The New Murrey and Blue blog

by Ian Wilson

Why do the Wars of the Roses feel like endless vendettas? At first glance, because the language of honour hadn’t changed: nobles still cried, “My blood has been offended,” or “My lineage must be avenged.” That patina of chivalry, though, concealed something very different.

The talk set out to understand why so many nobles died — or were executed — during the Wars of the Roses, especially when compared with earlier medieval conflicts. By contrasting 12th-century warfare with its 15th-century counterpart, a striking shift emerges. In the 12th century, when war was largely about controlling territory and castles, a captured noble was an asset of considerable economic and political value. He could be ransomed, exchanged, or used as leverage. Killing him was wasteful.

But by the 15th century, the logic had reversed. War was no longer primarily about territory — it was about dynastic supremacy. A rival noble was no longer an asset: he was a threat, a competitor for royal favour, offices, regional influence, and ultimately the throne itself. Eliminating him was not bad economics; it was sound politics. In this climate, surrender became dangerous, trust evaporated, and battles became far more brutal.

These were feuds, but not the old, kin-based feuds of the early Middle Ages. They were political feuds, fought with the vocabulary of honour but driven by the machinery of court politics. A family could be destroyed not through insult, but through attainder, confiscation, and the loss of heirs. Noble houses fought not for pride, but for existence.

Seen from our modern standpoint, the Wars of the Roses emerge not as a last flourish of chivalry, but as a transitional phase — a bridge between aristocratic vendetta culture and the tightly managed political world of the Tudors. The language remained medieval, but the stakes were thoroughly modern: office, influence, legitimacy, and survival.

In short: the Wars of the Roses were not simply personal quarrels. They were high-stakes struggles in which nobles were no longer valuable hostages, but expendable obstacles — and where the survival of a house could turn on a single sword-stroke.