The power struggle that developed in England between the House of Lancaster (The Red Rose) and the rival House of York (The White Rose) flared into open warfare at St. Albans in 1455. The war ebbed and flowed with each side being successful in turn. There were 18 relatively major battles during the period of the war, the most important being Barnet, Tewkesbury and the last battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 when the throne was won by the Earl of Richmond who became Henry VII, adopting the red and white rose and establishing the Tudor dynasty. Although mainly fought by knights, men-at-arms and archers, the slow tactical revolution went on throughout this war as improved weapons of gunpowder were introduced. At one stage the Lancastrian party regarded as an atrocity that the Yorkists were "traitorously ranged in Bataille ... their Cartes, with Gonnes, set before their Batailles." This would indicate that wheeled and manoeuverable cannon was being used in the Wars of the Roses although aiming devices were almost unknown and the recoil of the guns was still a most disturbing problem. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 133 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1973 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com