Who where the heads of each house, what allies did each have at the beginning of the wars?

Lancasterians

         

The head of the red rose or the Lancastrian was a queen who was ‘a great and strong-labored French woman’; she looked to York as a threat to the succession of her last born son Henry. Her main ally was Edmond Beaufort, duke of Somerset who had recently been released from prison where his old enemy York, had sent him. Margret was the queen’s name, and she also had support of two northern noblemen, Lord Clifford, and Henry Percy, earl of Northumberland. Both of their hatred was directed towards York’s strongest allies, who had been fighting with them for years.

Yorks

   The head of the Yorks was the duke of York; York’s strongest allies were the earls of Salisbury and Warwick. They were both members of the Neville family who had been at war with the Percy’s for years. Even after York dies the name York will still be carried, York carries the white rose.