Edward IV York - biography, facts from life, photographs, background information. Kings of Great Britain: Edward IV King of England 1464

EDWARD IV(Edward IV) (1442–1483), Earl of March (until 1459), English king during the Wars of the Roses. Edward was born in Rouen (Normandy) on April 28, 1442, he is the eldest son of Richard, Duke of York (a descendant of two sons of Edward III, Lionel and John (John) of Gaunt), and Cecilia, daughter of Ralph Neville, Earl of Westmoreland. Thus, Edward belonged to the line of York, and when in December 1460 his father was killed in a skirmish near Wakefield with supporters of the captured king Henry VI, Edward raised an army in Wales. On February 2, 1461, he defeated the Lancastrians, earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, and on March 4, 1461 he was proclaimed king. On March 29, 1461, at Towton, as a result of a stubborn battle, the House of York, with the support of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, won a decisive victory over Henry VI and the Lancasters, and Edward was crowned on June 28, 1461.

Although Edward was grateful to Warwick (later called the “kingmaker”) for the services and assistance provided to him, he had the firm intention of not only reigning, but also ruling. One of the first steps that led to the undermining of Warwick's influence was Edward's secret marriage in 1464 to the widow Elizabeth Woodville, who did not belong to the royal family, while Warwick was intensively looking for a match for the king among the French princesses. This was followed by the removal of Warwick's brother George from the post of chancellor in 1467 and the decision made in 1468 to enter into an alliance with the Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, and not with the insidious and cunning Louis XI, King of France, who was in friendship with Warwick. All this pushed Warwick to open rebellion. In 1469 he incited a rebellion against the king in the north, married his eldest daughter Isabella to the king's dim-witted brother, Duke of Clarence, and briefly took Edward prisoner. However, six months later the king forced Warwick and Clarence to seek refuge in France (May 1470).

But Edward, in turn, had to seek refuge with his son-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy, when Warwick, now having concluded an alliance with the Lancastrians, invaded England in September. The following spring, with the support of Burgundy, Edward returned. On March 29, 1471, he landed in Yorkshire, on April 14 at Barnet he defeated Warwick (in which Warwick was killed), and on May 4 at Tewkesbury he defeated the remaining Lancastrian forces. Prince Edward, son of Henry VI and heir to the house of Lancaster, fell in battle; his mother, Queen Margaret, soon fell into the hands of the winner; and on the night of May 21-22, immediately after Edward's triumphant entry into London, the weak-willed Henry VI was killed in the Tower.

Since then, Edward gained undivided power in the state. In 1475, in order to get even with Louis, he entered into an alliance with the dukes of Brittany and Burgundy and invaded France. Although he brought with him a powerful army of 12,500 men (“the best English army that ever set foot on French soil,” as the French historian of the time Commines asserted), the impetuous and unbalanced Charles the Bold did not provide him with the promised support. Therefore, when Louis offered acceptable peace terms, including a one-time cash contribution and subsequent annual payments, as well as favorable terms of trade, Edward accepted them.

Supported by his loyal brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III), Edward recent years rule, strengthening power in the kingdom and replenishing the treasury. He defeated the Scots, who were incited to action by Louis XI, but could not prevent Louis from imposing his terms on Maximilian of Austria (the future Holy Roman Emperor), son-in-law and heir of Charles the Bold. Edward and his court welcomed the arrival of William Caxton in England and patronized his publishing house (1476–1477), and Edward's collection of books and manuscripts became the basis of the later Old Royal Library, one of the crown jewels of the British Museum. In 1478, Edward finally got rid of the inveterate troublemaker when, on a well-founded charge of treason, he executed his brother George, “the crafty, fickle, perjurer Clarence.” Although Edward was still far from old, his health was undermined by excesses and worries in connection with the victory of Louis XI over Maximilian (expressed in the Treaty of Arras in December 1482). Edward died at Westminster on April 9, 1483.

Edward IV (April 28, 1442, Rouen - April 9, 1483, London) - King of England in 1461-1470 and 1471-1483, a representative of the York Plantagenet line, seized the throne during the Wars of the Roses. Eldest son of Richard, Duke of York and Cecilia Neville, brother of Richard III.

