The Wars of the Roses
![]() Queen Mary I
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The war was disastrous for England's already declining influence in France, and by the end of the struggle few of the gains made over the course of the Hundred Year's War remained, apart from Calais which eventually fell during the reign of Queen Mary. Although later English rulers continued to campaign on the continent, England's territories were never reclaimed. Indeed, various duchies and kingdoms in Europe played a pivotal role in the outcome of the war; in particular the kings of France and the dukes of Burgundy played the two factions off each other, pledging military and financial aid and offering asylum to defeated nobles to prevent a strong and unified England making war on them.
The post-war period was also the death knell for the large standing baronial armies, which had helped fuel the conflict. Henry, wary of any further fighting, kept the barons on a very tight leash, removing their right to raise, arm, and supply armies of retainers so that they could not make war on each other or the king. England did not have another standing army until Cromwell's New Model Army. As a result, the military power of individual barons declined, and the Tudor court became a place where baronial squabbles were decided with the influence of the monarch.

This concludes the Wars of the Roses series.
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