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 286 General History of Europe IV. ENGLAND AND FRANCE AFTER THE HUNDRED YEARS' WAR 479. The Wars of the Roses (HSS-HSS). The close of the Hundred Years' War was followed in England by the Wars of the Roses, between the rival families Lancaster and York (both descended from Edward III), which were struggling for the crown. The badge of the house of Lancaster was a red rose, and that of York was a white one. Each party was supported by a group of wealthy and powerful nobles whose conspiracies, treasons, murders, and executions fill the annals of England during this disturbed period of her history. 480 . Henry VII and the Power of the Tudor Kings. The Wars of the Roses were brought to an end when Henry VII, a descendant of Edward III on his mother's side, came to the throne in 1485. He was the first of the house of Tudor, from which he and his successors get their name, Tudors. A great part of the nobility, whom the kings had formerly feared, had perished in war or been executed by their enemies. This left the monarch far more powerful than ever before. He managed to control Parliament, and for a century or more after Henry VI I 's accession the Tudor kings exercised an almost despotic power. England ceased for a time to enjoy the free government for which the foundations had been laid under the Edwards. 481. The French Estates General. The French had organized a parliament, called the Estates General, about the time that the English Parliament was growing up. It contained representatives of the towns as well as those of the clergy and nobility. It met from time to time during the Hundred Years' War, but was never able to force the king to admit that he had no right to levy taxes without consulting the Estates General. 482. France establishes a Standing Army (1349). In France the closing years of the Hundred Years' War witnessed a great increase of the king's power through the establishment of a well- organized standing army. The feudal army had long since dis-' appeared. Even before the opening of the war the nobles had