A Companion and Guide to the Wars of the Roses E-Book

Peter Bramley

• Herausgeber: The History Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 559

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

The Wars of the Roses (1455-85) saw the end of Plantagenet rule in England and Wales, and the accession of the Tudor dynasty to the throne. It is sometimes seen as the end of the Middle Ages in England, and the start of the modern era, and it paved the way for the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I. A surprising number of historic sites from this turbulent period survive: battlefields, castles, churches, monasteries. Peter Bramley's beautifully illustrated field guide and companion to the Wars of the Roses gives full details of both the events and the personalities associated with each of these sites, together with the historical background and the reasons for the struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster. Arranged by region, it covers the whole of England and Wales, and provides invaluable information for anyone visiting or planning to visit any of the sites connected with the conflict, as well as anyone interested in the history of this period in general.

Leseprobe

For Racer

Detail of an initial letter ‘R’ which encloses a drawing of the Virgin and Child, surmounted by the royal crown and Yorkist white lion supporters. From the Esholt Priory Charter granted to Margaret Clifford, widow of Lord John, killed at Ferrybridge in 1461.

CONTENTS

Title

Dedication

Preface

Picture Credits

Most Rewarding Places to Visit

ONE

Introduction to the Guide

TWO

The Background to the Wars

THREE

The Main Protagonists

FOUR

The Guide by Region

Bibliography

Plates

Copyright

PREFACE

This guide stems from a long-held belief that the understanding and enjoyment of history can be enhanced from visiting the actual sites of key historical events and monuments/memorials to people involved in those events. Such visits can complement conventional reading through providing a memorable focus for further study. It has been immensely encouraging to see that in recent years TV documentaries on history now follow the same type of approach, using on-location shots of historic sites associated with the programme’s subject matter.

Researching and writing the guide over the past five years has been a ‘labour of love’. However, I would not have completed the task without the continuing support of my extended family. Everyone has contributed in their differing ways – from lending antiquarian books and advising on matters publishing to explaining the mysteries of digital photography and even joining me on visits. Special thanks must go, however, to my wife, who has provided much-needed encouragement at crucial times.

Many thanks to Rachel, with whom it has been a great pleasure to work again. I must also thank all the vicars, rectors and churchwardens who have kindly shown me round their churches.

PICTURE CREDITS

All images are from my own collection unless otherwise credited. I am grateful to the following organisations for permission to reproduce images in their collections.

All maps have been drawn by Derek Stone.

College of Arms

Plates I: 2 (top)

Dean and Chapter of Westminster

Plates I: 7 (bottom)

Geoffrey Wheeler

pp. vi, 10, 12, 13, 14 (left), 24, 29, 32, 42, 46, 47, 48, 50, 52, 64, 66, 68, 84, 136, 144, 150, 173, 208, 240, 247; Plates I: pp. 1, 2, 3 (bottom left and right), 4 (bottom left), 5 (top left), 7 (top), 8; Plates II: 2 (bottom), 5 (top right), 6 (bottom right), 7 (bottom), 8 (top left)

Glasgow City Council (Museums)

p. 15 (left)

National Archives

Plates I: p. 6 (top)

Wallace Collection

pp. 14 (right), 15 (right)

MOST REWARDING PLACESTO VISIT

This guidebook recommends 260 historic sites and battlefields in England and Wales connected in some way with the Wars of the Roses. I have adopted a rating system (explained here and here) to assist readers in selecting places to visit. The ratings reflect not only the historical importance of a site or battlefield but also its extent or attractiveness. The ratings given are based on my opinions alone.

TOP-RATED SITES

*****

Canterbury

Fotheringhay

St George’s Chapel, Windsor

The Tower of London

Westminster Abbey

****

Beverley

Britford

Burghfield

Cambridge

Clarendon

Coldridge

Coventry

Gainsborough

Gipping

Leicester

Long Melford

Ludlow

Middleham

Ormskirk

Salisbury

Stony Stratford

Tewkesbury Abbey

Thetford

Warwick

Winchester

Wingfield

TOP-RATED BATTLEFIELDS

+++++

Bosworth

Tewkesbury

Towton

++++

First St Albans

Wakefield

ONE

INTRODUCTIONTOTHE GUIDE

My interest in the Wars of the Roses goes back many years but really developed following the upsurge in research and books published for the 500th anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth in 1985. Over the years my reading has highlighted that the Wars are incredibly rich in survivals of battle sites, houses, castles, plaques and church monuments. The objective of this guide is to introduce the reader to the best of these by providing for each such surviving site:

•  A short description of what there is to see.

•  A brief account of any events in the Wars of the Roses that occurred there and/or biography of the person(s) commemorated, covering his/her role in the Wars. Few battlefields and fewer churches contain any detailed information on this either in a leaflet or with a display notice, but there are exceptions. This guide fills the gap.

•  Summary directions on how to find the site and other entry details. These directions are designed to complement modern road atlases.

•  A broad-brush ‘star’ rating.

The guide covers the 260 sites in England and Wales which I consider to be the most interesting and important for the Wars of the Roses. They occur in virtually every county of England and Wales, showing that although the battles were confined to the central and northern heartlands of England, the conflict was a truly national one. I have visited more than 600 such sites over the last five years, selecting those to visit by consulting recent historical literature (see Bibliography), including the Pevsner and Arthur Mee county guides. My criteria for including sites in the guide are:

•  There must be something memorable to see to act as a focus of interest. So churches where someone is known to have been buried but where no memorial has survived have been excluded. All the major battles of the Wars are included.

•  Castles only rarely featured actively in the Wars, except in Northumberland and Wales. However, they still served as the military and domestic headquarters of the aristocracy. Where a castle or manor house was built or substantially rebuilt by a participant in the Wars, it has been included in the guide as a memorial to that person (e.g. Herstmonceux Castle), in addition to any castles that did see major action (e.g. Harlech Castle).

•  Last, but not least, each site must be accessible to the public.

I have visited all the sites selected for the guide at least once. From the human angle, I have included sites as memorials to people if they fought at least one battle in the Wars or if they were royal or government officials. The biographies of participants have been built up from the same literature, but significantly enhanced by consulting J.C. Wedgwood’s parliamentary biographies and Cokayne’s The Complete Peerage, together with W.E. Hampton’s Memorials of the Wars of the Roses: A Biographical Guide for church memorials.

A real bonus from this exercise is that the 260 selected sites include some of the most beautiful buildings in England and Wales. The fifteenth century saw the flowering of Perpendicular architecture in churches, while brick was just beginning to be used in fortified manor houses and castles. The sites themselves are often in beautiful country as well – although some are definitely not! It is worth noting that there are many more sites connected with participants from the final phase of the Wars, between 1483 and 1487. This is probably because of increasing prosperity in the early Tudor years.

