Check that this is your course

This guide is for OCR A Level History A, unit Y105: England 1445–1509: Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII.

Your course has two different date ranges:

• the source enquiry covers the Wars of the Roses from 1445 to 1461;
• the essay period study covers England from 1461 to 1509.

If your course begins in 1450 and ends in 1499, you may be taking AQA 2B. If it begins in 1399, you may be taking Pearson Edexcel option 30. Those courses overlap, but their content and exams are different.

What the examination asks you to do

The Y105 paper lasts 1 hour 30 minutes, carries 50 marks and contributes 25% of the A level.

• Section A: one compulsory 30-mark question using four contemporary sources. You assess how far they support a stated view, using the sources in their historical context. This is AO2 and covers 1445–1461.
• Section B: choose one of two 20-mark essays. This is AO1 and covers 1461–1509.

This paper does not ask you to evaluate extracts from modern historians. It also does not use AQA's three-source format. Keep the four sources connected to one overall judgement.

Your course in seven connected topics

1. The outbreak of the wars, 1445–1450
2. The early actions of Richard, Duke of York
3. War and the defeat of York, 1455–1461
4. Edward IV's first rule and the crisis of 1470–1471
5. Edward IV and Richard III, 1471–1485
6. Henry VII's rule in England, 1485–1509
7. Henry VII's foreign policy, 1485–1509

The useful thread is authority. At each stage ask: what did people expect a king to do, what resources did he possess, whom did he need, and why did confidence grow or collapse?

1. The outbreak of the wars, 1445–1450

England in 1445 was not waiting inevitably for civil war. Government still operated through the king, council, household, Parliament, courts and powerful regional lords. The danger was that Henry VI did not provide firm direction when financial, military and political pressures converged.

Henry's marriage to Margaret of Anjou accompanied the Truce of Tours. Peace offered a chance to reduce military spending, but the crown already faced weak income, debts and growing household commitments. Henry's generous grants to foundations and servants reduced resources further. Loans and taxation could bridge gaps, but they also exposed dependence on political cooperation.

William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, became the most visible royal adviser. Critics presented him and other household figures as corrupt traitors. Their prominence and patronage did create resentment, but hostile accusations were political weapons, not neutral descriptions.

The worsening position in France was decisive because it joined several grievances. The loss of Normandy damaged honour, displaced soldiers and landholders, exposed the cost of failed policy and encouraged demands for ministerial accountability. Suffolk was impeached and killed in 1450.

Jack Cade's rebellion then mobilised grievances about taxation, local corruption, justice, royal advisers and failure in France. The rebels claimed to seek reform in the king's name. Cade should not be dismissed as a criminal or treated as York's proven puppet: the rising revealed how badly confidence in government had fractured.

Check your understanding: Why did the loss of Normandy turn existing weaknesses into a political crisis?

2. The early actions of Richard, Duke of York

Richard, Duke of York possessed royal ancestry, enormous landed power and experience in France and Ireland. When he returned from Ireland in 1450, he presented himself as a reformer seeking the removal of bad advisers. His position was difficult: armed pressure could make him look disloyal even when he claimed to defend the king.

York's attempted show of force at Dartford in 1452 failed because leading nobles did not support replacing royal government with coercion. He submitted and temporarily lost influence.

Two events changed the balance in 1453. Margaret gave birth to Prince Edward, weakening York's position as a possible heir. Soon afterwards Henry VI became mentally incapacitated. Government could not simply stop, so York became protector in 1454. He removed Somerset and worked through council, but the protectorate rested on the king's illness, not a permanent constitutional settlement.

When Henry recovered, York was removed and Somerset returned. York, Salisbury and Warwick feared exclusion and possible punishment. Margaret became increasingly important in defending her son's inheritance and organising Lancastrian support. Avoid the caricature that she single-handedly caused the wars: the crisis arose from failed kingship, faction, security fears and an unsettled succession.

