Around the end of the 15th century, which two houses battled each other for control of the English throne in the Wars of the Roses?

The struggle for the English crown in the late 15th century was a dynastic civil war between two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet. The House of Lancaster, represented by a red rose, and the House of York, symbolized by a white rose, both had legitimate but competing claims to the throne through their shared descent from King Edward III. This rivalry plunged England into decades of intermittent but brutal conflict. While the name "Wars of the Roses" gained popularity later, the floral symbols became a powerful and lasting shorthand for the opposing factions.

The series of wars, spanning roughly from 1455 to 1487, was characterized by immense political instability as the throne changed hands multiple times. The conflict finally came to an end at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 when the Lancastrian claimant Henry Tudor defeated and killed the last Yorkist king, Richard III. To solidify his rule and unite the fractured kingdom, the newly crowned King Henry VII married Elizabeth of York. This brilliant political move merged the two rival houses, establishing the powerful Tudor dynasty. Their union was famously symbolized by the Tudor Rose, which combined the red and white roses into a single emblem of peace.