The Wars of the Roses - Part Five

Edward V 1483 (Reigned 2 months)

The fifth King Edward was a child,
Not the safest of positions
When you have an Uncle Richard,
Who has dangerous ambitions.

For reasons of their safety,
(Or so the story went),
Young Edward and his brother
To the Tower had both been sent.

What happened to the youngsters
Is not entirely clear.
People saw them less and less:
They'd later disappear.

It's thought that they were murdered,
And historians insist,
That there wasn't just one suspect -
Although Richard tops the list.

Richard now may well have thought
His hold on power was strong
Then, barely two years later,
Henry Tudor came along.

Henry was Lancastrian,
His claim somewhat remote.
At Bosworth he waged battle,
Won a victory of note.

Richard's troops were vanquished,
The king himself was felled,
And yet another Henry,
The crown of England held.

Elizabeth of York he took,
To be his wedded wife,
And in doing so thus ended
A long period of strife.

Two houses were united
And, as everybody knows,
Red and white both feature
In the famous Tudor rose.

Richard III 1483-1485

Henry VII 1485-1509



Elizabeth of York