York Guides

There was a happier sequel. In York Minster on January 18th, 1486, Henry Tudor married Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Edward IV, nearest claimant to the throne in the Yorkist line. The red and white of Lancaster and York were combined in a new emblem, the Tudor rose.

A general pardon was granted to almost all Richard's adherents. Northumberland, Dacre and the Scropes continued to hold their offices under the Tudors. Henry Clifford was restored to his estates and honours. But the power of the great lords of the North had been shaken. The Percies were curbed by laws against livery and maintenance, and their vast revenues had declined. The Nevilles had disappeared, and their estates passed into the hands of the crown. There was a minor rising around Middleham, where Richard was best remembered, which died away when the new king went on progress through the North. The Council of the North was moved from Sheriff Hutton to York, and became a powerful instrument of royal control. The people settled down to peace.

The Wars of the Roses were never a people's war. Except in so far as the Yorkists offered the prospect of better government, the ordinary man was not concerned. Yorkshire suffered as much as any part of the country from the drain of fighting men, the disorders caused by the passage of armies, and the uncertainty of the times. It was a setback but not a disaster.

The vitality was still there. A generation later, the men of Yorkshire, local feuds forgotten, marched out to fight and beat their old enemies the Scots at Flodden. They took their own road in religion. They built themselves houses in sturdy stone. The wool industry of the West Riding went on to beat its rivals at their own game. The Wars of the Roses were remembered only when eleven good Yorkshiremen took the field against eleven good Lancastrians.