Реферат по лингвокультурологии на английском языке

This paper is devoted to a very important part of British history – the Wars of the Roses. These were a series of dynastic civil wars between supporters of the rival houses of Lancaster and York, for the throne of England. They are generally accepted to have been fought in several spasmodic episodes between 1455 and 1485 (although there was related fighting both before and after this period).
The name of the Roses is very interesting and it is not thought to have been used during the time of the wars but has its origins in the badges associated with the two royal houses, the White Rose of York and the Red Rose of Lancaster. The term came into common use in the nineteenth century, after the publication of Anne of Geierstein by Sir Walter Scott. Scott based the name on a fictional scene in William Shakespeare's play Henry VI Part 1, where the opposing sides pick their differently coloured roses at the Temple Church. Although the roses were occasionally used as symbols during the wars, most of the participants wore badges associated with their immediate feudal lords or protectors. For example, Henry's forces at Bosworth fought under the banner of a red dragon, while the Yorkist army used Richard III's personal symbol of a white boar. Evidence of the importance of the rose symbols at the time, however, includes the fact that King Henry VII chose at the end of the wars to combine the red and white roses into a single red and white Tudor Rose.
Although historians still debate the true extent of the conflict's impact on medieval English life, there is little doubt that the Wars of the Roses resulted in political upheaval and changes to the established balance of power.
 

1. David Eggenberger, An Encylopedia of Battles, (New York, 1985).
2. F.M. Powicke, ed., Handbook of British Chronology, (London, 1939).
3. Jon Gillingham, The Wars Of The Roses, (Louisiana, 1981).
4. Noman F. Cantor, ed., The Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages (New York, 1999).
5. http://www.historyonthenet.com/Tudors/wars_of_roses.htm