Wars of the two roses and English Renaissance

The wars of the two roses

The Tudors were a family who ruled over England from 1485 until 1603. They brought peace to England after many years of war. There had been the Wars of the Two Roses for 30 years in England. It was a civil war because the two parts were English people. The two families of the York and the Lancaster fought to get the crown of England. Henry VII was crowned King and married the daughter of a York King,Henry IV,Elizabeth of York so it was that the Wars of the Two Roses ended. Henry decided to choose a new emblem for his family: a symbol of union. He united the white rose of the York family and the red rose of the Lancaster and called it ‘’The Tudor Rose’’.

The English Renaissance

The English Renaissance covers the historical period from1509, the year Henry VIII ascended the throne, to 1660, the year which marked the beginning of the Restoration. The English Renaissance developed later than its European equivalents and was an original, typically English movement. Its main feature was its strong Protestant basis, influenced by the Reformation under the reign of Henry VIII, who broke with Rome and declared that the king was the head of the English Church. The English literature of the period lacked the pagan serenity of the Italian Renaissance and was less linked to the visual arts.