Edward, the Earl of March, ruled as undisputed King Edward IV of England from 1471 until his death in 1483. Edward came of age during England’s Wars of the Roses. He was thirteen-years-old when the Yorkist contingent defeated Henry VI’s Lancastrian forces at the First Battle of St. Albans on 22 May 1455. The Yorkists captured Henry and escorted him back to London. There, Richard, Duke of York, Edward’s father, ruled in Henry’s name as Lord Protector. That did not last. Another fifteen years of aristocratic bloodshed continued before Edward ascended to the Throne as Edward IV.
At his birth, the Earl of March was not in line to be King, but he had dual Plantagenet lineage. Through his grandfather, Richard Conigsburgh, Earl of Cambridge, Edward III (1312-1377) was the boy’s second great-grandfather. Through his grandmother, Lady Anne Mortimer, Edward III was young Edward’s fourth great-grandfather.
The Wars of the Roses shaped Edward’s life and reign.
The Yorkist Cause
The English summer of 1460 saw Edward's father, the influential Richard, Duke of York, exiled to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant, at Queen Margaret's behest. Despite military setbacks at the 1455 First Battle of St. Albans and the 1459 Battle of Blore Heath, Queen Margaret continued to build her army and had King Henry VI in tow. She had sufficient sway with Parliament to sequester her arch-rival, the Duke of York, to Ireland and out of her way. In April 1459, Margaret formed a Parliament in Henry’s name and ordered the arrest of her Yorkist enemies.
Battle of Northampton 10 July 1460
In June, with his father off garnering support for the Yorkist cause, eighteen-year-old Edward, Duke of March, and cousin Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, crossed the English Channel from Calais and marched to London, a Yorkist City; they amassed an army of five thousand along the way. Meanwhile, the Lancaster forces under the direction of the Duke of Buckingham moved north toward Northampton. Margaret, with her young son, assembled a mercenary army in Leicester and moved south.
The Yorkist stated intent was to remove corrupt officials and, once again, take control of the government with Henry as the titular figurehead. The rival forces met on 10 July 1460 in Northampton. A covert agreement between Richard, Earl of Warwick, and an opposing commander in the Lancaster forces carried the day. Instead of facing a battle with the opposing forces, Edward’s troops on the left flank received a helping hand from the Lancaster turncoats. The rout was on. The Yorkists killed four principal Lancastrian commanders and recaptured Henry VI.
When word of the victory at Northampton reached the Duke of York in Ireland, Richard returned to England. In October, Richard called Parliament, where he asserted his claim to the Throne, a move that was not well received. Meanwhile, in Scotland, Margaret attempted to gather support for her cause.
Battle of Wakefield 30 December 1460
Margaret approached the Duke of York's Sandal Castle intent upon delivering a decisive blow to the Yorkist cause. The Duke of York and his younger son, Edmund, with approximately five thousand men, sped north to his castle. They arrived on Christmas Day, ahead of Margaret and her troops. York's elder son, Edward, who planned to muster with York at Sandal Castle, marched east with his forces from his estates near the Welsh border. For reasons the Duke of York took to his grave, York did not wait for Edward's reinforcements; instead, he exited from the safety of a defensive position in the castle and carried the battle to Margaret's Lancaster army. On 30 December 1460, Margaret's fifteen thousand men Lancaster army decimated the Yorkist forces. Richard, Duke of York, died, as did York’s younger son Edmund.
Battle of Mortimer’s Cross 3 February 1461
With his father dead, Edward, Earl of March, took up the Yorkist cause at the 3 February 1461 Battle of Mortimer's Cross, near the Welsh border. Jasper Tudor (c.1431-1495), the second son of Catherine of Valois, Henry V's widow, and half-brother of Henry VI, led the Lancaster forces. Edward's Yorkist forces prevailed. Edward captured Tudor in battle and executed him and his father, Owen Tudor. The Yorkist forces killed approximately two thousand of their opponents during the action and chase afterward.
Second Battle of St. Albans 17 February 1461
Queen Margaret exacted revenge at the 17 February 1461 Second Battle of St. Albans, where she crushed the Yorkist forces commanded by Edward's cousin, Richard, Earl of Warwick. Second St. Albans proved to be Margaret's most significant victory. It was Warwick’s most embarrassing loss. The Queen rescued her husband, Henry VI, from captivity and ruled in his name.
Battle of Towton 29 March 1461
Parliament proclaimed Edward, the Earl of March, King in London 4 March 1461. King Edward IV led the Yorkist troops at the Battle of Towton on 29 March 1461. Richard, Earl of Warwick, still abashed by his defeat at Second St. Albans, was relegated to a subordinate position. John Mowbray (1415-1461), Duke of Norfolk, and a former Lancaster supporter played a vital role in the battle.
Towton was the most extensive and bloodiest conflagration of the civil war; troop size estimates for the Yorkists, thirty-five thousand, for Lancaster, forty thousand participants. In all, an estimated twenty to forty thousand men lost their lives. It was a resounding victory for the new King. Queen Margaret, with her son, the Prince of Wales, rode north with a small entourage, seeking asylum in Scotland. Edward, Earl of March, rode south to London, where he was crowned King Edward IV on 29 June 1461. Richard, Earl of Warwick, rode north, ostensibly to deter any encroachment by the Scots emboldened by England's political and military disarray, and protect Edward’s flank.
Next up: Part Two - Woodville, Warwick, and war
Comments