The guide also includes a summary of the key dates, the causes and key features of the Wars, together with profiles of their main participants, designed to provide the reader with background for site visits.

Finally a perspective. The main attraction of the Wars of the Roses as a period for historical study is the political and military drama involved. The late Professor Ross wrote, ‘The two years from June 1469–May 1471 form a period of political instability without parallel in English history since 1066.’ However, do not expect to find a full and coherent explanation of all these events in the literature. The Wars took place just before the printed word became widely available, there are few contemporary sources (some of which are written with clear bias) and many later sources were influenced by the Tudor ‘spin machine’. The mystery of the Princes in the Tower is well known, but there are others. That is the other attraction of the period – it is a crossword with some key clues still missing.

TWO

THE BACKGROUNDTOTHE WARS

ENGLANDIN 1450

•  Total Population: 2–2.5 million, down from over 4 million in 1300 as a result of the ravages of the Black Death and successive plagues.

•  Still predominantly a rural economy, with 80–90 per cent of the population employed in agriculture.

•  Nearly one-third of the land area was held by monasteries. Abbots sat in the House of Lords.

•  Government of the country was in the hands of the landed aristocracy, including clerics (who regularly held key positions) plus some burgesses/merchants.

•  Society was highly stratified. The landed aristocracy was divided into gentry (around 10,000), peers (about 70) and magnates (a handful of great peers). Gentry sat with burgesses and merchants in the House of Commons as MPs; peers, magnates, abbots and bishops sitting in the Lords. Aristocracy tended to marry from the same stratum and usually as a ‘property transaction’. The manor was the bedrock of this property system.

•  Eldest sons inherited lands, although strict ‘tail male’ was rare. When there were no sons, daughters usually shared the inheritance. The marriage market was therefore lively and largely a matter of business.

•  English had been spoken universally among the aristocracy for only around fifty years.

•  Do not expect to read much in this guide about the lower levels of society. Few church monuments survive below the aristocratic level and history rarely mentions the lower orders.

•  At the bottom of society, serfdom still existed although the lot of the working man was improving following the appalling loss of life in the Black Death.

•  The country was in the grip of a severe agricultural depression which only eased in the 1480s.

•  The north and south of the country were still largely separate, divided by the River Trent. English dialects were so different that communication across the north–south divide could be difficult.

•  An army could move at maximum 30 miles per day, so the country was far-flung.

KINGSOF ENGLAND 1327–1509

Monarch

Ruled

Comments

Edward  III  

1327–77

Died

Richard II

1377–99

Deposed and later murdered

Henry IV

1399–1413

Died

Henry V

1413–22

Died on campaign

Henry VI

1422–61 and 1470–1

Deposed twice

Readeption

Murdered

Edward IV

1461–83 (less 1470–1)

Died

Edward V

1483 (April–June)

Deposed and later disappeared, presumed murdered

Richard III

1483–5

Killed in battle

Henry VII

1485–1509

Died

DEFINITIONS

The term ‘Wars of the Roses’ refers to the series of linked civil wars in England and Wales spread over a generation in the second half of the fifteenth century. These politico-military conflicts were dynastic in nature, during which the throne of England was disputed by rival branches of the ruling Plantagenet family. The throne changed hands violently on five occasions during this time. King Edward III had five surviving sons. The rival branches (or houses) in the Wars took their names from the third and fourth sons – John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and Edmund of Langley, Duke of York. However, the descent of the Dukes of York from the second son, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, through the female line was to be key.

The description ‘Wars of the Roses’ was not contemporary. It was first coined in the nineteenth century by Sir Walter Scott. Prior to that, the term the ‘Cousins’ Wars’ had been used, because a large number of the principal protagonists were cousins. The term ‘Roses’ has the major advantage of conveying the sense of dynastic rivalry between two royal houses. However the roses themselves were not widely used as military emblems in the Wars. The white rose became the personal emblem of Elizabeth of York (she was Edward IV’s daughter and became Henry Tudor’s queen). Henry was able to call on an old Lancastrian emblem, the red rose, so as to create the Tudor Rose after his accession in 1485, to signify the union of the two rival houses.

The disadvantage of the Roses title is that it implies a degree of continuity of support or ‘party’ to each side over the full duration of the Wars. In fact, support was very much determined by the individual leader. The Yorkist supporters of Edward IV at the Battle of Towton in 1461 were not necessarily from the same political faction as those who fought for Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth (1485). In some ways, ‘Cousins’ Wars’ gives the better flavour of the civil wars by not implying two fixed ‘parties’ and focusing more on the role of the leaders. However, the term is nothing like as memorable.

Timing: If a war is defined by its set-piece battles, then the Wars stretched from 1455 (First Battle of St Albans) to 1487 (the Battle of Stoke Field, which marks the first and last time King Henry VII’s throne was seriously challenged). If a war is defined by the start and end of serious political or military conflict, then 1450 is a better start date, when London and the south were aflame with Jack Cade’s Rebellion, which challenged King Henry VI’s hold on the throne.

The Wars were not continuous. There were periods of little or no military activity, e.g. in the 1470s. The Wars are best understood in four distinct but linked phases:

1.  The Descent into War, 1450–9, during which King Henry VI suffered at least two mental breakdowns, Queen Margaret and Richard, Duke of York established themselves as the principal protagonists, the Nevilles added much-needed bite to York’s cause, and the two sides flirted with war at the First Battle of St Albans in 1455.

2.  The Wars of Succession, 1460–5, in which York’s leadership of the Yorkist cause was eclipsed by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, Edward IV was established as king at the Battle of Towton (1461) and the Nevilles finished off lingering Lancastrian resistance in Wales and Northumberland. Henry VI was eventually imprisoned.

3.  The Destruction of the Nevilles and of Lancaster, 1469–71. Repeatedly goaded by Edward IV, Warwick rebelled in conjunction with the Duke of Clarence, Edward’s brother, and then changed sides and allied with Queen Margaret. Fortunes fluctuated wildly until the two sides met at the Battle of Barnet and the Nevilles were killed – Clarence having changed sides yet again. The exiled Lancastrian leadership seized the opportunity to challenge again for the throne. At the Battle of Tewkesbury, just a few weeks later, the Lancastrians were destroyed. Henry VI was murdered in the Tower and Queen Margaret captured. The Lancastrian cause seemingly died.

