Edward, earl of March and son of Richard of York, would come to power as a result of the Wars of the Roses, a bloody struggle for power between the noble houses of Lancaster and York.
Richard of York fought strongly to establish his own claim to the throne, but by 1459, it was clear that Queen Margaret was implacably opposed to any successor to the mentally unstable Henry VI but her own son. However, when Henry VI was defeated and captured at Northampton, Richard claimed the throne and, on 24 October 1460, Parliament made him heir. His triumph was short-lived. On 30 December, meeting the Lancastrian opposition at Wakefield, he was killed and his head displayed at York.
The 18-year-old Edward, now heir to the throne, was suddenly propelled into leading the Yorkist faction. On 2 February 1461, he won the battle of Mortimer's Cross against a Welsh royalist army. A month later, he was proclaimed king – as Edward IV – in London. Twenty-five days after that, his decisive victory at the battle of Towton sealed his claim to the throne.
But Edward's cousin, adviser and one-time ally, the earl of Warwick (known as the 'Kingmaker'), took offence at the influence exerted at court by the extended family of Edward's non-royal wife Elizabeth Woodville, whom Edward had married in secret in 1464. Conspiring with the king's brother, George, duke of Clarence, Warwick invaded from France in July 1469.
Edward was captured but escaped to Burgundy in September 1470. Within a month, Warwick had restored Henry VI to the throne, but after six months abroad, Edward returned to defeat Lancastrian armies at Barnet and Tewkesbury. Although Edward had earlier allowed Henry to live after having captured him, this time he ordered his death.
The new king and his brother Clarence uneasily patched up their differences, but the latter, although extremely wealthy, still craved the throne. So he revived an old rumour – that his brother Edward had been betrothed to another woman when he married Elizabeth, making the union illegal and the sons produced by it illegitimate.
Clarence had tested his brother's patience once too often. Edward had him arrested and put on trial before a specially convened Parliament in January 1478. Packing the Parliament with his own supporters, the king was both judge and prosecutor, and no one dared to speak on behalf of the accused but Clarence himself. The guilty verdict was a foregone conclusion, and it is said that Edward dispatched Clarence by having him drowned in a butt of wine.
To gain more revenue, Edward took advantage of the chaos following the Wars of the Roses and carved up England into territories, each controlled by a trusted member of his own household or family. This system depended greatly on the force of Edward's own character, and seriously loosened the ties of loyalty that had bound English society together for centuries. But as long as the king was alive and well, none of that mattered.
Unfortunately, at Easter 1483, Edward developed a fever after a fishing trip on the Thames and, within 10 days, he was dead. His early death – he was only 40 – was blamed by many on his indulgent lifestyle and womanising.
|
|
 Edward IV of England
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_IV_o
f_England
Excellent annotated biography of the king, which also touches on the possibility of his illegitimacy.
Britain's Real Monarch
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/hi
story/i-m/monarch.html
Was Edward IV illegitimate? Check out this royal family tree to see who should have been occupying the British throne since Henry VI.
Weapons that Made Britain: Sword
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/we
apons/sword2.html
Account of the importance of the sword to the medieval fighter, here illustrated by its use during the battle of Barnet.
 |
Edward IV by Charles Moss (Yale University Press, 1997)
Places the reign of Edward IV in the context of late-medieval power politics, and analyses the methods by which a usurper sought to retain his throne and re-assert the power of a monarchy weakened by the feeble rule of Henry VI.
Get this book
|
| |
Edward IV by M A Hicks (Hodder Arnold, 2004)
Assessment of Edward IV is inextricably bound up not only in the record of his reign, itself much disputed, but also with what turned out to be (in the author's opinion) his baleful legacy. This book explores how his reputation has changed and analyses the major issues in light of contemporary and later perceptions of this controversial king.
Get this book
|
Channel 4 Television takes no responsibility for the content of third-party sites. |
|
