The Stanleys had been among the earliest supporters of Henry Bolingbroke's bid to win the English throne for the House of Lancaster in 1399 and Stanley's great-grandfather Sir John Stanley, had been richly rewarded for his assistance. After some years of weak and ineffectual government led by the Lancastrian Henry VI, a challenge from the House of York broke out into open warfare in the 1450s in the War of the Roses.
The Stanleys had been among the earliest supporters of Henry Bolingbroke's bid to win the English throne for the House of Lancaster in 1399 and Stanley's great-grandfather Sir John Stanley had been richly rewarded for his assistance. After some years of weak and ineffectual government led by the Lancastrian Henry VI a challenge from the House. of York brok.e out into open warfare in the 1450s in the War of the Roses