4.  The Rise of Henry Tudor, 1483–7, in which Edward IV died young, his son Edward V was deposed and murdered, probably by his uncle Richard III, and then Richard in turn was challenged by Henry Tudor as the Lancastrian candidate, who had promised to marry Edward IV’s daughter Elizabeth of York. At the Battle of Bosworth, Richard’s support evaporated and he was killed. Henry Tudor took the vacant throne and beat off an attempted Yorkist challenge at the Battle of Stoke Field.

CAUSESOFTHE WARSOFTHE ROSES

The Inadequacy of Henry VI as King

It is one of English history’s supreme ironies that Henry V, arguably the most effective medieval king in both war and peace, was succeeded in 1422 by his infant son, Henry VI, who grew up to be the least effective king of England of any era.

From an early age Henry VI performed the ceremonial duties of monarchy. After the death of John, Duke of Bedford, Henry V’s brother, in 1435 he began to take over the reigns of executive government. He was to prove a complete failure in this most exacting of roles, at a time when the government of the country revolved completely around the person of the king. Intellectually unable to grapple with the complexity of policy, and emotionally disinclined to undertake the essential power-brokering with the nobility, Henry failed to stamp his personal mark on the events of the reign. It is rarely possible to discern the King’s individual will. There was always someone else driving events forward (Cardinal Beaufort, the Dukes of Suffolk and Somerset). At the centre of power, therefore, a vacuum developed. This had a number of consequences.

Inevitably, other, more dynamic and ruthless members of the higher nobility sought to fill this power vacuum. Partisan politics developed out of debates on the conduct of the French war – Beaufort led a peace ‘party’, Duke Humphrey, Henry V’s youngest brother, the pro-war ‘party’. During the 1440s these roles were passed on to Suffolk and Richard, Duke of York. The inept and almost pell-mell retreat from France after 1445, pushed through by Suffolk, meant that, by 1450, opposition between the two groups was at boiling point and the country in chaos.

Corruption flourished throughout government. The medieval polity needed a strong king to combat this perennial evil, not a vacuum.

Expenditure on the French wars, plus this corruption in high places, led to disastrous decline in the government finances. Taxes for the French war were very reluctantly granted by parliament and the Lancastrian regime was probably technically bankrupt. Henry V would have prevented this situation from happening; his son was clueless.

In the Middle Ages, the king was the linchpin in the process of maintaining law and order. Without a strong king to enforce the system, civil order (never at high levels anyway) tended to break down, notably in the north, East Anglia and the south-west. Aristocratic violence became even more commonplace than usual.

A crucial role for a medieval king was to lead the military machine of his realm at home and abroad. Henry V represents the role model. His son, by contrast, was a man of peace and would not/could not fight. He was the only medieval English king never to lead an army overseas in battle. In fact, he was present with his army at five battles in the Wars of the Roses but never fought, let alone took command. This was a serious shortcoming for a monarch in such a militaristic society.

Henry’s Mental Collapse

During 1452/3, after the fall of Lancastrian France, Henry seemed to be making a determined effort to be more involved in the detail of government. Unfortunately, in August 1453, catastrophe struck. Triggered either by the news that Gascony, the last English colony in France, had fallen with the death of John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury at the Battle of Chatillon, or even by the discovery that Queen Margaret was pregnant, or both, Henry suffered a major nervous breakdown (probably caused by catatonic schizophrenia), after which he was incapable of communication for nearly eighteen months. This tragedy had two effects.

First, despite Queen Margaret’s demands to be regent, from February 1454 Richard, Duke of York became Lord Protector, with power to govern through the Council. This gave the opposition party of York and the Nevilles (Earls of Salisbury and Warwick) a taste of real power for the first time.

Second, Henry suffered a second breakdown after being injured in the neck by an arrow at the First Battle of St Albans in May 1455. His mental state worsened and from then on he was severely mentally incapacitated and a mere cipher in his own kingdom. England’s power vacuum was filled with the competing claims of Henry’s Queen Margaret and Henry, 3rd Duke of Somerset on the one side, and Richard, Duke of York and the Neville earls on the other. Henry’s future as king, and indeed his life, were now completely at the mercy of others.

The Plantagenet Dynastic Position

In fact Henry’s position as king was much worse than this. His grandfather, King Henry IV’s, title to the throne, enunciated at the 1399 usurpation, contained a potentially fatal flaw. The usurped King Richard II had had no children. His heir presumptive had been Roger Mortimer (killed in Ireland in 1398). The Mortimers were descended from Lionel, Duke of Clarence the second surviving son of Edward III through his daughter Philippa, who married Edmund Mortimer, Roger’s father. In England it was unclear at this time whether Salic law applied to the succession of the monarchy (i.e. the crown could only pass through males, as in France), because since the Plantagenet succession in 1135, the crown had passed directly through the male line for 250 years. If succession through the female line was possible in England then Edmund Mortimer (Roger’s 7-year-old son) was heir presumptive at Richard II’s deposition.

Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster swept to power in 1399 as Henry IV on a wave of widespread support from the nobility, who were thoroughly disenchanted with Richard II’s attempts to place himself and his homosexual favourites on a pedestal above the rest of the nobility. Henry represented a monarchy that would be more likely to rule in the interests of the nobles. His formal claim to the throne was based on an alternative descent from Edmund, brother to Edward I, that avoided comparison with Lionel, Duke of Clarence or Edmund Mortimer. In the excitement of usurpation, this rival claim was overlooked. Edmund, in fact, proved a thoroughly loyal supporter of the Lancastrian kings, even ‘cooperating’ to the extent of having no children, and died in 1425.

However, even more extraordinarily, Henry IV allowed Edmund’s sister Anne Mortimer to marry Richard, Earl of Cambridge, the second son of Edmund, 1st Duke of York. In 1411 Anne gave birth to a son, also Richard. In 1415 Richard, Earl of Cambridge was executed by Henry V in 1415 for his part in the Southampton Plot, and his elder brother, Edward, 2nd Duke of York (who was childless) was killed at the Battle of Agincourt, ‘young’ Richard becoming 3rd Duke of York as heir to his uncle. In 1425 on the death of Edmund Mortimer, Richard, Duke of York not only inherited the huge Mortimer estates in the Welsh Marches and in Ireland but also the rival Mortimer claim to the throne of England, which he was to put forward in dramatic fashion many years later, in October 1460. It is unclear at which exact point Richard decided to bid for the throne but certainly by 1450, during Jack Cade’s Revolt, the eponymous leader was styling himself ‘Mortimer’ – an indication that others, at least, saw Richard of York as a candidate for the throne.

