The War of Roses
Alright, so back in the day during the fine year of 1455, two families started a war for the control of England. This war ended up raging for decades over who would become the ruling power in England. Now, remember the name of this battle? The War of Roses. The name comes from our two opposing sides of the feud for England. On one side you had the Lancaster family (sounds familiar) with their red rose sigil and the York family who donned a white rose sigil. Hense the extremely clever name of the altercation.
Now, obviously, the books aren’t a 100% carbon copy of medieval history. Some characters share some very similar traits with some of medieval times most influential people. Anne Boleyn infamously was accused of knockin’ boots with her brothers. Doesn’t sound like anyone we know, right? Of course, bad ass Brienne of Tarth is loosely based off historically one of the most bad ass people there ever were, Joan of Arc. Basically, to sum it up the Yorks are pretty much the Starks and we have no possible idea of who the Lancaster’s might have influenced.
Yorks Vs. Lancasters
The feud between the Yorks and Lancasters kicked off when King Richard II ascended to the throne. This was an issue because he claimed the throne instead of his dead older brothers’ son. Richard’s nephews were not having any of this. How Game of Thronesish!? Starting to see the similarities? I should mention the York’s and Lancaster’s were technically related. It didn’t help King Richard’s case that he was not well liked and considered a poor leader. He didn’t burn anyone with wildfire, but you can see roots of the Mad King in his story.
Eventually, King Richard’s cousin Henry IV, who is a Lancaster, started getting into people’s ears and bringing attention to how awful of a ruler that King Richard is. Eventually, Henry IV was sick of him gave him the boot and gained control of the throne for himself. It was a short-lived reign, Henry IV’s reign on the throne was followed by his son’s. Henry V was a well-known warrior who also was infamous for being a party boy, sounds an awful like our old buddy Robert Baratheon. Sadly, his luck on the battlefield eventually ran out and he was killed, leaving behind a young heir who kept the Henry name alive.
Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou
The next Henry in the line Henry VI was known to be a softy and hardly the person you want ruling a kingdom. Doesn’t ring a bell *cough* Tommen. He was eventually forced into marrying the beautiful Margaret of Anjou. Margaret was planning behind Henry VI’s back to become the real ruler of the relationship while also helping her family gain power. You’re right, that doesn’t sound like a big hot Margery Tyrell/Cersei Lannister cocktail at all. As time progressed Henry VI started to actually lose his mind, he legitimately began to go crazy. This opened the door for Margaret to get her wish of ruling the country. Too bad for her, she dug the country deeper into a hole with poor decisions regarding the war against France.
Richard of York
Margaret now running the country had no love lost for her crazy husband’s righthand man, Richard of York. Richard of York returned back to court from Ireland, we’ll chalk that up to the north. He was to be made “Protector of the Realm”. That is a real-life position people, does this man Richard sound like any of our favorite character from season 1? maybe, he’s missing a head now? Yep, pretty big similarities to good ole Eddard Stark.
Ned Stark-ish
Richard of York was quick to realize that Margaret was simply incapable of running the country in a time of turmoil, most people agreed with him. Margaret not having any of this nonsense from her husband’s friend eventually convinces the king to remove Richard York as “Protector of the Realm”. Now Richard of York is not about to be punked. So he went home ended up raising an army and came charging right back into town to demand the throne for himself. Unfortunately, for Richard of York, he would never lay his hands on the crown. Instead, he ended up with a very Ned Starkish death after the queen’s men killed him and raised his head on a pike.