ABSTRACT
If the history of the Wars of the Roses demonstrate any single fact concerning sovereignty it was that gaining control of the Crown was frequently a deal easier than its retention. In the summer of 1455 it was York, flush with the triumph of First St Albans, was to discover this inconvenient truth. It would naturally seem that the bloodletting at First St Albans had effectively polarised the two factions and that the future battle lines had now been irrevocably drawn. Christine Carpenter argues that the final split may have come later, between the years 1455 and 1458; a broad sweep of the nobility was working to find a constitutional settlement. St Albans had witnessed the destruction of both Somerset and Northumberland, thus any local rivalries had been resolved in their favour. Henry, like the Duke, was equally concerned to avoid further bloodshed; the carnage in the streets of St Albans had clearly taken its toll on his brittle personality.
