The Wars of the Roses and John of Gaunt’s Love Life

One way to look at the Wars of the Roses is how the descendants of the mistress knock the descendants of the first wife off the top branch of the family tree.

The Wars of the Roses was about the history of a nation and a monarchy. It's also about a family. What was at stake wasn’t simply a series of battles between York and Lancaster. These events shattered the norms that had held the English monarchy together for hundreds of years. The Wars of the Roses kept asking the same question: Is it ok to get rid of the King? Sometimes the answer was “yes.” It’s the story of one man and how the descendants of his wife and the descendants of his mistress played nearly all the key roles in this giant power struggle. Just one man. John of Gaunt.

Support the show

History reveals what's possible.