Board: OCR | Unit: Y105 | Component: 1 (British Period Study)
About this option
England 1445–1509: Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII covers the Wars of the Roses and the establishment of the Tudor dynasty. Students trace the descent into civil war under Henry VI, the Yorkist seizure of power under Edward IV, the brief interruption of Richard III’s reign, and the consolidation of Henry VII’s new dynasty after Bosworth. The option requires breadth across more than sixty years of dynastic conflict and its resolution, examining the nature of late medieval politics, the role of the nobility, and the foundations of early Tudor stability.
Key themes
- The collapse of Lancastrian authority: Henry VI’s personal inadequacy, the loss of France, and the rise of Richard, Duke of York
- The Wars of the Roses: the major campaigns and political turning points from the first Battle of St Albans to Bosworth
- Edward IV’s reign: the Yorkist settlement, Edward’s relationship with Warwick, the readeption of Henry VI, and Edward’s second reign
- Richard III: the usurpation of 1483, his brief reign, and the debate about his character and motives
- Henry VII’s accession and consolidation: Bosworth, the management of the nobility, the Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck threats
- Henry VII’s government: financial policy, relations with the Church, and the securing of the Tudor succession
- The nature of late medieval politics: bastard feudalism, the role of Parliament, and the limits of royal authority
What the exam asks
Y105 is a period study. Questions require breadth across the full chronological range, assessing change and the ability to make comparisons across different phases of the period. Students are expected to demonstrate precise factual knowledge and to sustain arguments across the whole option.
Historiography
The Wars of the Roses and the early Tudor period have generated major debates:
- The Wars of the Roses: aristocratic factional conflict over the Crown, or a broader social and regional conflict? K. B. McFarlane’s rehabilitation of the nobility as the architects of political order versus older views of noble violence and disorder
- Richard III: Tudor propaganda villain or effective administrator and loyal brother? The persistent rehabilitation of Richard, from Paul Murray Kendall onward, against the Shakespearean image
- Henry VII: the cautious, miserly miser of tradition or a sophisticated political operator who made deliberate choices about the exercise of royal power? (S. B. Chrimes, Christine Carpenter)
- Was the establishment of the Tudor dynasty inevitable after Bosworth, or did Henry VII face genuine threats that could have extinguished his new regime?