After his father's death in 1460, he inherited his titles as Earl of Cambridge, March, Ulster and Duke of York, and led the White Rose Party. In 1461, at the age of eighteen, he ascended the English throne with the support of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. In the same year, the Yorkists won victories at Mortimer Cross and Towton. As a result of the latter, the main forces of the Lancastrians were defeated, and King Henry VI and Queen Margaret fled the country (the king was soon caught and imprisoned in the Tower).

Active fighting resumed in 1470, when the Earl of Warwick (“Kingmaker”) and the Duke of Clarence (younger brother of Edward IV), who had sided with the Lancastrians, returned Henry VI to the throne. Edward IV and his other brother, the Duke of Gloucester, fled to Burgundy, from where they returned in 1471. The Duke of Clarence again went over to his brother’s side, and the Yorkists won victories at Barnet and Tewkesbury. In the first of these battles, the Earl of Warwick was killed, in the second, Prince Edward, the only son of Henry VI, was killed, which, together with the death (probably murder) of Henry VI himself in the Tower that same year, marked the end of the Lancastrian dynasty.

Edward IV reigned peacefully until his death, which followed unexpectedly for everyone on April 9, 1483, after which his son Edward V became king for a short time. Edward IV and his great-grandfather Edmund Langley, the founder of the family, are the only male representatives of the York dynasty (not counting infants), who died a natural death (nine Yorks died violently: 1415 - Richard, Earl of Cambridge was executed, his elder brother Edward, 2nd Duke of York died at the Battle of Agincourt; 1460 - Richard, 3rd Duke of York died at the Battle of Wakefield 1st Duke of York, and his 2nd son Edmund, Earl of Rutland; 1478 - George, Duke of Clarence was executed in the Tower; 1483 - teenage princes Edward V and Richard, Duke of York disappeared in the Tower (according to one version, they were killed by Richard III); , according to another - Henry VII Tudor, according to the third - Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham); 1485 - Richard III of Gloucester died at the Battle of Bosworth; 1499 - Edward, 17th Earl of Warwick, son of Clarence, was executed). Wife: from 1 May 1464 Elizabeth Woodville (c. 1437 - 8 June 1492), daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl of Rivers, and Jacquetta (Jacobina) of Luxembourg. Children: Elizabeth (February 11, 1466 - February 11, 1503); husband: from January 18, 1486 Henry VII (January 28, 1457 - April 21, 1509), Earl of Richmond from 1462, King of England from 1485; Mary (11 August 1467 – 23 May 1482); Cecily (20 March 1469 - 24 August 1507); 1st husband: from 1485 (divorced 1486) Ralph Le Scrope (after 1459 - 17 September 1515), 8th Baron Scrope of Masham from c. 1512; 2nd husband: from 25 November 1487/1 January 1488 John Welles (d. 9 February 1499), 1st Viscount Welles from 8 February 1485/1486; 3rd husband: from 13 May 1502/March 1504 Thomas Kyme of Wainfleet Edward V (1–4 November 1470–1483?), Earl of March and Pembroke from 1479, king of England in 1483; Margaret (10 April 1472 - 11 December 1472); Richard of Shrewsbury (17 August 1473-1483?), Duke of York from 1474, Earl of Nottingham from 1476, Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Surrey and Warenne from 1477; Anna (November 2, 1475 - November 22, 1511/1512); husband: from 4 February 1495 Thomas Howard (1473 - 25 August 1554), 2nd Earl of Surrey from 1514, 3rd Duke of Norfolk from 1524; George of Windsor (1477 - March 1479); Catherine (14 August 1479 - 15 November 1527); husband: from 1495 William Courtenay (c. 1475 - 9 June 1511), 1st Earl of Devon from 1511 Bridget (10 or 20 November 1480 - until 1513), nun at Dartford Priory in Kent. The king was a great lover of the female sex and before his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was in a secret marriage with Lady Eleanor Butler, daughter of Sir John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, which later allowed the royal council to declare his son Edward V illegitimate and, together with his other son, imprison Tower.

History is a capacious and complex science, fraught with many mysterious and incomprehensible incidents that cannot be fully comprehended and understood.

How many mysterious and foggy things are stored in centuries-old palaces and castles, tunnels and monasteries. How much of the unknown and unknown is still protected by silent walls, underground passages and lost documents...

