Edward IV
Edwardus IV
King of England · Lord of Ireland · Duke of York
1442 – 1483
Biography
First Yorkist king, claiming the throne through descent from Edward III's second surviving son Lionel of Antwerp. He won it on the battlefield at Towton in 1461, lost it briefly to a restored Henry VI, then took it back at Tewkesbury in 1471. His secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner widow, alienated his powerful kingmaker cousin Warwick and seeded the dynastic instability that brought down his line.
Events
Thirty-two years of intermittent civil war between the Lancastrian and Yorkist branches of the Plantagenet dynasty, triggered by the recurring incapacity of Henry VI and the rival claim of Richard, Duke of York. The conflict produced six battles in the 1450s–1460s, the murderous reign of Edward IV, the disappearance of his sons in the Tower, and the final defeat of Richard III at Bosworth in 1485. Resolved by the marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York the following year.
Also there: Henry VI, Margaret of Anjou, Richard III, Henry VII
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