High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York was a leading English magnate, descended from King Edward III. He inherited great estates, and served in various offices of state in France at the end of the Hundred Years' War, and in England, ultimately governing the country as Lord Protector during Henry VI's madness. His conflicts with Henry's queen, Margaret of Anjou, and other members of Henry's court were a leading factor in the political upheaval of mid-fifteenth-century England, and a major cause of the Wars of the Roses. Richard eventually attempted to claim the throne but was dissuaded, although it was agreed that he would become King on Henry's death. Within a few weeks of securing this agreement, he died in battle. Although Richard never became king, he was the father of Edward IV and Richard III.