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Many of the campaigns and major battles which comprise the rich history of the War of the Roses were short in length, lasting only a few days as opposed to weeks or months. Warfare was undergoing a slow transformation throughout c.1440-1499 as the medieval age waned into the renaissance age. The lords, barons, dukes, and knights of this period brought rather small forces to bear in combat, around 200-2000 men. This were relatively diverse forces comprised mostly of archers and infantrymen, with diverse forces  cavalry artillery, and mercenaries from the continent. Towton, March 1461 Combat was almost always decisive in this era and battles were relatively short but hard fought and costly as a result. Even in small scale skirmishes the bloodshed was shocking by all accounts that survived the period from 1400 onwards. The Lords, Earls, Dukes, or Kings who served as generals and commander of their households were often in the thick of the battle near their vanguards; th...

A Short History of the Wars of the Roses. By David Grummit. London: I.B. Tauris, 2013. Distributed in the U.S. and Canada by Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-84885-875-6. Dramatis personae. Timeline. Family trees. Map. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. xxxix, 212. $25.00. A Short History of the Wars of the Roses, by David Grummit In May 1455, the recently dismissed Protector of the Realm, Richard the Duke of York, met the royalist Lancastrian army of King Henry IV, “vi et armis”, with force and arms (p. 43), winning a decisive but bloody victory at the First Battle of St. Albans. The Yorkist victory over the Lancastrians that day on the streets of St. Albans beginning the sporadic and violent episodes of rebellion, upheaval, and open warfare which characterized the greater period of English medieval history from 1455-1487, known today as the Wars of the Roses. Yorkist line at the Battle of Towton Author David Grummitt’s primary goal in A Short History of the Wars of the Rose...