Prins, A. A. “The Wanderer and The Seafarer.” Neophilologus
48 (1964): 237–251.
Torben R. Gebhardt
“WAR-BAND’S RETURN, THE” TALIESIN
(sixth century) This poem, contained in the Book of
Taliesin, is one of the oldest poems in Welsh. It is
attributed to the poet TALIESIN, who was active at the
end of the sixth century and was chief bard in the
courts of at least three Welsh princes of that time
period. While the manuscript itself is from the 14th
century, it is generally assumed that the poems were
orally transmitted through generations of bards to a
monk of Glamorgan and are thus authentic.
The poem itself is a refl ection by the poet about
what would happen if his patron, Urien, did not return
from battle. The poem not only praises Urien’s heroism
but also comments on the importance of the poet and
the king in society. He further contemplates the possi-
ble loss of a way of life and exile. Urien was king of
Rheged, a northern Welsh kingdom, at the end of the
sixth century. Bards of kings in Celtic and Germanic
medieval societies were expected to praise their lords
and, if he was killed in battle, eulogize him as well. In
performing this duty, the bard was an essential part of
the COMITATUS (warband) structure, able to publicize
the honor and shame of warriors in battle, thus bring-
ing fame or disgrace to one’s family and community.
Bards were often killed during battles along with their
patron, but if they did survive, their preservation of the
battle in poetry was highly regarded and transmitted
orally for generations.
FURTHER READING
Evans, Stephen S. The Heroic Poetry of Dark-Age Britain: An
Introduction to its Dating, Composition, and Use as a Historical
Source. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1997.
Bradford Lee Eden
WARS OF THE ROSES (1455–1485) The
Wars of the Roses comprised a series of confl icts and
battles in England between two branches of the En glish
royal family—the House of Lancaster and the House of
York—and refers to the heraldic symbols associated
with Lancaster (red rose) and York (white rose). Both
houses asserted competing claims to the English
throne.
The king in 1455, Henry VI, was ineffective, per-
haps mentally challenged, and subject to months-long
fi ts of insanity. Henry was a Lancastrian, but during his
incapacity, the duke of York ruled as protector of Eng-
land. This instability helped create an opening for the
fi rst battle of the wars, on the streets of St. Albans in- Though the victorious Yorkists professed loyalty
to the king, the queen, Margaret of Anjou, was not
convinced, and to protect her young son’s right of suc-
cession, she gathered her own troops and munitions. A
few years later, the Yorkists defeated the king’s loyalists
at Northampton in 1460, and Henry VI returned to
London a virtual prisoner. Parliament recognized the
duke of York as Henry’s heir, thus dispossessing Henry
and Margaret’s son.
The following decade saw York killed in battle at
Wakefi eld, and the Lancastrians also won at the Sec-
ond Battle of St. Albans. However, the duke of York’s
son was proclaimed King Edward IV in London, and
before his coronation in June 1461, the Yorkists won a
decisive victory at Towton, while Henry VI fl ed to the
protection of the Scots.
Edward and his ally, the earl of Warwick (known in
later centuries as Warwick the Kingmaker), soon dis-
agreed over alliances with Burgundy versus France,
and over Edward’s secret marriage to Elizabeth Wood-
ville. Warwick attempted to raise a rebellion with the
help of the king’s brother George, duke of Clarence.
When the rebellion failed, Warwick and Clarence
escaped to France. During his exile, Warwick secured
a rapprochement with his onetime enemy, Queen Mar-
garet. By autumn 1470, Warwick had invaded Eng-
land, and this time it was Edward who fl ed, to
Burgundy. Edward’s departure ushered in the brief
“Readeption” of Henry VI as king. But this was not to
last: Edward returned to England in early 1471, win-
ning at the Battle of Barnet, where Warwick was killed,
and at Tewkesbury, where Margaret was defeated and
her son killed. Henry VI, who had fl ed the capital, now
returned to his last confi nement in the TOWER OF LON-
DON and, in short order, his murder.
After Tewkesbury, Edward IV enjoyed over a decade
of rule, but in 1483 he died following a brief illness
458 “WAR-BAND’S RETURN, THE”