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Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York' s defeat at the Battle of Wakefield is thought to be one of the possible origins for the old nursery rhyme "The Grand Old Duke of York":

The Duke of York and his army marched to his castle at Sandal. Here he took up a defensive position against the Lancastrian army. Sandal Castle was built on top of the site of an old Norman motte and bailey fortress. The massive earthworks stood 33 feet (10m) above the original ground level. He left his stronghold in the castle, believing that another Yorkist Army was arriving to relieve the siege and went down to make a direct attack on the Lancastrians. His army, being greatly outnumbered, was overwhelmed and Richard, Duke of York was killed. There is one objection to this origin of the nursery rhyme in that there were only 5000 men in the Yorkist army. He was in his 50th year when he died so might qualify as OLD and was certainly the second richest man in England so would be GRAND as well.

Oh, the grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men:
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up they were up,
And when they were down they were down,
And when they were only half way up,
They were neither up nor down.

Another suggested origin for the Grand Old Duke of York was Frederick Augustus, Duke of York, the second son of George III, who led two unsuccessful campaigns in Flanders in the French Revolutionary Wars. The problem here is Flanders is quite flat and the Duke would have been 33 at the time - maybe GRAND but not so OLD! There is nothing in his military career that even remotely resembles the actions in the rhyme, so it is possible that someone who disliked him associated him with the rhyme as a piece of political humour.

"Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain"

Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York is also well known for the mnemonic (memorising) rhyme to help remember the colours of the rainbow - Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. Some people believe that this refers to King Richard III but he was known as Richard of Gloucester, although a member of the "House of York".

You might wonder why we mention people who were not alive in the Tudor era. We thought that there had to be some explanation of the politics that led to the end of the War of the Roses and so we have talked of Richard III, his nephews, the Princes in the Tower, his elder brother Edward IV and their father Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York.