Avenging His Father and Gaining the Throne
Richard, the Duke of York had acted as regent during Henry VI's bouts of insanity until the queen, Margaret of Anjou had decided to remove him. Richard had been killed in the Battle of Wakefield leaving Edward determined to avenge his death. Edward quickly gained momentum in his efforts to become king and did so after victory at Towton in 1461. Edward IV decided not to execute the deposed Henry VI, a decision that came back to haunt him ten years later.
1471 - Losing and Regaining the Throne
Edward IV had been closely allied to the Earl of Warwick, yet his hold on the throne was broken when the latter decided to side with the Lancastrians. Edward went into exile after been defeated by the Earl of Warwick’s younger brother. However he planed to reclaim his crown whilst in exile helped by the Burgundian court.
The Lancastrians despite restoring Henry VI as a figurehead monarch did not hold power for long. With his stunning victories at the Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury Edward took back the crown, with Henry VI, Henry VI's son, and the Earl of Warwick being amongst the dead. At that point in time England’s dynastic instability seemed to end.
The Illusion of Stability and Edward's premature death
In 1471 the Yorkist future seemed bright, with only the Tudors remaining of the Lancastrian claimants to the throne, and they were in foreign exile. It seemed that all Edward IV had to do was live long enough for his eldest son to succeed him as an adult.
Edward IV was after 1471 regarded as being an effective king. He tried to keep England at peace, yet gained popularity by threatening to go to war with France and Scotland. Through his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville he had two healthy sons. Unfortunately Edward IV unexpectedly died in 1483 leaving his eldest son as king. The new Edward V was only a minor and was supposed to rule after the regency of his uncle Richard of York. Richard had other ideas and made himself king, inadvertently leading to the end of the end of the Yorkist dynasty at Bosworth Field in 1485.
Bibliography
Crystal D (1998) Chambers’ Biographical Encyclopedia, 2nd edition, Edinburgh
Holmes R, (2007) Battlefield, Oxford University Press, Oxford
Gardiner & Wenborn (1995) The History Today Companion to British History, Little, Brown & Co, London
Lenman B, (2004) Chambers Dictionary of World History, Edinburgh
