The War of the Roses in the Image of Warkworth – Master from Cambridge

Abstract

The article raises the problem of the peculiarities of Warkworth's depiction of the events of the War of the Roses and its main participants. One of the contemporaries covering the political struggle for power between the Lancaster and York dynasties is Warkworth, the head of the oldest college at Cambridge University, Peterhouse, the author of the Chronicle of the first thirteen years of the reign of King Edward the Fourth. The process of scientific understanding of the Warkworth chronicle is considered in the context of the author's perception of the Wars of the Roses. When describing the course of events in his chronicle, Warkworth pays special attention to the figures of the monarchs – Edward IV and Henry VI. The chronicler does not demonstrate an extremely negative, or vice versa, "praising" point of view on the figures and actions of kings and their supporters. He consistently narrates about what is happening, without commenting, and without expressing his commitment to this or that king, without using possible propaganda methods present in other chronicle authors of that time. The chronicle of Warkworth was intended for a narrow circle of people, since it did not reflect the tendency to depict the deeds of representatives and supporters of the York dynasty on the positive side. As an academic teacher, when presenting the course of events, he was mainly based on already available sources and did not comment on the events described by him from the point of view of expressing his own position.