret, Margaret was praised as "the pigeon who brought news of the great flood retreating to Noah". But there is a big discrepancy between reality and expectations. In order to further make peace with France, the English royal family reached a secret agreement with the French king in 1445 on the return of the geographically important Maine. As soon as the news reached England, it caused fierce opposition. In 1449, King Charles of France tore up the Agreement of Tours, and the War between England and France resumed.
The Maine issue has made Margaret questioned and criticized, and the British believe that it is Margaret's "ear wind" that affects the weak Henry VI. Judging from Margaret's letters to Charles VII, Margaret was indeed under pressure from France. Henry VI also wrote in a letter that the return of Maine to France was carried out at the request of "my beloved queen", "she has asked me many times to do this". But objectively speaking, Margaret was only a fifteen or sixteen-year-old queen, and her ability was not enough to influence British policy. For her, she was just a pawn in the political struggle.
However, the British did not see it that way, and they thought that Queen Margaret's marriage was completely meaningless. Some complained that she "did not bring England a penny of profit and a foot of land, and England let the scheming French do the math."
Wars of the Roses
<h1>Involved in factional struggles due to succession to the throne </h1>
England in the 15th century became the main battleground in factional struggles, including the Lords and Sons led by the Duke of Suffolk, the Befort faction led by the Duke of Somerset, and the Yorkists led by the Duke of Richard Plantagenet (3rd Duke of York). Margaret was also inevitably involved. Among them, the Lord and the Duke of Suffolk and Margaret's interests are basically the same. The two keep getting closer. Henry VI also valued the Duke of Suffolk. However, when he agreed with France on the return of Maine on behalf of The British, the Duke of Suffolk became the target of public anger. Eventually, the Duke of Suffolk was exiled by Parliament, killed by angry British sailors on the way.
The death of the Duke of Suffolk did not allow Margaret to escape the political whirlpool, and she was soon embroiled in a struggle between the Yorkists and the Befortites. The Yorkists were deeply resentful because Henry VI trusted the Beforts, especially in 1442, when Henry VI sent the Duke of Somerset on an expedition to France and granted him 7 years of rule and military command over Anjou and Maine, which made Richard York, the largest landowner in England, very dissatisfied with the royal court, believing that he was always excluded from the core of the power group.
The fiercest contradiction between the two stems from the question of succession to the throne. Henry VI and Margaret remained childless. In terms of pedigree, the closest heir to the Lancastrian throne should be a Befort family, but in 1407, Henry IV, in order to maintain the stability of the succession to the throne, excluded the Befort branch from the succession in the form of parliamentary legislation. However, Richard York believed that Henry VI was likely to change the law of succession to the throne and let the Befort family inherit the throne, so he regarded the other party as a mortal enemy. In September 1450, Richard York attempted to overthrow the Duke of Somerset through parliament, but failed. In 1451, Richard York again attacked Henry under the pretext of "King's Side", but failed again. Henry VI, however, imprisoned him for only a few weeks and did not punish him severely.
In 1453 Margaret finally gave birth to her heir Edward, but Henry VI was mentally devastated and unable to rule. Margaret and Richard York fought fiercely over regency, and York won. This was mainly because Margaret was from France, weak, prejudiced by the British, and she was simply unable to compare with the wealthy Richard York, and there was no precedent for female regency in British history. But Margaret was not content with defeat and continued to fight the Yorkists. In 1454, Henry VI's condition improved, and Margaret encouraged Henry VI to liquidate the Yorkists.
Seeing this, Richard York decided to preemptively attack and won the victory, with Henry VI becoming a prisoner. It was only after the Duke of Somerset became a scapegoat for the war that the Duke of York declared allegiance to Henry VI and maintained a brief peace.
In 1908, Henry Payne painted the first part of Shakespeare's play Henry VI, in which different factions of characters were choosing red or white roses
<h1>The tragic ending of old age </h1>
Unwilling to do so, Margaret set up a small lancaster court and fought with Richard York, and the civil war crisis was getting closer and closer. In 1459, the two sides officially declared war. The Yorkists were full of propaganda that Prince Edward was not of royal blood, but the illegitimate son of Margaret and others. Margaret also intervened in Parliament and directly convicted Richard York of murder and sentenced Him and his sons to death.
In 1460, Henry VI was captured again, and Richard York this time simply asked Parliament to depose Henry VI, but was refused, and Parliament offered a compromise plan: Henry VI would be king for life; the succession of Prince Edward would be abolished, and Henry VI would be succeeded to the English throne by York and his heirs; And York and his heirs would guarantee the personal safety and freedom of King Henry.
In 1460, Margaret, who had gathered her army again, fought a decisive battle with the York army, and the Duke of York and his second son died on the battlefield. On 4 March 1461, Edward, the eldest son of the Duke of York, was crowned in London as Edward IV, the York Dynasty. Margery then fled to France, where, despite her dire situation, margaret actively wooed the King of Scotland and the King of France, and received their support and military assistance. In 1470, the Duke of Warwick of York rebelled in favor of Edward IV's younger brother George Plantagenet (1st Duke of Clarence), and fled to France after his defeat. Margaret and the Duke of Warwick then set aside their old grudges and married their children, and the two joined forces.
In October 1470, Warwick invaded England, Edward IV fled to the Netherlands, Henry VI was restored, and the Lancastrian dynasty was restored. But in less than a year, Edward IV returned to England, Prince Edward was killed, Margaret was captured, Edward IV secretly executed Henry VI, and the Lancastrian Restoration dynasty ended.
Margaret was imprisoned by Edward IV for five years, and because of the death of her husband and son, she herself lost the hope of struggle. In 1475, his cousin Louis XI redeemed him, Margaret was depressed, and after returning to France, she remained in a monastery, and on August 25, 1482, Queen Margaret died.
Like Cersei, Margaret was criticized for being the initiator of the war. Some argue that Margaret "caused the rebellion of the nobility and the demise of the Lancastrian dynasty", while others believe that "Margaret spread the disaster in a woman's way, causing everything to fall into chaos and eventually the Lancastrian dynasty perished". Shakespeare even derogatorily referred to her as the "French she-wolf." This is exactly the same as the so-called red face disaster in Chinese history.
Henry VI, on the other hand, who was primarily responsible, was not criticized too much. On the one hand, Henry VI retained the dignity of a monarch, and on the other hand, the anger of the English towards France easily led them, who could not criticize the king, to see Margaret as a scapegoat.
If we can shed our prejudices and analyze rationally, we will easily find that war is never the cause of a woman, and that the struggle for the throne is the direct cause of the outbreak of war. In addition, in England at that time, the manor system disintegrated, monetary rent became popular, and monetary relations weakened the bonds of rights and obligations between feudal lords and vassals, which aggravated social unrest.
Queen Margaret's life was actually ruined by war. It was because of the Hundred Years' War between England and France that she had to marry to England, as a queen, she had to survive between factions in the case of her husband's weakness, facing conflicts and contradictions of interests, and wanted to save herself, Margaret could only fight back and protect the interests of the royal family. Therefore, it is history that envelops Margaret's fate, and it is the War of the Roses that leads to her tragic life.