Can you find medieval history living in the species rose garden?
In the Species Rose garden you can find living medieval history.
Find the White Rose of York Latinised as rosa alba, blazoned as a rose argent
It is a white heraldic rose adopted in the 14th century (1300-1400) as an heraldic badge of the royal House of York. In modern times it is used more broadly as a symbol of the county of Yorkshire.
The war of the Roses was was a turning point in the history of the United Kingdom and became the foundation of the Tudor dynasty that flourished until the early 17th century. The Yorks and Lancasters were descended from the same family. A fallout from the Hundred Years’ War helped spark the unrest. Both sides gained and lost power multiple times. The Wars included one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on English soil. The Wars reached their climax at 1485’s Battle of Bosworth Field. A very large part of the aristocracy was killed and some noble families even disappeared and the royal dynasty changed. It has also been a vast source of inspiration for English authors, such as Shakespeare. To symbolize the end of the Wars of the Roses, Henry Tudor the newly crownd King Henry VII adopted a new “Tudor rose” emblem that incorporated both the white rose of the Yorks and the red of the Lancasters.
It is important to note that historicaly, neither side used a rose as its sole symbol. The Wars of the Roses take their name from the color of the roses—red for Lancaster and white for York—that each house supposedly used as their emblem. This legend took root after William Shakespeare and others wrote about it.