3. War and the defeat of Richard, Duke of York

At the first Battle of St Albans in 1455, Yorkist forces killed Somerset and captured Henry VI. York again became protector, but victory did not solve the central problem. Henry recovered, competing affinities remained armed, and neither side trusted the other's intentions.

The government associated with Margaret sought Lancastrian strength outside London. The Nevilles' regional rivalries, especially in the north, became entangled with national politics. The Loveday of 1458 staged reconciliation, yet public gestures could not remove private fear or competing armed networks.

In 1459 the Yorkists were attainted after their collapse at Ludford Bridge in the so-called Parliament of Devils. Warwick retained Calais, allowing the Yorkists to return in 1460. They defeated the Lancastrians at Northampton and captured Henry.

York then claimed the crown. The Act of Accord kept Henry king for life but made York and his heirs successors, disinheriting Prince Edward. Margaret and her allies therefore had compelling reasons to resist. York was killed at Wakefield in December 1460, but his death did not end the claim. His son Edward defeated Lancastrian forces, took the throne as Edward IV and secured a crushing victory at Towton in 1461.

The key judgement is that violence escalated through failed settlements. Each victory changed who controlled the king or succession without creating consent broad enough to last.

How to answer the four-source enquiry

Begin with the exact view in the question. For each source:

1. state how strongly its content supports or challenges the view;
2. test that content with precise knowledge from 1445–1461;
3. explain how authorship, audience, purpose, timing and source type shape its value;
4. compare it with the other sources;
5. return to an overall judgement about how far the four sources support the view.

A rebel complaint may reveal genuine grievances and the claims rebels thought persuasive, even though it seeks support. A chronicle may preserve valuable information while reflecting location, access, hindsight and political sympathy. A royal letter can reveal what a regime wanted recipients to believe as well as what happened.

Do not write four disconnected reliability paragraphs. “Biased” is not a conclusion. Ask what the source is valuable for and why.

4. Edward IV's first rule and the crisis of 1470–1471

Edward IV began with military victory but still needed workable government, revenue and noble cooperation. Warwick was valuable because his affinity, offices and diplomatic connections had helped Edward win. Dependence created danger when king and earl disagreed.

Edward's secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in 1464 disrupted Warwick's diplomatic plans. The advancement and marriages of the queen's relatives intensified competition for patronage. Yet the rupture was not simply “Woodvilles versus Warwick”: foreign policy, access to the king, marriage, regional power and the ambitions of Edward's brother Clarence all mattered.

Warwick and Clarence supported unrest and rebelled in 1469. They captured Edward but could not govern securely through him. In 1470 Edward fled, and Warwick restored Henry VI in the Readeption. The alliance united former enemies and depended on French support, making it fragile.

Edward returned in 1471. Clarence changed sides. Edward defeated Warwick at Barnet and the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury; Prince Edward was killed and Henry VI died soon afterwards. Edward's recovery came from speed, military leadership, Burgundian help, defections and the weaknesses of the restored coalition—not inevitability.

5. Edward IV and Richard III, 1471–1485

After 1471 Edward ruled more securely. He used the royal household, council, Parliament, regional delegation and improved financial management. Peace and commercial revenue helped, while the French settlement at Picquigny provided money. Powerful nobles still remained necessary governors.

Relations with Clarence deteriorated. Clarence was attainted and executed in 1478. The famous story of drowning in malmsey is later tradition; the political fact is that Edward destroyed his brother after repeated conflict, narrowing the adult royal family available in 1483.

Edward died unexpectedly in April 1483. His son Edward V was a minor. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, became protector, removed leading Woodvilles and executed William Hastings. Claims that Edward IV's marriage was invalid allowed Parliament to recognise Richard III. Edward V and his brother disappeared after confinement in the Tower. Their fate is uncertain, although Richard bore the political responsibility created by their custody and benefited from their removal.