The Lancastrian monarchy was safe so long as its kings were effective and popular. By 1422, at Henry V’s death, the regime was thoroughly established, both Henry IV and Henry V proving very effective kings. In fact the glories of the Agincourt campaign, the subsequent conquest of Normandy by Henry V and the naming of Henry as heir to the throne of France by Charles added a lustre to the Lancastrian ruling house that enabled Henry’s younger brothers John, Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, together with Cardinal Beaufort, to maintain its popularity until Bedford’s death in 1435. Thereafter, events went downhill in France and Henry VI’s complete ineffectiveness was to change everything. Nevertheless there was no overt mention of a Yorkist claim to the throne between 1415 and 1450.

The Small Size of the Lancastrian Royal Family

When he died in 1413, Henry IV would have been confident that not only was his throne in the secure hands of his eldest son but that the future of his dynasty was assured. Although Henry V was not yet married at 25, this should not be a problem because he had three healthy brothers to support his regime and to provide future heirs if needed. In the event, the four brothers produced just one legitimate child between them – Henry V’s son, Henry VI. While John, Duke of Bedford and Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester provided splendid support to Henry VI in their lifetimes, there was no one else to follow on. The only other members of the Lancastrian royal family in addition to Henry in 1450 were

•  Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, who was descended from Henry IV’s sister Elizabeth.

•  Edmund and Jasper Tudor. These were the offspring of the probably illegal marriage between Owen Tudor, a Welsh courtier, and Catherine of Valois, Henry V’s widow. Out of respect for his mother, Henry VI co-opted these stepbrothers into the royal family, making them Earls of Richmond and Pembroke respectively in 1452. Edmund became the father of Henry Tudor (later Henry VII), while Jasper was to provide huge support to his nephew’s later bid for the throne.

•  The Beauforts. John of Gaunt and his mistress, Katherine Swynford, produced four illegitimate children between 1372 and 1379. They married in 1396 and the children were legitimated by Richard II and by the pope. Although probably barred from the throne by an amendment to an Act of Parliament inserted by Henry IV in 1407, this talented family provided the support to Henry VI through his step-uncle Cardinal Beaufort and his step-cousins Edmund and Henry Beaufort, Dukes of Somerset. Unfortunately only the primary branch of the family were significant landowners, in the person of Lady Margaret Beaufort after 1444. Although key members of the Court party, the Beauforts therefore brought little wealth and military might to the table.

The Alienation of Richard, Duke of York from the Lancastrian Regime

Richard had been made Lieutenant of Normandy in 1439 and took a long time in actually crossing over to Rouen. His performance there was indifferent, but he seemed naturally to ally with the pro-war opposition party led by Duke Humphrey of Gloucester. He formed a particular dislike of Edmund Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, a leading member of the Court party. In many ways, Richard should have been Henry VI’s natural ‘chief minister’ after Humphrey’s death in 1447. Instead, by 1450 he was positioned as the champion of reform, with good support in the House of Commons. It is unclear when Richard first decided to claim the throne but his behaviour in the 1440s and 50s is clearly consistent with his subsequent formal claim in October 1460.

The Appearance of Warwick the Kingmaker

Richard, Duke of York’s first attempts at armed opposition to the Lancastrian monarchy lacked decisiveness and ruthlessness. The confrontation with the King and Court party at Dartford was a fiasco for Richard. After Henry’s mental collapse in 1453, however, more dynamic and ruthless characters entered the power vacuum around the King. The Neville Earls Salisbury and Warwick (father and son) were by 1454 in serious conflict in Yorkshire with the Percys over land. By the First Protectorate in 1455 they had allied themselves with Richard, Duke of York. Warwick in particular brought a new edge to York’s cause – great intelligence, dynamism, bombast and a disregard for the rule of law, as well as great wealth and military might. This edge was to sweep the Yorkists to power in 1460/1, but also led to the death of York himself. The term ‘Warwick the Kingmaker’ appeared later, but fits the bill. He was the epitome of the overmighty subject who, through marriage, had accumulated such wealth that he could challenge the military might of the Crown.

Queen Margaret of Anjou as Regent

In similar fashion, after 1453 Queen Margaret comes to the fore. A strong, intelligent, determined and emotional woman, she sought to protect the dynastic interests of her infant son, Prince Edward. Disregarding precedent in England, she demanded to be regent while Henry was ill. Formally, this did not happen but, after the death of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset at the first Battle of St Albans in 1455 and York’s Second Protectorate in 1455, she in effect ruled England from 1456 to 1460. From 1458, she was determined on war with York, even if King Henry was not.

Other background causes of the Wars were:

•  Bastard feudalism. By the fifteenth century, knights could be retained by a lord, not just through the feudal system but by cash payment, enabling the lord to build up a much stronger retinue. Money was even more closely linked to power.

•  In 1450, England was in the grip of deep agricultural depression, exacerbated by the chaos at the end of the French wars, which squeezed aristocratic rents. The depression did not really begin to lift until the early 1480s. The increasing prosperity of the early Tudor years is reflected in the large increase in the number of brasses and tomb-chests found in churches round the country for this period.

KEY FEATURESOFTHE WARSOFTHE ROSES

The Wars were more about power than principle – the power resulting from possessing the crown of England. The aristrocracy’s choice of which side to support depended largely on potential personal gain and on intra-family loyalties. The only important principle involved was whether to stay loyal to an anointed king, a principle that was broken five times in the Wars. Some families remained dedicated to one side, especially Lancastrians (e.g. Hungerford and de Vere), but others changed sides with changing circumstances (e.g. Audley). The political composition of the armies of Lancaster and York thus varied considerably through the thirty-year period; for example, the Yorkist army of Richard III at Bosworth in 1485 did not have the same composition as that of his brother Edward IV at Towton twenty-four years earlier.

Prince of Wales feathers badges, on choir stall, Ludlow church, Shropshire.

The Wars were not territorial or economic, except in Northumberland and Wales. Outside these areas, sieges of castles and towns were extremely rare (but did occur, e.g. Bodiam Castle briefly in 1483).

The Wars therefore revolved around sixteen battles or skirmishes fought between the leaders of the Houses of Lancaster and York and their supporters. The battles are spread through a large part of England and Wales but are mainly in central, western and northern England. The armies involved usually had a local flavour but were very much national in context. Often the main objective of a battle was to target a small number of magnates and to kill them in battle or shortly afterwards (e.g. the First Battle of St Albans, Northampton, Wakefield and Bosworth). In effect, the battlefields gave a thin veil of ‘legitimacy’ to political assassination, for example the death of Richard, Duke of York at the Battle of Wakefield in December 1460, and to vendetta.

