Upon Edward’s death in April of 1483, Richard assumed the guardianship of Edward’s son and heir, Edward V, as well as control of England as the young king’s protector. Richard had been a loyal supporter of his brother throughout Edward’s struggle to claim and keep the throne. Richard, opens a new window was born in Northamptonshire on October 2, 1452, and was the younger brother of King Edward IV. King Richard III, a Yorkist, was the final king of the house of Plantagenet. The English throne changed hands five times in that 32-year span as the Yorkists and Lancastrians alternately wrested control of the country. Fought between the York and Lancaster branches of the family, the 32-year clash came to be known as the Wars of the Roses, opens a new window, so named because of the symbols of the two family lines: York’s white rose and Lancaster’s red.

Much of the latter half of that century was dominated by the fight for the throne that erupted within the house of Plantagenet. The 15 th century was among the most tumultuous of the millennium for the English monarchy.

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