Which two royal houses fought in the Wars of the Roses?

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Wars of the Roses Illustration depicting the Battle of Bosworth Field, with King Richard III on the white horse.

The Wars of the Roses (1455–1485) were a series of dynastic civil wars fought between two rival royal houses for control of the English throne:

The House of Lancaster
The House of York

Both houses were cadet branches of the House of Plantagenet and claimed the throne through their descent from the sons of Edward III. The conflict is famously named after the heraldic badges associated with the two factions: the red rose of Lancaster and the white rose of York.123