History of Florence and of the Affairs of Italy, Vol. 1-Niccolò Machiavelli

The Wars of the Roses took place during the last phase of the Hundred Years' War. In 1377 the great warrior king, Edward III, died leaving his kingdom to his young grandson, Richard II. Richard's incompetence and tyranny precipitated his deposition by the Lancastrians. Henry V achieved glory at the Battle of Agincourt, only to die young, leaving a child king to succeed him. Like his grandfather, the mad King Charles VI, Henry VI suffered a mental collapse and in the ensuing crisis, the long internecine slaughter of the Wars of the Roses began. (Summary by Pamela Nagami, M.D.)