English takes hold
The Middle Ages1066 to 1485
England fought its own civil war in the fifteenth century. In 1455, war broke out between rival branches of the royal family, Lancaster and York, each determined to put its own claimant on the throne. War was finally settled at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, where Henry Tudor, leading the Lancastrian side, defeated the Yorkist king and took the crown, founding a new royal house.
This upheaval in the royal line followed a quieter shift that had already taken hold. By 1400, English had replaced French as the everyday language of the royal courts and official documents, evidence that the ruling class no longer governed the country in a borrowed tongue. A kingdom that had learned to argue its law in English went on to hand its crown to a new dynasty forged in battle.
What to remember
 The Wars of the Roses | 1455 Lancaster's red rose against York's white rose; ended at Bosworth Field in 1485. |
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| The Battle of Bosworth Field | 1485 Ended the Wars of the Roses; Henry Tudor became Henry VII. |
| English becoming the language of the courts and official documents | 1400 Three centuries after the Conquest, the ruling class's Norman French had given way. |
| The House of Lancaster at the Battle of Bosworth Field | Henry Tudor He won, took the throne as Henry VII, and the House of Tudor began. |
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Everything in The Middle Agesor the whole course, from the beginning