Despite continuing conflict which in turn had a detrimental affect on every aspect of the administration of the state there were only five changes to the succession brought about by the Wars. The futility of the fighting and the short term changes in fortune can be judged by the fact that both Edward IV and Henry IV ruled for two separate periods. The conflict extended far beyond the period normally covered by conventional histories. The major battles cannot be separated from the context of the family tensions and external influences which led to the conflict, or from the ruthless way the Tudor dynasty, once it came to power, systematically eliminated all potential competitors.Despite continuing conflict which in turn had a detrimental affect on every aspect of the administration of the state there were only five changes to the succession brought about by the Wars. The futility of the fighting and the short term changes in fortune can be judged by the fact that both Edward IV and Henry IV ruled for two separate periods. The conflict extended far beyond the period normally covered by conventional histories. The major battles cannot be separated from the context of the family tensions and external influences which led to the conflict, or from the ruthless way the Tudor dynasty, once it came to power, systematically eliminated all potential competitors.

In the name of my mother

Henry Bolingbroke made his claim to the throne “In the name of my mother not my father”, admitting that he was in fact disinheriting every other member of the royal family including his own father. The subsequent Co-ordination of events makes it virtually certain that he was responsible for Richards murder. Bolingbroke used parliamentary approval as the mechanism for his takeover, in itself a total change of precedent. As Henry IV he founded a new dynasty, but unfortunately a dynasty which was not particularly fertile. When his grandson Henry VI suffered a mental breakdown, the succession was once again in doubt. Attempts to control the enfeebled King and doubts about the succession led to thirty years of warfare and generations of legalised murder. Recent opinion has swung against Henry Bolingbroke and regards him and his Lancastrian successors as usurpers of the throne. Nevertheless investigation of his claim and the subsequent Tudor claim shows that the claim, if not the means of pursuing the claim, cannot be dismissed out of hand.

Henry Bolingbroke made his claim to the throne “In the name of my mother not my father”,

There are several different versions of what he might have meant by this.

Most commonly it is assumed he was claiming that his great great grandfather,  Edmund Crouchback was the elder son of Henry III who had been dispossessed by Edward I and the clique of barons he had gathered around him.

A second theory is that he was challenging the legitimacy of Edward III  and therefore disinheriting every other member of the royal family including his own father.

Bolingbroke used parliamentary approval as the mechanism for his takeover, in itself a total change of precedent.

This suggests another  possiblity , that he was attempting to mirror the election of Hugh Capet to the throne of the Franks, both in the process used; an appeal to parliament and in the substance of the claim; greater nobility.

This must have related to the fact that his great great grandmother., Blanche d’Artois was a recipient of the Dagobert blood line.  he would have known of course that Isabelle of France brought exactly the same blood line to Edward III, but if Edward III was illigitimate then sharing the blood line would have no value.

The subsequent Co-ordination of events makes it virtually certain that he was responsible for Richards murder.

Continual revolt

There is plenty of evidence that the case he put forward was not believed by the majority of the senior nobles. his reign was continually disturbed by revolts and plots against his rule, disturbances which continued through into the reign of his son Henry V.

A lack of fertility

Henry IV he founded a new dynasty, but unfortunately a dynasty which was not particularly fertile. His son was a capable and determined ruler but after the sothampton plot there were only minor diesturbances.

Henry V died young however and his son Henry VI came to the throne at only an age of only nine months. It was not long before alternative candidates again demanded attention.

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