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Edward IV of England
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"Edward IV" redirects here. For the Elizabethan history play, see Edward IV (play).
| Edward IV | |
|---|---|
 | |
| King of England (more...) | |
| 1st reign | 4 March 1461 – 3 October 1470[1] |
| Coronation | 28 June 1461 |
| Predecessor | Henry VI |
| Successor | Henry VI |
| 2nd reign | 11 April 1471 – 9 April 1483 |
| Predecessor | Henry VI |
| Successor | Edward V |
| Born | 28 April 1442 Rouen, Normandy |
| Died | 9 April 1483 (aged 40) Westminster |
| Burial | St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Woodville |
| Issue among others | Elizabeth of York Mary of York Cecily of York Edward V of England Margaret of York Richard of Shrewsbury, 1st Duke of York Anne of York George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Bedford Catherine of York Bridget of York |
| House | York |
| Father | Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York |
| Mother | Cecily Neville, Duchess of York |
| Religion | Catholicism |
| Signature |  |
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Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was the King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470,[1][2]and again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was the first Yorkist King of England.[3] The first half of his rule was marred by the violence associated with the Wars of the Roses, but he overcame the Lancastrianchallenge to the throne at Tewkesbury in 1471 to reign in peace until his sudden death. Before becoming king, he was 4th Duke of York,[4] 7th Earl of March, 5th Earl of Cambridge and 9th Earl of Ulster. He was also the 65thKnight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
Contents
[hide]Reign[edit]
Accession to the throne[edit]
Edward of York was born at Rouen in France, the second son of Richard, 3rd Duke of York (who had a strong genealogical claim to the throne of England[5]), and Cecily Neville.[6] He was the eldest of the four sons who survived to adulthood.[7][8] Before his father's death and his accession to the throne he bore the title Earl of March.
Edward's father Richard, Duke of York, had been heir to King Henry VI until the birth of Henry's son Edward in 1453. Locked in a factional struggle with the king's Beaufort relatives, Richard established a dominant position after his victory at the First Battle of St Albans in 1455, in which his chief rival, Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset was killed. However, over the following years Henry's queen, Margaret of Anjou, rebuilt a powerful faction to oppose him. In 1459 Margaret moved against York and his principal supporters, his brother-in-lawRichard Neville, Earl of Salisbury and Salisbury's son Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who rose in revolt.
After the collapse of their army in the confrontation at Ludford Bridge, the Yorkist leaders fled from England. York took refuge in Ireland, while Edward went with the Nevilles to Calais, where Warwick was governor. In 1460 Edward landed in Kent with Salisbury, Warwick and Salisbury's brother William Neville, Lord Fauconberg, raised an army and occupied London.[9] Leaving Salisbury besieging the Tower of London, Edward, Warwick and Fauconberg advanced against the king, who was with an army in the Midlands, and defeated and captured him in the Battle of Northampton. Having returned to England, York was declared the king's heir, but Queen Margaret raised a fresh army against him, and he was killed at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460, along with his younger son Edmund, Earl of Rutland and the Earl of Salisbury.[8]
This left Edward at the head of the Yorkist faction. Having defeated a Lancastrian army at Mortimer's Cross inHerefordshire on 2–3 February 1461, he united his forces with those of Warwick, who had been defeated by Margaret's army at the Second Battle of St Albans, during which Henry VI had been rescued by his supporters.[9] Whereas his father had restricted his ambitions to becoming Henry's heir, Edward now took the more radical step of proclaiming himself king in March 1461.[9] He then advanced against the Lancastrians and defeated them in the exceptionally bloodyBattle of Towton in Yorkshire on 29 March.[10] Having effectively broken the military strength of the Lancastrians, Edward returned to London for his coronation.
Lancastrian resistance continued in the north, but posed no serious threat to the new regime and was finally extinguished by Warwick's brother John Neville in the Battle of Hexham in 1464.[11] Henry VI had escaped into the Pennines, where he spent a year in hiding but was finally caught and imprisoned in the Tower of London.[11] Queen Margaret fled abroad with the young Prince Edward and many of their leading supporters. While Edward IV had deposed Henry VI, as long as the latter's son remained alive there was little point in killing him, since this would merely have transferred the Lancastrian claim from a captive king to one who was at liberty.
Even at the age of nineteen, Edward exhibited remarkable military acumen. He also had a notable physique and was described as handsome and affable. His height is estimated at 6 feet 4.5 inches (1.943 m), making him the tallest among all English, Scottish and British monarchs to date.[12]
Overthrow[edit]
Since most of England's leading families had remained loyal to Henry VI or remained uncommitted in the recent conflict, the new regime relied heavily on the support of the Nevilles, who held vast estates and had been so instrumental in bringing Edward to the throne. However, the king increasingly became estranged from their leader, the Earl of Warwick, due primarily to his marriage. Warwick, acting on Edward's behalf, made preliminary arrangements with King Louis XI of France for Edward to marry either Louis' daughter Anne, or his sister-in-law Bona of Savoy.[13] He was humiliated and enraged to discover that while he was negotiating Edward had secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of John Grey of Groby, on 1 May 1464.[14]
Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville has been criticised as an impulsive action which did not add anything to the security of England or the York dynasty. A horrified Privy Council, when he announced the marriage to them, told him, with unusual frankness, "that he must know that she was no wife for a prince such as himself, for she was not the daughter of a duke or earl... but a simple knight."[15] Christine Carpenter argues against the idea that it had any political motivation, and that Edward's creation of a strong Yorkist nobility meant he did not need the relatively "lightweight connections" of the Woodvilles,[16] whereas Wilkinson, writing in 1964, described the marriage as both a "love match, and also a cold and calculated political move".[17] J. R. Lander suggested in 1980 that the King was merely "infatuated," echoing P. M. Kendall'sview that he was acting out of lust.[18]
Elizabeth's mother was Jacquetta of Luxembourg, widow of Henry VI's uncle, John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, but her father, Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, was a newly created baron. When Elizabeth's marriage to Edward IV became known in October 1464, Elizabeth's twelve unmarried siblings became very desirable matrimonial catches. Katherine Woodville married Henry Stafford, grandson and heir to the Duke of Buckingham; and Anne Woodville became the wife of William, Viscount Bourchier
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