Let the war rage on...

The War of Roses that is! Civil war and destruction separated the Yorks, Lancasters, and Plantagenets; the ruling royal families of England in the 15th century. As a Game of Thrones fan (of course, I had to mention it in this post), you can tell that a lot of the civil war and strife in the imaginary land of Westeros was inspired by the families of this actual period in time. Essentially one guy, Henry, had the crown, Edward-this distant cousin wanted it and took it through defeat in battle by getting help from an influential Earl of Warwick who captured Henry- peace semi-remained for a while. Peace remained until Edward fell for and secretely married, much to the annoyance of other royals at court, Elizabeth Woodville. This pissed off the Earl of Warwick who tried to supplant Edward with his younger brother, more battles followed. Edward won and ruled longer, had daughters and sons, then died. Nobody ever liked the Woodville family when Edward was alive but she was queen so they had tolerated it as best they could. But the king is dead, so long live the new king. King Richard III that is, another brother of the late king Edward. What about the kids Edward sired with Elizabeth Woodville? Meh! To the tower...literally (the lost princes of the tower were those kids). So how was this war ended and who won? Why is it called the Wars of the Roses? (their family sigils were red and white roses respectively, so figuratively the roses were battling each other).

The Wars of the Roses ended with the women behind it. Elizabeth Woodville after loosing her sons in the tower, looked to her oldest daughter as the rightful heir of Edward's throne. But a woman being queen in her own right? That is preposterous, haha! Did you hear that joke Elizabeth Tudor, Victoria, Elizabeth II, Daenerys Targaryen (hehe, Game of Thrones again)? So what is a devastated mother to do to secure her daughter's place on the throne- marry her off, of course. Enter Margaret Beaufort and her only son, Henry Tudor, who has a very tiny claim to the throne. So Richard III is dethroned and literally killed off in the Battle of Bosworth. Henry Tudor marries Elizabeth of York (Elizabeth Woodville's oldest daughter) and from these two roses branches the Tudor Dynasty which springs forth peace and prosperity. With peace, there is time again for art and music, and thus the English Renaissance brings forth a new spring (not to mention Henry VIII, his six wives, the Reformation, Shakespeare, and the Golden Age of Elizabeth I).

What I really wanted to say in this post, is that I love that the epicness and awesomeness (those are real words, I promise) of Game of Thrones and The Tudors as period dramas because they were/are big hits, and that makes other studios make more period dramas. This is a history nerd's biggest dream! I even heard they are making a series on Mary, Queen of Scots (another descendant of the Tudors) but it might be on CW so it's not looking to be more than teenage angst in pretty dresses. What looks really promising this summer (August) is Starz's The White Queen, based on the Philippa Gregory historical fiction novel on the women of the Wars of the Roses (Elizabeth Woodville, Anne Neville, and Margaret Beaufort). As much as I dislike the inauthentic history presented by Gregory as a fiction writer, it is hard to ignore an awesome period piece with wonderful costumes.  Check out the trailer below: