Place Name
King Edward IV, who won the Battle of Barnet. Born on April 28, 1442, in Rouen, Normandy, he was the eldest surviving son of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, both descended from Edward III. He inherited the Yorkist claim in December 1460 when his father was killed at Wakefield. Already an accomplished military leader in his teens, Edward defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimer’s Cross and Towton in early 1461, deposed Henry VI, and was crowned King of England on June 28, 1461. His early reign relied heavily on the Neville family, but relations soured after his secret 1464 marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, whose extensive family gained rapid preferment. This alienated his chief ally, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who allied with Edward’s brother George, Duke of Clarence, and briefly restored Henry VI in 1470. Edward fled to Flanders but returned in 1471, where he defeated and killed Warwick at Barnet, crushed the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury, and saw Prince Edward of Westminster slain. He also likely contributed to Henry VI’s death in the Tower of London shortly after, possibly on his orders. Restored to the throne, Edward reigned in relative stability for 12 years, though he executed Clarence in 1478 and pursued a foreign policy that favoured Burgundy over France. His 1475 invasion of France ended in the Treaty of Picquigny, which brought him a large pension, and a later campaign in Scotland in 1482 yielded only Berwick Castle. Edward was noted for his imposing height, military skill, love of splendour, and patronage of the arts and early printing, but also for overindulgence and poor financial management, leaving the Crown in debt. He died suddenly on April 9, 1483, naming his brother Richard of Gloucester Protector for his 12-year-old heir, Edward V. Within months, Edward V and his brother Richard disappeared in the Tower, and Gloucester seized the throne as Richard III. Edward’s failure to secure his son’s succession led to the collapse of the Yorkist dynasty, though his daughter Elizabeth of York later married Henry VII, uniting the houses of York and Lancaster.