The Wars were not a geographic contest between Lancashire and Yorkshire. The House of York held few lands in Yorkshire, which, at the beginning of the Wars, was actually a Lancastrian stronghold. In fact members of the aristocracy from all counties of England and Wales were involved in the Wars at some time or another.

Since personal gain (usually in the form of extra land) was often the main motivator for the aristocracy then treachery before or on the field of battle was common; in fact there was treachery or hints of it at most of the battles. Nowhere was the practice more openly admitted or more effective than at the Battle of Northampton in July 1460, when Lord Grey of Ruthin switched to the Yorkists at the last minute. The battle lasted twenty minutes and ended in a Lancastrian rout.

Weeper on the fifteenth-century tomb of the Fitzherberts of Norbury, Derbyshire, who were Yorkist supporters.

Based on C. Ross, The Wars of the Roses (London, Thames & Hudson, 1976), p. 16.

Margaret of Anjou, drawing of a stained glass portrait once in the church of the Cordeliers, Angers, where she was buried.

Edmund, Lord Grey and his wife Katherine – his treachery was decisive at the Battle of Northampton.

All non-clergy members of the aristocracy were trained in the use of arms and other military matters from a young age. Medieval England was a militaristic society which needed to protect its borders with Wales and Scotland and had, over the last hundred years, sent expeditionary forces to France. There was no significant national standing army. The aristocracy provided the trained manpower in the form of their own household men or paid retainers, i.e. their retinue, and typically led and participated in the fighting themselves. The knight in armour was the aristocratic core of the fifteenth-century army. Ownership of land determined the size of retinue and therefore the power an aristocrat wielded.

Perhaps surprisingly, virtually all the battles in the Wars were fought on foot. Since the fourteenth century, the deadly effectiveness of large numbers of English archers had revolutionised warfare, much reducing the effectiveness of cavalry. Each army would comprise three or more times as many archers as knights in armour. Body armour had evolved from chain mail to plate to counter archers, but the protection of horses was less effective and very expensive. English knights had learned in France to dismount on the battlefield and tether their horses at the rear in the horse-park. Very often, commanders preferred to dig into a prepared position, protected by steep natural slopes and rivers, so that if the line broke, the ensuing rout was catastrophic for the beaten side as knights attempted to lumber back to the horse-park.

Artillery was in its infancy and only impinged fitfully as at Losecote Field and Tewkesbury. Handguns were just being introduced.

Tactical options in battle were therefore limited. Battles were ‘chaotic, noisy and murderous’ hand-to-hand clashes which, in the case of the Battle of Towton, lasted all day. The easy route to success was, in fact, treachery. Otherwise the key to success in a Wars of the Roses battle was strategy, i.e. maximum mobilisation of fully loyal supporters and rapid concentration of forces at the point of battle (the First Battle of St Albans is a great example of this). Edward IV excelled as a general in all these areas (e.g. his awesome performance at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury in 1471). Deception on the battlefield could also play its part (e.g. the Earl of Salisbury at the Battle of Blore Heath in 1459).

This was a civil war very much influenced by our European neighbours. The French kings gave support to Henry VI, Warwick and Henry Tudor, the Duke of Burgundy to Edward. The Scots lent their support to Queen Margaret of Anjou in the early 1460s and Ireland was also involved, especially in Lambert Simnel’s rising.

The Wakefield Sword, excavated from the site of the Battle of Wakefield.

Medieval war hammer for use against body armour.

Milanese Avant armour, c. 1450. Most armour worn by wealthy aristocrats was made abroad.

Naval engagements and seaborne invasions therefore play a surprisingly large part in the Wars. Since the Kingmaker was Captain of Calais and something of a naval man, he and Edward as Earl of March were able to use Calais as a base to invade Kent (Sandwich) in 1460, prior to the Battle of Northampton. Furthermore, when Edward IV returned from Burgundy to end the Readeption in 1471, his small flotilla, including Burgundian troops, eventually landed at Ravenspur in the East Riding. Henry Tudor similarly brought over his French troops and other supporters to Dale Bay in Pembrokeshire in 1485. The Earl of Lincoln and Lambert Simnel landed near Barrow-in-Furness with their mixed German/Irish force in 1487, prior to the Battle of Stoke Field.

South German armour for horse and rider, c. 1480.

THE EFFECTSOFTHE WARS

The short term

Although long-lasting, the Wars of the Roses did not involve total war. The battles were relatively short and often involved low casualties among the commons. The Battle of Towton (1461) was the exception. There were long periods with only limited conflict, e.g. 1464–8 and 1471–83 and there were very few sieges or sackings or laying waste of the countryside. The exception was December 1460–March 1461 during the Lancastrian drive to St Albans, when Yorkist towns were attacked along the Great North Road.

Overall casualties thus had a limited impact on the country, with the important exception of the murderous casualty rate among the magnates. Although many families continued in the male line because peers had already fathered sons, between 1469 and 1471 the Beauforts and the Nevilles were eliminated in the male line.

Where the Wars had a really significant impact was in the breakdown of law and order within the aristocracy as a whole. Aristocratic violence usually occurred during property disputes and had long been endemic in medieval England. Levels of violence flared up in the 1440s and 50s because of Henry VI’s ineffectiveness and the increasing tension between Yorkists and Lancastrians. The subsequent warfare and chaos exacerbated matters greatly, giving a free hand to the aristocracy to resolve disputes violently, especially in the 1469–71 phase, when the last private battle in England was fought, at Nibley Green in 1470 between Lord Berkeley and Viscount Lisle. Areas of the country bordered on the ungovernable, such as East Anglia, Derbyshire and the north. In the 1470s and 80s Edward IV managed to get some grip on aristocratic lawlessness.

The place of the Wars in history

In the short term the Wars contained drama a-plenty both on and off the battlefield, but what impact did they have on England and Wales from the longer-term perspective?

The Wars were dynastic in concept. Unquestionably their most significant impact was the climactic seizure of the throne of England by Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth (1485). Under no other circumstances than those created by the Wars from 1455–85 is it likely that the ‘outsider’ Henry Tudor would have become King of England and founded our most celebrated dynasty. The Tudors were an intelligent, forward-looking and proactive dynasty which oversaw the seismic events of the Tudor Revolution and the Reformation. England began the journey towards the modern world.

The murderous loss of life in the Wars among the magnates had by 1485 created a situation where, temporarily at least, the power of the magnates as a group was reduced by death, minority and demotion. The de Vere Earls of Oxford and the Stanley Earls of Derby remained very strong but were pillars of the Tudor regime. The weakness of the other big families, especially after 1490, gave Henry a unique opportunity to establish his dynasty. This he took. Although there were rebellions in the 1490s (e.g. Sir William Stanley’s), they never seriously threatened. The ‘overmighty’ subject did not raise his head again. By the reign Henry VIII, the Tudors and the Crown itself were supreme.

