The Wars of the Roses were a series of civil wars fought between two branches of the royal House of Plantagenet — the House of Lancaster (whose symbol was a red rose) and the House of York (whose symbol was a white rose). The fighting began in 1455 and continued in fits and starts for over thirty years.
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The decisive battle was Bosworth Field in Leicestershire on 22 August 1485. Henry Tudor, the Lancastrian claimant, defeated and killed King Richard III, the last Yorkist king, and was crowned Henry VII. He united the two houses by marrying Elizabeth of York; their combined Tudor rose, red and white, is still a national emblem of England.
You may be asked which families fought the Wars of the Roses, which battle ended them (Bosworth, 1485), or which king started the Tudor dynasty (Henry VII).
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