The Wars of the Roses
A Medieval Civil War
Published on 4. September 2025
Book
Hardback
328 pages
978-1-009-42216-1 (ISBN)
Description
This concise and interpretative book digs under the surface events of the Wars of the Roses to explore the underlying dynamics of a typical civil war. Beginning with a demonstration of why the well-worn storylines of the Wars are so misleading, it moves on to expose the pressure for reform that animated the conflict and helped to shape its outcomes. It continues by looking at the logics of division and the reasons why the Wars, once started, were so hard to resolve. It concludes by returning to debates long discussed by historians: the role of the economy in the conflict, and the interaction between English affairs and the politics of the British Isles and the near continent. Throughout, a central concern is to emphasise the fluidity and uncertainty of these civil wars: once authority broke down, anything could happen.
Reviews / Votes
'A brilliant, fascinating and profoundly thought-provoking analysis. The new light John Watts sheds on the Wars of the Roses from comparative and structural perspectives will shape debate about the fifteenth century for a long time to come.' Helen Castor, author of The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV 'A masterwork of medieval political history, Watts's thought-provoking meditation on the socio-political structures of England and its neighbours and the processes of division and distrust that led inexorably to conflict is an instant classic.' Justine Firnhaber-Baker, University of St Andrews 'In this extraordinary book, a model of comparative historical writing about a fifteenth-century civil war, John Watts manages not only to make sense of the Wars of the Roses, but to explain how and why they matter in our own age of uncertainty.' Christian Liddy, Durham UniversityMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises; 5 Tables, black and white; 4 Maps; 2 Line drawings, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 222 mm
Width: 145 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
590 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-42216-1 (9781009422161)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
John Watts is Professor of Later Medieval History at Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford. He is the author of several books and articles on the politics and political culture of later medieval England and Europe, including Henry VI and the Politics of Kingship (1996), and The Making of Polities: Europe, 1300-1500 (2009).
Content
Acknowledgements and Note on Text; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. The civil wars we think we know: narrativity and politics; 2. Reform and the common weal; 3. Logics of political division; 4. Political economy and civil conflict; 5. Geographies of contention; Conclusion; Maps; The royal family tree Dramatis Personae; Chronology of the wars; Bibliography; Index.