Knowra House of Lancaster House of Lancaster A branch of the English royal family that held the crown from 1399 until 1461 and briefly in 1470–1471. Its rival claim against the House of York drove the dynastic Wars of the Roses.
Henry IV of England : King of England from 1399 to 1413, who took the throne from Richard II. He founded Lancastrian rule by claiming the crown after deposing Richard II.
Richard II of England : King of England from 1377 until his deposition in 1399 by Henry Bolingbroke. His removal created the immediate break through which the Lancastrians gained the crown.
House of Plantagenet : A royal dynasty that ruled England from the accession of Henry II in 1154 until 1485. Lancaster was one of the branches that emerged from this wider royal dynasty.
Wars of the Roses : A series of civil wars in England, chiefly between the houses of Lancaster and York, from 1455 to 1487. The conflict over the crown grew from the rival dynastic claims and political crises of Lancastrian rule.
Henry V of England : King of England from 1413 to 1422, celebrated for victories in the Hundred Years’ War. His military successes strengthened Lancastrian authority, while his early death left an infant heir.
English Parliament : The legislative institution comprising the English Crown, House of Lords, and House of Commons. Parliament endorsed Henry IV’s accession and became a forum for negotiating royal authority.
Edward III of England : King of England from 1327 to 1377 and father of John of Gaunt and Edmund of Langley. His sons’ competing descendants formed the genealogical basis of Lancaster and York.
Battle of Wakefield : A Yorkist defeat in Yorkshire on 30 December 1460, in which Richard, Duke of York, was killed. The Lancastrian victory briefly strengthened the cause before the decisive Yorkist triumph at Towton.
Henry VI of England : King of England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471. His disputed rule and periods of incapacity weakened the dynasty’s hold on the crown.
Divine right of kings : The doctrine that a monarch’s authority comes directly from God, rather than from subjects or institutions. Lancastrian claims had to contend with ideas of hereditary and divinely sanctioned kingship.
Show all 22