This resource was written by Louisa Dunn, Head of History at Westcliff High School for Girls in Southend-on- Sea, Essex. Louisa has written about her teaching of this period in an article in the publication Exploring and Teaching Medieval History.

This pack of resources is intended to provide an introduction to the key characters of the Wars of the Roses between 1449 and 1485 for A-level teachers and students. There are so many people with the same name or multiple names that students could easily get confused, and this resource is intended to make the task of learning all these people a little less daunting. Some of the activities included are quick, others are longer and all could be used to introduce key characters or could easily be adapted for revision activities. 

The ‘Who’s who?’ document provides a short summary of the role and background of each person, and the family tree and ‘Who’s who in 1450’ activities provide some ideas for getting students to make use of the document.  A family tree is also included for teacher reference.