Wars of the roses

• Polydore Vergil


  An Italian scholar who served as Henry VII's official historian at the start of the 16th century
• Polydore Vergil


  • He was a serious historian who tried to be balanced
  • He had 2 major drawbacks: 1) He tended to side with the Lancastrians against the Yorkists and blame the Yorkists for starting the Wars of the Roses, 2) He was writing 50 years after the events he described so he could not talk to any survivors and had to rely entirely on written sources
• The Paston Letters


  A collection of private letters written by a family of London lawyers who became gentry in Norfolk
• The Paston Letters


  • They are extremely useful because: 1) The authors had no reason to write anything other than what they believed to be true, 2) The authors were usually in London so they would be informed about what was happening there, 3) They were written at the time of the events they were describing, 4) The Pastons were not directly involved in the Wars of the Roses and were not committed to either side
• John Whethamstede


  Abbot of St Albans who witnessed the battle there in 1455 at first hand
• John Whethamstede


  • As Abbot of St Albans he was involved in national politics, he had something of a Yorkist bias but was independent and not afraid to criticise either side when he thought it was justified
• Bennet's Chronicle


  A chronicle written by a vicar in Bedfordshire but copied from a chronicler based in London, likely to have a Yorkist bias
• An English Chronicle, Gregory's Chronicle & The 6 Town Chronicles

  Chronicles written in London, which was generally Yorkist
• Jean de Waurin & the Dijon Relation

  A Burgundian chronicler, any Burgundian chronicle would show a Yorkist bias because the Yorkists favoured alliance with Burgundy while the Lancastrians were pro-French
• Crowland (or Croyland) Chronicle


  Written by a monk at Croyland Abbey in Lincolnshire, the identity of the author is unknown
• John Blacman


  Henry VI's chaplain who wrote an account of Henry VI after his death in 1471, designed to make a case for him being made a saint
• Robert Bale


  A London lawyer & chronicler who wrote an account of Cade's Rebellion in 1450
• The Demands of the Cade Rebels, Yorkist or Lancastrian Manifestoes

  Propaganda that would praise their own side and blame the other, couldn't blame the King directly so had to blame "evil counsellors" instead
• The Pope


  Lived in Rome and relied on hearsay or second-hand reports about England, nevertheless the fact that Pius II had heard how mentally feeble Henry VI was shows how well known this was
• Suffolk's Letter to his Son just before his Death 1450


  A private letter that could be seen as honest but might not be a frank admission of Suffolk's real character
• The Annals of William of Worcester


  Written by an educated man who travelled around England, not known to have a Yorkist or Lancastrian bias
• Gregory's Chronicle


  Written in London, could therefore have a Yorkist bias
• Warkworth's Chronicle


  Thought to be written by a northerner, possibly a Yorkshireman and a Yorkist, but generally did not show a strong bias either way
• Hardyng's Chronicle


  John Hardyng was a northerner by birth but worked for both Henry VI and York at different times, so his bias would depend on who was employing him at the time