The real significance of Cade's insurrection is that it showed the
widespread feeling of discontent caused by misgovernment, and that it
served as an introduction to the long and dreary period of civil
strife known as the Wars of the Roses.
So long as the English nobles had France for a fighting ground, French
cities to plunder, and French captives to hold for heavy ransoms, they
were content to let matters go on quietly at home. But that day was
over. Through the bad management, if not through the positive
treachery, of Edmund, Duke of Somerset, the French conquests had been
lost. Henry VI, a weak king, at times insane, sat on the English
throne (S295), while Richard, Duke of York, a really able man and a
descendant of the Mortimers (see table, p. 161), was, as many
believed, unlawfully excluded from it.
This fact in itself would have furnished a plausible pretext for
hostilities, even as far back as Cade's rising. But the birth of a
son[2] to Henry (1453) probably gave the signal for the outbreak,
since it cut off all hopes which Richard's friends may have had of his
peaceful succession.
[2] Prince Edward. See Genealogical Table, p. 161, under Henry VI.