Red Rose of Lancaster

The Red Rose of Lancaster (blazoned: a rose gules) was the heraldic badge adopted by the royal House of Lancaster in the 14th century. In modern times it symbolises the county of Lancashire. The exact species or cultivar which it represents is thought to be Rosa gallica officinalis.

John of Gaunt's younger brother Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York (1341–1402), adopted the White rose of York as his heraldic badge. His descendants fought for control of the throne of England during several decades of civil warfare, which became known as the Wars of the Roses, after the heraldry of the House of York

Adopted after the civil wars of the fifteenth century had ended, the red rose was the symbol of the English Monarchy.

The opposition of the roses was a romantic invention created after the fact, and the Tudor arts under Poets like Shakespeare gave the wars their popular conception: The Wars of the Roses, coined in the 19th century. The conflict was ended by King Henry VII of England who, upon marrying Elizabeth of York, created the Tudor rose, the symbol of the Tudor dynasty.