The Tudors were helped in this process by the steady improvement in the agricultural economy which took place from the 1480s onwards – a peace dividend?

Many exam syllabuses assume 1485 as the end of the medieval period. It was more the beginning of the end. The medieval world lasted until the Reformation, in the 1530s.

KEY DATESOFTHE WARSOFTHE ROSESANDTHE BUILD-UPTO THEM

Background

1399

August

Deposition of Richard II by the Lancastrian King Henry IV. Mortimer claim to the throne ignored.

1420

May

Treaty of Troyes between Henry V and Charles VI of France.

June

Henry V marries Charles’s daughter, Catherine of Valois.

1421

December

Catherine gives birth to Henry of Windsor.

1422

August

Death of Henry V and accession of Henry VI, aged 9 months

October

Death of Charles VI. Henry VI accedes to dual monarchy of England and France.

1435

September

Death of John, Duke of Bedford, Regent of France.

1441

June

Richard, Duke of York takes up appointment as Lieutenant-General of Normandy.

1443

March

John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset appointed Captain-General of France and Gascony.

1444

May

Treaty of Tours between Henry VI and Charles VII of France.

Suicide of Somerset.

1445

April

Henry VI marries Margaret of Anjou at Titchfield, Hants under terms of Treaty of Tours.

December

Secret agreement to surrender Maine to the French.

1447

February

Death of Henry’s uncle, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester.

March

Death of Cardinal Beaufort.

December

York ‘exiled’ as Lieutenant of Ireland.

1448

March

Surrender of Le Mans.

Spring

Henry VI confers dukedoms on William de la Pole (Suffolk) and Edmund Beaufort (Somerset). Richard, Duke of York begins to use surname Plantagenet to emphasise his royal blood.

1449

July

Richard Neville junior succeeds to Earldom of Warwick through his wife Anne Beauchamp after the failure of her brother’s line.

October

Surrender of Rouen. Loss of Normandy.

The Descent into War

1450

January

Bishop Moleyns murdered in Portsmouth.

May

Duke of Suffolk murdered on the Thames.

June–July

Cade’s Rebellion. Henry flees London for Midlands. Bishop Ayscough murdered in Wiltshire.

August

Surrender of Cherbourg.

1451

June

Surrender of Bordeaux.

August

Surrender of Bayonne in Gascony.

1452

March

York takes up arms but eventually submits to the King and the Duke of Somerset at the Dartford fiasco.

October

Recovery of Bordeaux by English under John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury.

1453

July

French victory at Castillon near Bordeaux. Shrewsbury killed. All Henry V’s French possessions except Calais permanently lost.

August

First mental collapse of Henry VI at Clarendon. Neville–Percy clash at Heworth Moor, York.

October

Prince Edward born to Queen Margaret.

1454

March

York appointed Protector and Defender of England. Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury becomes Lord Chancellor. Somerset imprisoned in the Tower.

October

Neville–Percy clash at Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire.

25 December

Henry recovers his wits.

1455

March

York, Salisbury and others dismissed from government by Henry VI.

May

First Battle of St Albans. Somerset and Earl of Northumberland killed. Yorkists (York, Salisbury, Warwick) escort Henry back to London. Second mental collapse of Henry.

November

York reappointed Protector.

1456

February

York resigns as Protector.

August

Henry VI (i.e., Queen Margaret) moves the Court to Coventry.

1458

March

Love Day held as public reconciliation of the opposing factions in St Paul’s Cathedral.

1459

September

Victory for Salisbury over Lord Audley at Battle of Blore Heath on the way to join York and Warwick at Ludlow.

1459

October

Rout of Ludford Bridge. Yorkists flee to Ireland (York and Rutland) and Calais (March, Warwick and Salisbury).

November

Parliament of Devils attaints Yorkist leaders.

1460

June

Calais Earls land at Sandwich. The gates of Canterbury are opened to them.

July

Quick advance first to London and then on to Northampton. Battle of Northampton. Yorkists capture King Henry, Buckingham killed. Queen Margaret flees to Wales. Warwick runs country.

September

York returns from Ireland.

The War of Succession

October

York unsuccessfully claims the throne, refused but recognised as Henry’s heir in the Act of Accord. York’s Third Protectorate.

December

York killed at Battle of Wakefield, Salisbury executed next day at Pontefract.

1461

January

Warwick runs country from London.

February

Edward, Duke of York defeats Lancastrians at Battle of Mortimer’s Cross. Lancastrian force heads south for London. Sacks Yorkist towns on Great North Road, including Stamford.

Warwick defeated by Somerset at Second Battle of St Albans.

Queen Margaret passes up opportunity to enter London and returns to Yorkshire.

March

Edward IV proclaimed King in London. Yorkists achieve decisive victory at Battle of Towton on Palm Sunday.

1462

February

Execution of Oxford and eldest son for treason.

December

Queen Margaret lands in Northumberland.

1463

December

Somerset reneges on Edward’s pardon and joins Lancastrians in Northumberland.

1464

April

Yorkist victory at Battle of Hedgeley Moor.

May

Secret wedding of Edward IV to Elizabeth Woodville at Grafton Regis. Somerset defeated at Battle of Hexham and executed. Lancastrian residence in England ended.

September

Announcement of Edward’s wedding at Council meeting at Reading.

1465

July

Henry VI captured at Clitheroe.

The Destruction of the Nevilles and of Lancaster

1467

June

Lord Chancellor, George Neville dismissed.

1468

August

Harlech Castle besieged by Lord Herbert. Surrender marks end of Lancastrian resistance in England and Wales.

September

Herbert made Earl of Pembroke.

1469

June

‘Robin of Redesdale’ rebellion in Yorkshire.

July

George, Duke of Clarence marries Isobel, Warwick’s daughter in Calais. Yorkists defeated by ‘Redesdale’ at Battle of Edgcote. Pembroke executed. Edward IV ‘arrested’ at Olney, Bucks, by the Nevilles.

August

Edward imprisoned by Warwick at Middleham Castle, Yorks. Warwick runs country.

September

Sir Humphrey Neville rebels. Warwick forced to release Edward to quell rebellion.

October

Edward re-enters London and regains control.

1470

March

Rebellion of Sir Robert Welles in Lincs in support of Clarence and Warwick, but defeated by Edward at Battle of Losecote Field.

April

Clarence and Warwick flee to France from the West Country.

July

Warwick and Clarence change sides and ally with Queen Margaret of Anjou.

