Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was the King of England from 4 March 1461 until 3 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was the first Yorkist King of England. The first half of his rule was marred by the violence associated with the Wars of Roses, but he overcame the Lancastrian challenge to the throne in 1471 to reign in peace until his sudden death.
Historical Background[]
Before becoming king, he was 4th Duke of York. He was born at Rouen in France, the second child of Richard 3rd Duke of York (who had a strong genealogical claim to the throne of England), and Cecily, Duchess of York. He was the eldest of the four sons who survived to adulthood. The Duke of York's assertion of his claim to the crown in 1460 was the key escalation of the conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. When his father died, his claim did not die with him, and Edward inherited it. With the support of his cousin Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick ("The Kingmaker"), Edward defeated the Lancastrians in a succession of battles. And while the Lancastrian King Henry VI and Queen Margaret of Anjou were campaigning in the north of England, Warwick gained control of the capital and had Edward declared King in London in 1461. Edward strengthened his claim with a decisive victory at the Battle of Towton in the same year. Even at the age of nineteen, he had remarkable military acumen and a notable physique, being described as handsome and affable.
Warwick, believing that he could continue to rule through Edward, pressed him to enter into a marital alliance with a major European power. Edward then alienated Warwick by secretly marrying Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of a Lancastrian sympathiser, in 1464. Elizabeth's mother was Jaquetta of Luxemburg, 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. Elizabeth's marriage to Edward IV made the unmarried among her twelve siblings desirable matrimonial catches. Although they posed no immediate threat to Warwick's own power, Warwick resented the influence this group had over the King and, with the aid of Edward's disaffected younger brother George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, Warwick led an army against Edward. The main part of the King's army was defeated at the Battle of Edgecote Moor in 1469, and Edward was subsequently captured at Olney. Warwick then attempted to rule in Edward's name, but the nobility, many of whom owed their preferments to the King, were restive, and with the emergence of a counter-rebellion, Warwick was forced to release Edward. At this point Edward did not seek to destroy either Warwick or Clarence but instead sought reconciliation. Nevertheless, a few months later in 1470 Warwick and Clarence rebelled again. This time they were defeated and forced to flee to France. There, they made an alliance with Margaret of Anjou, and Warwick agreed to restore Henry VI in return for French support in an invasion, which took place in late 1470. This time, Edward was forced to flee when he learned that Warwick's brother, John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu, had also switched to the Lancastrian side, making Edward's military position untenable. Henry VI was briefly restored to the throne in 1470 and Edward took refuge in Burgundy, accompanied by his younger brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester. The rulers of Burgundy were his brother-in-law Charles, Duke of Birgundy, and his sister Margaret of York. Despite the fact that Charles was initially unwilling to help Edward, the French declared war on Burgundy. This prompted Charles to give his aid to Edward, and from Burgundy he raised an army to win back his kingdom. As he marched southwards he began to gather support, and Clarence, who had realized that his fortunes would be better off as brother to a king than under Henry VI, reunited with him. Edward entered London unopposed, where he took Henry VI prisoner. Edward and his brothers then defeated Warwick at the Battle of Barnet, and with Warwick dead he eliminated the remaining Lancastrian resistance at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471. The Lancastrian heir, Edward of Westminster,Prince of Wales, was killed on the battlefield. A few days later, on the night that Edward re-entered London, Henry VI died. One contemporary chronicle claimed that his death was due to "melancholy," but it is widely suspected that Edward ordered Henry's murder in order to remove the Lancastrian opposition completely.
Edward's two younger brothers, George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, were married to Isabelle Neville and Anne Neville. They were both daughters of Warwick by Lady Anne Beauchamp, Countess of Warwick and rival heirs to the considerable inheritance of their still-living mother, leading to a dispute between the brothers. In 1478, Clarence was eventually found guilty of plotting against Edward, imprisoned in the Tower of London and privately executed on 18 February 1478. Edward's health began to fail, and he became subject to an increasing number of ailments. He fell fatally ill at Easter 1483, but lingered on long enough to add some codicils to his will, the most important being his naming of his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as Protector after his death. He died on 9 April 1483 and was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. He was succeeded by his twelve-year-old son, Edward V of England (who was never crowned) and then by his brother, Richard III of England. It is not known what actually caused Edward's death. Pneumonia and typhoid have both been conjectured, as well as poison. Some attributed his death to an unhealthy lifestyle, as he had become stout and inactive in the years before his death.
The White Queen[]
The king jumps down from his great horse, drops the reins, and walks towards me and my boys. I am a tall woman but he overtops me by a head; he must be far more than six feet tall. My boys crane their necks up to see him; he is a giant to them. He is blond haired, grey eyed, with a tanned, open, smiling face, rich with charm, easy with grace. This is a king as we have never seen before in England: this is a man whom the people will love on sight. And his eyes are fixed on my face as if I know a secret that he has to have, as if we have known each other forever, and I can feel my cheeks are burning but I cannot look away from him.
Appearance[]
As seen in The Lady of the Rivers, even when he was only eleven, Edward was extremely handsome: tall for his age, with golden-brown hair, dark grey eyes, and a merry smile.
In The White Queen, where he had fully matured into adulthood, he was "a man whom the people will love on sight", being more than six feet tall, his face tanned, and he radiated rich charm and easy grace. His blonde hair had a faint scent of spices, his neck a clean smell, his merry smile heart-stopping, and his grey eyes bright with honesty. He also had a lean, well-defined, and well-muscled body: strong shoulders, broad chest, toned abdomen, and powerful legs. In his later years, he became very fat.
Gallery[]
