Shakespeare represents the smoldering feud between the rival houses of
Lancaster and York (both of whom it should be remembered were
descendants of Edward III)[1] as breaking into an angry quarrel in the
Temple Garden, London, when Richard, Duke of York, says:
"Let him that is a true-born gentleman,
And stands upon the honor of his birth,
If he suppose that I have pleaded truth,
From off this brier pluck a white rose with me."[2]
To this challenge John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset,[3] a descendant of
the house of Lancaster, who has just accused Richard of being the
dishonored son of a traitor, replies:
"Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer,
But dare maintain the party of the truth,
Pluch a red rose from off this thorn with me."
A little later on the Earl of Warwick rejoins:
"This brawl to-day,
Grown to this faction in the Temple-garden,
Shall send, between the red rose and the white,
A thousand souls to death and deadly night."[4]
[1] Table showing the descendants of Edward III, with reference to the
claims of Lancaster and York to the crown:
Edward III
|
----------------------------------------------------
| | |
Lionel, Duke of John of Gaunt, Duke of Edmund, Duke of
Clarence (3d son) Lancaster (4th son) York (5th son)
| ----------------- |
Philippa | | Richard, Earl of
| Henry IV +John, Earl Cambridge, m.
-------------- | of Somerset Anne Mortimer
| | Henry V |
Edmund Anne Mortimer | ---------------
Mortimer m. Richard, Prince Edward, | |
(Earl of Earl of b. 1453; killed John, Edmund,
March) Cambridge (s. at battle of Duke of Duke of
d. 1424 of Edmund, Tewkesbury, Somerset, Somerset
Duke of York) 1471 d. 1448
|
*Richard, Duke
of York
|
Edward IV (1461-1483)
*Inherited the title of Duke of York from his father's brother,
Edward, Duke of York, who died without issue. Richard' father, the
Earl of Cambridge, had forfeited his title and estates by treason, but
Parliament had so far limited the sentence that his son was not
thereby debarred from inheriting his uncle's rank and fortune.
Richard, Duke of York, now represented the direct hereditary line of
succession to the crown, while Henry VI and his son represented that
established by Parliament through the acceptance of Henry IV (S279).
+John, Earl of Somerset, was an illegitimate half brother of Henry
IV's, but was, in 1397, declared legitimate by act of Parliament and a
papal decree.
[2] Shakespeare's "Henry VI," Part I, Act II, scene iv.
[3] John, Duke of Somerset, died 1448. He was brother of Edmund, Duke
of Somerset, who was slain at St. Albans, 1455.
[4] Shakespeare's "Henry VI," Part I, Act II, scene iv.