September

Warwick invades England through West Country.

October

Edward IV confronted by Marquis Montagu, deserts his kingdom via King’s Lynn to Burgundy with a small band. Readeption of Henry VI, with the country in practice ruled by Warwick. Queen Margaret and Prince Edward stay in France.

November

Birth of Prince Edward (later Edward V) to Queen Elizabeth Woodville in sanctuary.

1471

March

Edward lands at Ravenspur to recover his kingdom.

April

Clarence declares for Edward. Warwick besieged by Yorkists at Coventry. Edward regains control of London and his kingdom. Battle of Barnet. The brothers Warwick and Montagu killed. Queen Margaret returns to England.

May

Yorkists defeat Lancastrian army at Tewkesbury. Somerset executed. Prince Edward killed. Queen Margaret captured. Henry VI murdered in the Tower. Bastard of Fauconberg rebels in Kent and besieges London. Rebellion put down. Henry Tudor flees to France with his uncle, Jasper.

1473

The Earl of Oxford occupies St Michael’s Mount.

1474

Oxford surrenders and imprisoned in Hammes Castle, Calais.

1475

July

Edward embarks on French expedition but makes peace with Louis XI through Treaty of Picquigny. Collects pension.

1478

February

Clarence arraigned for treason and executed. Prince Richard of York (aged 4) marries Anne Mowbray, heiress of dukedom of Norfolk.

1481

November

Anne Mowbray dies. Prince Richard retains lands and title of Norfolk. John Howard disinherited.

The Rise of Henry Tudor

1483

April

Death of Edward IV. Accession of King Edward V. Gloucester’s and Buckingham’s first coup at Stony Stratford. Edward imprisoned.

June

Gloucester’s second coup. Execution of Hastings. Edward V deposed. Gloucester proclaimed king and crowned Richard III.

Summer

Disappearance of Princes in the Tower.

October

Buckingham’s Revolt in south and west of England. Abortive landing by Henry Tudor but he emerges as serious contender for throne.

November

Execution of Buckingham at Salisbury.

December

In France, exiled Henry Tudor proclaims intention to marry Edward IV’s daughter Elizabeth of York, which would bring two warring factions together.

1484

April

Death of Richard III’s only son, Prince Edward.

1485

August

Henry Tudor lands polyglot force at Milford Haven and marches through Wales to Atherstone, Warwickshire. Richard III killed at Battle of Bosworth, deserted at the last minute by Lord Stanley. Henry VII proclaimed king.

1486

Lovell and Staffords lead unsuccessful uprisings against Henry.

1487

Yorkist army lands near Barrow-in-Furness, marches south and crosses River Trent near Newark. Battle of Stoke Field. Yorkists defeated and Earl of Lincoln (Richard III’s heir) killed.

1489

Tax rebellion in Yorkshire. Earl of Northumberland killed.

1495

February

Sir William Stanley executed for involvement in Perkin Warbeck conspiracy.

July–October

Unsuccessful landings in England and Ireland by Warbeck, who surrenders.

1499

November

Warbeck and Earl of Warwick (Clarence’s son) executed.

1503

Death of Queen Elizabeth of York.

1509

April

Death of Henry VII.

June

Death of his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort.

THREE

THE MAIN PROTAGONISTS

Key players in the Wars of the Roses are introduced by a sub-heading in bold letters. Other important participants are introduced by underlining. Sites associated with a protagonist are introduced in bold.

THE HOUSEOF YORK

Richard, 3rd Duke of York (1411–k.60)

‘Richard of York gained battles in vain’ appropriately summarises Richard’s overambitious career. The younger child of Richard, Earl of Cambridge and Anne Mortimer, Richard the younger was an orphan by the age of 4. He was brought up in the household of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland and his second wife, Joan Beaufort. Life soon began to improve. In 1425 he came into the dukedom of York from his paternal uncle and also inherited the vast Mortimer estates in the Welsh Marches from Edmund Mortimer, his maternal uncle. He was now the richest man in England, below the King. From Edmund he also inherited the Mortimer claim to the throne of England, which had been ignored when Henry IV deposed Richard II in 1399. To complete the good fortune, Richard was married to Cecily Neville, Ralph and Joan’s youngest daughter.

In his early years, Richard followed a conventional career of a senior royal, supportive of Henry VI. He was Governor of Normandy, where he served without real personal distinction. During his time there, he developed a particular dislike of the Beaufort brothers, John and Edmund. In the bipartisan political atmosphere that developed around France in the 1440s, York sided with the pro-war party of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester against the Beauforts and the King.

Fetterlock and falcon emblem of the York family in Fotheringhay church.

The ignominious exit from Normany in 1450 boiled over into Cade’s Rebellion in southern England. Rumours abounded that the Duke of York’s agents were behind it. One of Jack Cade’s pseudonyms was Mortimer, and York became seen as the voice of reform. York first took up arms against Henry VI at the Dartford fiasco in 1452. There was no fighting, and York was tricked and taken prisoner. This instigated eight years of opposition to the Court party led by Queen Margaret of Anjou and Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Initially helped by King Henry’s mental breakdown, York (and his Neville allies) tasted real power as Lord Protector in the First Protectorate in 1454. Armed conflict with the Lancastrian Court party broke out at the First Battle of St Albans in 1455. Another protectorate followed, with a third in 1460. Richard governed competently enough although, not surprisingly, with a degree of partisanship in favour of his own supporters.

Cecily Neville, Duchess of York. Detail from the frontispiece miniature of  The Luton Guild Book.

From the rout of Ludford Bridge in October 1459, however, the tide was running against York personally. He stayed in exile in Ireland too long in 1460, allowing the initiative to pass to the earls of Salisbury and Warwick. His attempt to claim the throne in Westminster Hall in October 1460 was another fiasco and a huge mistake that cost him his life. The compromise Act of Accord kept Henry as king but made York heir, with Henry’s son, Edward, Prince of Wales, dispossessed. York felt it necessary to leave London with the Earl of Salisbury and a modest force in December, and headed north to defend his Yorkshire estates against the massing Lancastrians. Unbelievably, these two experienced soldiers fell into a trap at the Battle of Wakefield, in which York and his second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, were killed and Salisbury beheaded the next day at Pontefract, where both were buried. Richard and Edmund were reburied at Fotheringhay after a long delay in 1476 with much pomp by his sons. His estates lay in Northamptonshire, Suffolk and the Welsh Marches, with a relatively small area in Yorkshire. His other principal seat was Ludlow Castle.

