THE WARS OF THE ROSES

This annual schools online conference on the Wars of the Roses is provided at the request of teachers and is aimed at sixth formers who are studying a 15^th century module as part of their History A level.

Report on the 2025 Schools Conference on the Wars of the Roses

The conference took place online on Tuesday 4^th March 2025 with thirty eight schools participating and the largest number of students so far: over 1,100.  We charge a registration fee of £60 per school to cover the cost of speakers’ fees. Any surplus funds are ring-fenced for educational activities such as the Essay Competition.

We were extremely fortunate to be able to engage eminent speakers, who, by contributing to our conference, encourage young Historians in the study of the 15^th century. All our speakers are experts in their field, drawn from Universities, The National Archives and freelance writers.

Our opening speaker, the author and broadcaster Helen Castor, explained the events leading to the usurpation of Richard II by Henry Bolingbroke. This might seem far outside the remit of the Wars of the Roses but she made the case that the instability caused by this forcible deposition and death of an anointed king reverberated throughout most of the 15^th century.  The later usurpations of Henry VI by Edward IV and Richard III by Henry Tudor were then more easily accepted by significant portions of the nobility.

John Watts spoke about the political, and later violent, conflict between Richard, Duke of York and Edmund, Duke of Somerset which ended badly for both parties. He gave equal weight to the reasons for the actions of both men.

Lauren Johnson spoke forcefully about the necessity for Margaret of Anjou to change from being a submissive Queen to becoming the defender of her husband’s realm and future heir. In doing so she drew parallels between the challenges faced by other medieval women and those faced by women and girls today.

Our former chair, Matt Lewis explored whether Richard’s strengths outweighed his weaknesses and how they impacted his regime. Richard III was praised for his faithful commitment to his Coronation Oath. As the senior representative of the Crown in York during his brother’s reign, he was much loved and respected for his good lordship. Richard’s actions as king in promoting a society with justice for all under the law did not go down well with some of the more powerful nobles. Violent machinations at home and abroad culminated at Bosworth against a foreign, mercenary army nominally led by an outsider without military experience or extensive first hand observation of regal management.

The final speaker of the morning was Sean Cunningham of TNA who addressed the topic of the many rebellions after Bosworth and, in the Q&A, shared his cautious views about the true identities of Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel.

A level students need to develop their ability to interpret primary sources in the context of contemporary events and the main purpose of the conference is to assist that learning. Every speaker provides a selection of 15^th century sources, translated into modern English and these are collated as a booklet to send to schools in advance of the conference. Most of the presentations supplemented these sources with illustrations from the topic under discussion. Rachel Moss focused on the Paston Letters and how these provide first-hand evidence of the impact of national events on the domestic lives of the gentry.

Two half-hour question and answer sessions were provided with panels of speakers. This year the questions from schools were more numerous than in previous years and we ran out of time to answer them all.  Speakers kindly offered their contact details for schools to follow up.

In the afternoon a friendly “debate” about whether Edward IV or Warwick was most to blame for the breakdown in their former close relationship. David Grummitt, a Director of the Richard III Society, spoke for Edward IV and was ably opposed  by James Ross of Winchester University. The crux seemed to be the actions taken by Warwick  in attempting to form an alliance with France against the preference of Edward for alliances with Burgundy and Brittany. Pupil voting was split almost exactly 50:50.

Managing a day-long conference with nine distinguished speakers, two-score school log-ins (some schools ran the conference in more than one classroom) and live Q&A is not a simple task. We had our five-person education team online through the day to share the chairing, field questions and comments and perform administrative tasks behind the scenes. Planning for our conference begins in September six months ahead of the next conference. This task now falls to Duncan Rowe, the new Education Officer, who has the twin advantages of being a practising schoolteacher of the Wars of the Roses and a life-long Ricardian.  I wish him every success.

Iain Farrell

Retiring Education Officer

The Richard III Society

Feedback from Teachers

Thanks for all the engaging presentations!

It was excellent – very well received by the student body.

Thank you to all of the speakers and for all of the sessions.

Thanks very much for organising the conference the students very much enjoyed it. As we do sources as part of the OCR specification, we did find it very valuable to see these in advance and the students were able to annotate during the talks. The students also enjoyed the opportunity to actively engage by voting on the debate.

Thank you to all the speakers and for the association in hosting. It was an incredible  experience. My students have been taken well and truly down the rabbit hole. Best type of history.

Thank you so much. This is such a great opportunity for students hear real historians

Thank you very much for organising the conference.  Our students found it very useful

The conference was great thank you and all students and staff found it very informative and enjoyed the debate! 

Thank you from 45 students and 2 members of staff. We have found the conference interesting, informative and really well-pitched to our course. Many thanks to all involved in the organisation – we hope to join you again next time

Thank you for the conference, our pupils really enjoyed it and got a lot out of it, the speakers were very engaging and the use of primary sources was particularly valuable.

We have found it very helpful and informative. We look forward to next year!

Many thanks to the presenters and everyone involved in putting on this conference. All students really enjoyed the experience. See you next year.

Schools Attending the 2025 Conference

Abbeyfield School

All Hallows Catholic College

Ashby School

Beaumont School

Blessed William Howard Catholic High School

Brighton College

Francis Holland School, Regents’ Park

Garforth Academy

Gresham’s School

Haslingden High School and Sixth Form

Hereford Sixth Form College

Herne Bay High School

Highdown School and Sixth Form Centre

Holy Trinity Academy, Telford

Hundred of Hoo Academy

Hymers College

Kesteven & Sleaford High School

King James’s School, Knaresborough

The King’s School Canterbury

Loughborough Schools Foundation

Mary Hare School

Newport Girls High School

Peter Symonds College

Prior Park College

Sexey’s School

St. George’s Academy, Sleaford

Stanborough School, Welwyn Garden City

Tavistock College

The Castle School

The Nelson Thomlinson School

Ursuline College, Kent

Walton High, Milton Keynes

Westcliff High School for Girls

Westminster School

Whitley Bay, Tyne & Wear

Wigston College, Leics.

Wymondham High Academy Trust,  Norfolk

York College