Quotes / Wars of the Roses

The poisoned thorns of the bloody red rose
Red venom of deepest dye
Henry the traitor, the victor by sin
Soiled Richard's blood with a grin

— Running Wild, "Bloody Red Rose"

My Lord of Hereford here, whom you call 'king',
Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king:
And if you crown him, let me prophesy:
The blood of English shall manure the ground,
And future ages groan for this foul act;
Peace shall go sleep with Turks and infidels,
And in this seat of peace tumultuous wars
Shall kin with kin and kind with kind confound;
Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny
Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd
The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls
O, if you raise this House against this House,
It will the woefullest division prove
That ever fell upon this cursed Earth.

— William Shakespeare, Richard II, Act 4 Scene 1.^note Shakespeare placed the root of the Wars of the Roses in Henry IV's 1399 usurpation of his cousin Richard II to become the first "Lancastrian" king of England, so in this scene the Bishop of Carlisle foretells the Wars of the Roses in protest to Richard II's deposition.

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