The Buckingham rebellion of 1483 joined former Edwardian servants, Woodville interests and support for Henry Tudor. It failed, but revealed the division caused by Richard's accession. Richard attempted government through law, patronage and northern supporters, yet deaths in his family worsened succession problems.

At Bosworth in 1485, Henry Tudor won because Richard's coalition was not dependable and the Stanleys intervened at a decisive moment. Bosworth was contingent, not a simple judgement by the whole kingdom.

6. Henry VII's rule in England, 1485–1509

Henry's hereditary claim was weak, so he used victory, parliamentary title and marriage to Elizabeth of York to strengthen legitimacy. He dated his reign from before Bosworth, enabling opponents to be treated as traitors, but did not rely on terror alone.

Threats continued. Lovell and the Staffords resisted early. Lambert Simnel was promoted as a Yorkist prince and supported by Margaret of Burgundy; Henry defeated the invasion at Stoke in 1487. Perkin Warbeck later claimed to be Richard of York and gained foreign backing before capture. The Earl of Warwick was executed in 1499, and Suffolk remained a later concern.

Henry controlled nobles through selective rewards, offices, bonds, recognisances, attainders and enforcement against unlawful retaining. These tools constrained behaviour but did not abolish noble government. Local rule still depended on magnates, gentry, justices and councils.

Royal finance improved through crown lands, customs, feudal rights and closer Chamber administration. Financial extraction could provoke resistance. Yorkshire rebelled against taxation in 1489, and Cornish rebels marched to Blackheath in 1497 against taxation for a Scottish war. These were responses to particular demands, not proof that whole regions rejected Tudor rule.

Henry used council, Parliament and local government pragmatically. By 1509 the dynasty was much safer, but this was consolidation through inherited institutions rather than the sudden creation of a modern state.

7. Henry VII's foreign policy, 1485–1509

Henry needed recognition abroad, protection from pretenders, manageable war costs and secure trade.

• Redon, 1489: England promised help to Brittany against France.
• Medina del Campo, 1489: linked Spain, opposition to France, trade and the planned marriage of Arthur and Catherine of Aragon.
• Étaples, 1492: ended Henry's French expedition and brought a financial settlement and durable peace.
• Magnus Intercursus, 1496: restored trade with Burgundy after an embargo connected to support for Warbeck.
• Ayton, 1497: established peace with Scotland; the later marriage of Margaret Tudor and James IV strengthened it.
• Malus Intercursus, 1506: extracted favourable commercial terms from Philip of Burgundy, though their practical life was limited.

Judge policy by more than money. Henry reduced foreign backing for rivals, gained recognition and protected commerce while avoiding prolonged war. Some ambitions failed or were only partly implemented. His policy was flexible and opportunistic rather than consistently peaceful or aggressive.

How to write the 20-mark essay

Answer the exact factor, extent or success question. A strong introduction defines the test for judgement. Organise paragraphs around competing explanations, not a narrative reign-by-reign list. In each paragraph:

• make an analytical claim;
• use precise and relevant evidence;
• explain how it answers the wording;
• compare its importance with another factor;
• sustain a judgement across the whole date range.

For “How successful was Henry VII's foreign policy?”, useful criteria include dynastic security, diplomatic recognition, trade, financial cost and avoidance of damaging war. A balanced answer can judge different aims differently.

Final retrieval check

Without looking back, explain:

1. why government confidence collapsed in 1450;
2. why York's protectorates did not settle the conflict;
3. why the Act of Accord intensified resistance;
4. why Warwick and Edward IV broke apart;
5. why Richard III's accession divided the Yorkists;
6. how Henry VII controlled threats without abolishing the nobility;
7. what each of Henry VII's six named agreements tried to achieve;
8. how OCR's four-source question differs from the AQA and Pearson formats.

If that feels too much, start with four anchors: 1450 Cade, 1461 Towton, 1485 Bosworth, 1492 Étaples. Put one cause and one consequence beside each. That is a manageable first revision session.