York, House of (redirected from House of York)

York, house of, royal house of England, deriving its name from the creation of Edmund of Langley, fifth son of Edward III, as duke of York in 1385. The claims to the throne of Edmund's grandson, Richard, duke of York, in opposition to Henry VI of the house of Lancaster (see Lancaster, house of), resulted in the Wars of the Roses (see Roses, Wars of the), so called because the badge of the house of York was a white rose, and a red rose was later attributed to the house of Lancaster. Richard's claim to the throne came not only from direct male descent from Edmund, but also through his mother Anne Mortimer, great-granddaughter of Lionel, duke of Clarence, who was the third son of Edward III. The royal members of the house of York were Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III. The marriage of the Lancastrian Henry VII to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV, united the houses of York and Lancaster. Henry was the first of the Tudor kings.

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York, House of 

a dynasty of British kings (1461–85), a branch of the Plantagenets. It traces its origin to the fifth son of Edward III, Edmund, the duke of York. The first representative of the House of York on the British throne was Edward IV, who deposed Henry VI (a scion of another branch of the Plantagenets, the Lancasters) during the Wars of the Roses. His son, young Edward V, was deposed in 1483 by his uncle Richard III and was murdered in the Tower of London. After the defeat of Richard III in the battle with Henry Tudor at Bosworth (1485), the throne passed to the Tudors, remote kin of the Lancasters.