Research & Sources
Links to Fifteenth Century Sources
Calendars of Close Rolls
Calendars of Close Rolls on Hathi Trust
All: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/010426948
Edward IV, Vol 1 (1461-1468): https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112103530095&seq=5
Edward IV, Vol 2 (1468-1476): https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112103530103&seq=5
Edward IV, Edward V, and Richard III (1476-1485): https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112103530111&seq=5
Henry VII, Vol 1 (1485-1500): https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.35112103530129&seq=5
Statutes of the Realm
These are the versions of the statutes that were circulated after the relevant parliament. The original French in which they were first published is given alongside an English translation. Henry VI’s start at 237 (p. 213), Edward IV’s at 404 (p. 380), Richard III’s start at 503 (p.477).
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000017915526&view=1up&seq=7
The Paston Letters
The Paston Letters are a fantastic archive of family correspondence over a period of 70 years. Many are about domestic matters and local events while others provide unique details about national politics. The online version is not the most up to date but the correspondence has been digitised by the British Library.
https://fiftywordsforsnow.com/ebooks/paston/
https://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2015/04/the-paston-letters-go-live.html
An English Chronicle for the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI
This is a continuation of a Brut chronicle which is commonly called Davies’ Chronicle after the name of its first editor. A better manuscript has since been found and edited, but that is not online and the most significant differences relate to Richard II’s reign. The last part of the work (1440-61) was written by an ardent Yorkist.
The Edward IV Roll
This is an illustrated genealogy celebrating Edward IV’s claim to the English, French and Castilian thrones and his position as King Arthur’s heir.
https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/3310
The Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV
The Arrivall was written to celebrate Edward IV’s return to England in 1471. (Find our more here https://www.warsoftheroses.com/mapsandsources/sources/the-arrival-of-king-edward/)
The manuscript image in the headers of this website comes from the frontispiece to Ghent University Library’s manuscript of this book. https://www.warsoftheroses.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Gent-UB-236-f.-2-1.jpg
https://archive.org/details/historieofarriva00brucrich/page/n3/mode/2up
Warkworth's Chronicle
Chronicle of the first thirteen years of Edward IV’s reign, written in 1484, is unusual for its northern focus. It expresses some sympathy for Henry VI but is fairly balanced. It is often attributed to John Warksworth, an Oxford academic and clergyman from Northumberland, but this is only because he owned one of the two known manuscripts.
https://archive.org/details/chronicleoffirst00warkrich
Compilation of the Meekness and Good Life of Henry VI
John Blacman’s Compilation of the Meekness and Good Life of Henry VI was probably written shortly before Henry VI’s body was moved from Chertsey to Windsor by Richard III. Blacman was a fellow at Eton and Henry VI’s confessor.
The Crowland Chronicle
The Second Continuation of this chronicle was written in 1486 by someone close to the centre of events, although their identity remains a matter of great debate. The online edition is a nineteenth century version. A more up to date edition of the continuations, in parallel with its Latin original, was produced by Nicholas Pronay & John Cox in 1986 and is worth getting hold of if you can. There is more about the chronicle here.
Philippe de Commynes
Philippe de Commynes was a Franco-Burgundian diplomat who wrote a very useful, albeit sometimes rather colourful, memoir of his experiences which can be found in several versions. The most recent editions (by Blanchard or Dufournet) are not online.
Volume 2 of Dupont’s edition covering the period from the mid 1470s is at:
https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_6UCO7hi3vUAC/page/n5/mode/2up
There is a nineteenth century English translation of Dupont’s version volumes 1:
https://archive.org/details/memoirsofphilipd01comm/page/n15/mode/2up
and 2:
https://archive.org/details/memoirsofphilipp02commiala/page/n5/mode/2up
and a more modern translation of the early books of the Calmette and Durvelle (1920s) edition:
https://r3.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/M_Jones_Commynes1972.pdf
This is a downloadable pdf and includes a valuable introduction about Commynes.
Some editions of his work include very useful additional source material such as an extract from a Burgundian chronicle which gives details of Richard and Edward’s stay in 1470-71 which is available (in French) here:
https://archive.org/details/memoiresdemessi02commgoog/page/172/mode/2up?view=theater
and is probably compiled from an immediately contemporary record. Another is the Scandalous Chronicle, or Secret History of Louis XI which can be found in English here:
https://archive.org/details/TheMemoirsOfPhilipDeComminesScoble18921/page/n309/mode/2up
or in French here:
https://books.google.co.uk/books?redir_esc=y&id=Qz3f1C9n5YUC&q=1471#v=onepage&q&f=false
This was probably written in the late 1480s and first published in 1491.
John Rous
John Rous was a Warwickshire antiquary who wrote beautiful rolls on the history of the Earls of Warwick during Richard III’s reign. He also wrote a History of the Kings of England over the period 1480-86. The history is not especially useful for understanding the events of the Wars of the Roses but it does show one clergyman’s view of things. It is notable for the violent hostility of his account of Richard III compared with the panegyric in the Rous Roll. Online you can find the Latin text of his Historia Regum Angliae:
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015020077262&view=1up&seq=258
a translation of the section on Richard III’s is in Alison Hanham’s Richard III and his Early Historians:
Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York
The Privy Purse Expenses of Elizabeth of York have recently been edited as part of the Tudor Chamber Books:
Robert Fabyan's New Chronicles of England and France
Robert Fabyan’s New Chronicles of England and France were published in 1516. Fabyan was probably born in the late 1450s and was a draper, sheriff, mayor and alderman of London. He died in 1513.
Polydore Vergil
Polydore Vergil was an Italian scholar and papal employee (an agent of Adriano Castellesi da Corneto), who arrived in England in 1502. Henry VII encouraged him to write his Angelica Historia in about 1506:
https://archive.org/details/polydorevergilse00vergrich/page/10/mode/2up?ref=ol&view=theater
It was completed in 1513 although not published until 1534. He revised it for new editions in 1546 and again in 1555. This last is the online version, edited and translated by Dana Sutton.
Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of England, Scotland and Ireland
Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland are actually an early secondary source since Holinshed was not born until 1525. His chronicles were nonetheless an important source for many later histories and for Shakespeare.
Hall's Chronicle
Hall’s Chronicle was published in 1548 and includes a number of the traditions that shaped later popular versions of the Wars of the Roses but also includes a few details that may be drawn from earlier lost sources.