Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou and the Wars of the Roses

the long version

"Henry VI (1422-61) was the third, and least successful, Lancastrian king of England; his wife Margaret of Anjou became a formidable political force in her own right; and the Wars of the Roses, so dramatically portrayed by William Shakespeare as bloody dynastic struggles fought for the possession of the crown, brought the usurpation of Edward IV (1461-83), the humiliation and exile of Margaret of Anjou, and the murder of her husband in the Tower of London." "Combining a framework of interpretation and a selection of passages from contemporary and near-contemporary sources, this compilation enables readers to appreciate just why the rule of Henry VI resulted in the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses, what these internecine conflicts were like, and how they culminated in the end of the House of Lancaster."--Jacket.