Cecily Neville (1415–95)

Cecily was the youngest daughter of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmorland and his second wife, Joan Beaufort. She was born at Raby Castle. She was beautiful (she was known as the Rose of Raby) and spirited. She married Richard, Duke of York in 1424 and from 1441 produced seven surviving children. When the Yorkists fled from the rout of Ludford Bridge in ignominy in October 1459, Cecily was left to protect her two young sons, George and Richard, and stood defiantly alone in Ludlow marketplace with them. They were unharmed and together they were sent to live with her sister, Anne, Duchess of Buckingham. A year later, however, she was able to meet her husband at Hereford and accompany him to Westminster to claim the throne of England (but fail).

When her son Edward became king she styled herself ‘Queen of Right’. She could not bring herself to accept Elizabeth Woodville as queen. One explanation of the delay until 1476 in reburying the Duke of York is that Cecily would not accept royal protocol at a funeral at which the Queen was present. In the end Cecily did not attend! During Warwick and Clarence’s rebellions in 1469/70, Edward IV became so concerned about his mother’s involvement in intrigue that he moved her out of London to Berkhamsted Castle. In later life, Cecily was renowned for her piety. She died in 1495 at Berkhamsted, where she had lived the life of a nun.

Yorkist suns-and-roses collar from the effigy of Sir Humphrey Blount at Kinlet.

One big question for Cecily is, of course, was Edward IV illegitimate? On learning of Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, in desperation Cecily is said to have announced that Edward was not her legitimate son but the result of an adulterous liaison. News of such dynamite proportions was to rebound on her when Richard III attempted to use this argument to disinherit Edward V. Cecily is buried at Fotheringhay.

Edward IV (1442–83, King 1461–70 and 1471–83)

Edward of Rouen was born on 28 April 1442, while his father, Richard, 3rd Duke of York, was serving as Lieutenant-General of Normandy during the French wars. He was the eldest surviving son of Richard and Cecily Neville. An elder brother, Henry, died young. Edward was born with many advantages: he was aristocratic and of the royal blood, he was intelligent and affable and the chroniclers tell us he was good-looking. Exceptionally for medieval times he grew to 6ft 4in tall. Edward looked every inch a king. Yet as a boy, he cannot have expected to be king, with his Lancastrian cousin Henry VI installed on the throne for more than twenty years. Edward was styled Earl of March in the 1440s and became 4th Duke of York on the assassination of his father at the Battle of Wakefield in December 1460.

In early 1461 Edward fought his way to the throne of England at the age of only 18 through emphatic victories over the Lancastrians at Mortimer’s Cross and at Towton. He was acclaimed king in London before Towton courtesy of Warwick the Kingmaker. By the time Edward had reclaimed his throne from Henry VI and Warwick in spring 1471, with awesome victories at Barnet and Tewkesbury during the third phase of the War, he had notched up five straight victories as commander, a military record which stands comparison with any medieval English king. Edward’s strength was in his bold and decisive action, particularly in pre-battlefield strategy. By 1471 he was much feared by his opponents as a general.

On the wider canvas, Edward was an energetic and conscientious king who, above all else, brought peace and stability to the realm after 1471. In very difficult times he achieved much:

•  He transformed the royal finances; he was one of the few medieval kings to die solvent. He even made money in business. Parliament was hardly called between 1471 and 1483.

•  He eschewed expensive and wasteful foreign wars without creating internal dissension and conflict.

•  He gave every opportunity to rebellious subjects to be pardoned, including Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, who had commanded the Lancastrian army at Towton and Wakefield.

•  He promoted many members of the gentry to positions in the household and in the Church on ability, rather than preferring nobility. In many ways Edward seemed to prefer the company of gentry to that of the nobility.

•  It can be said that Edward’s approach to kingship foreshadowed what J.R. Green called the ‘New Monarchy’, which reached fruition under Henry VII.

•  He died in his own bed at home – no mean feat for a medieval king.

These constitute a lot of positives, but there is a big negative. As Charles Ross has pointed out, ‘Edward remains the only king in English history since 1066 in active possession of his throne who failed to secure the safe succession of his son. His lack of political foresight is largely to blame for the unhappy aftermath of his death.’ How can we explain the disaster of his son’s deposition? Edward comes across the centuries as the most human of kings: his obvious charisma, his popularity, his love of ceremony, his great interest in commerce, his love of women; and because he did make mistakes – mistakes which very much shaped the political climate after his death. With the benefit of hindsight, we can pick out a number of Edward’s actions that clearly contributed to the disaster:

•  He married Elizabeth Woodville. The Woodvilles were seen as parvenus. They had a large extended family, which Edward, once married to Elizabeth, chose to promote on the marriage market in order to build up an affinity separate from that of the Nevilles. In the process, the Woodvilles ‘stole’ many of the good marriage catches in the nobility and became seen as grasping and overly ambitious. They were never popular.

•  His son, Edward, Prince of Wales, was allowed to be brought up by and associated with the unpopular Woodvilles far too closely through the Council of Wales, based at Ludlow in the Marches. When the crisis came on Edward’s death in April 1483, the Woodville faction was unable to raise support in the Marches or in London sufficient to counter the moves of Gloucester as his first coup unfolded. They had neither the landed wealth nor the popular support to achieve this.

•  During his reign Edward rode roughshod over the established laws of inheritance on a number of occasions in order to reap financial/landed gain for the Yorkist family themselves, or for the Woodvilles, especially with the Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk inheritance. Although Acts of Parliament were obtained to support these, a build-up of aristocratic resentment occurred, stemming from fear of possible Woodville domination of Edward V later. Deprived of his Mowbray inheritance, the energetic and powerful John, Lord Howard was driven ‘offside’.

•  Aristocratic estates had for many years been consolidating into larger groupings leading to the strengthening of the magnates’ position vis-à-vis the smaller nobility. By 1483 a small group of magnates, Buckingham, Gloucester (the King’s brother), Stanley, Howard (later Duke of Norfolk), and the Woodvilles had come to dominate the Council. Gloucester (aided by the Earl of Northumberland) became dominant in the north-east, Stanley in the north-west, Howard in East Anglia, Woodvilles in the Marches/Wales (but with few estates) and Buckingham in the south and Midlands (but less dominant). This process gave Gloucester in particular access to a huge affinity in the north, which he was able to mobilise in support of his coups in 1483.

Although totally loyal to his brother Edward while the latter was alive, Richard of Gloucester clearly showed him no loyalty at all once he was dead. The York family seem to have been dysfunctional. The destruction of his other brother, George, Duke of Clarence, in 1478 remains a blot on Edward’s reputation. The contrast with the Lancastrian family working together after the death of Henry V in 1422 is stark.