One of these little-studied and not fully understood episodes in world history is the imprisonment of the young heirs to the throne in prison. History calls this event briefly and monosyllabically: “Princes in the Tower.”

This incident is a black stain on the whole of Great Britain; it is striking in its callousness and incomprehensibility.

Let's take our imagination back six centuries and find out what happened and why.

Famous prison

Let's start with the fact that the most famous Tower of London - a fortress located on the northern bank of the Thames River - almost from the very beginning of its foundation was a state prison for people of noble birth and high rank.

However, who are they - the princes in the Tower, and why were they taken into custody?

The beginning of the story

The Princes in the Tower are two teenage boys, the uncrowned child King Edward V and his younger brother Richard. How did it happen that they were imprisoned?

The father of the crowned children, Edward IV, died in April 1483.

It was a complex and difficult time of ruthless palace intrigue and brutal struggle for power.

The king himself received the throne as a result of the War of the Scarlet and White Roses. He had a brother and heir to the throne - Duke Richard of Gloucester. However, King Edward IV married and had many descendants. Soon he died, suddenly and unexpectedly.

Eldest son

At that time, the eldest son of the deceased king was at Ludlow Castle, where he was studying under the tutelage of his uncle Anthony Woodville, his mother's brother.

I wonder how the little heir's day passed. He had to be present at matins and mass, then he studied all day and only in the evening could he devote time to active outdoor games. Such education had a beneficial effect on the child’s character - he was smart, attentive, reflective and well-read.

When Edward IV died, his eldest son was barely twelve. Under the protection of his uncle and mentor, the boy hastened to London to take his father's throne. On the way to the capital, he met his younger brother.

Second heir

Richard of York, who was about ten years old at the time, also lived away from his father. He lived in Shrewsbury, in his own castle, which belonged to his young but already deceased wife.

After the news of his father's death, Richard of York went to London, since he was the first heir to the throne after his older brother.

What awaited the children in the capital?

Father's brother

By order of the deceased king, Edward V began to rule England under the tutelage of his uncle, the king's brother Richard of Gloucester.

The boys' mother, Queen Dowager Elizabeth Woodville, was also in London and tried to exert political pressure on her son. Behind the queen stood her numerous relatives who wanted to profit from the English throne. This state of affairs went against the wishes of the king's protector, the Duke of Gloucester.

He did not want to share his power with people he did not like, so he decided to act in his own way.

Intrigue and arrest

Having met with his nephews, Richard of Gloucester swore allegiance to the young king and ordered his profile to be minted on all new coins. At the same time, he ordered the arrest of influential maternal relatives of the young monarch, and transported Edward himself to the Tower, supposedly under his protection.

As some sources say, the little king tried to protect his relatives and himself, but no one dared to come to his aid.

The royal council, along with Queen Elizabeth, insisted that Edward's coronation take place as soon as possible. However, the calculating and influential Duke of Gloucester carelessly played for time.

Elizabeth Woodville, realizing that delay could be fatal for her, took the rest of her offspring (she gave birth to seven children from King Edward IV) and chose Westminster Abbey as a refuge.

Unfortunately, at that time the regent had not yet shown all his cruelty and brutality. He managed to persuade the dowager queen to send away her second son, Richard of York, ostensibly so that he would keep company with his elder brother, who was awaiting his coronation in the fortress.

So the heirs to the throne found themselves imprisoned and went down in history under the famous and mournful designation: “princes in the Tower.”

Sad incidents

Two months later, Richard Gloucester, who wanted to become king and realized that no one would stop him in this, ordered the execution of the arrested relatives of the young king, and declared Edward himself and his brother illegitimate. How did the heartless ambitious man justify his accusations?

He had evidence that the deceased King Edward IV (famous for his love affairs) was betrothed to Eleanor Butler, so his marriage to Elizabeth was considered invalid, and the children born in this union were considered illegitimate.

In addition, Gloucester accused his crowned daughter-in-law of plotting against his life and of witchcraft. And although these accusations did not entail serious consequences and did not threaten the life of the dowager queen, they prevented the woman from standing up for a serious and fierce defense of her children.

As a result, Lord Protector Richard of Gloucester became King Richard III, and the innocent princes in the Tower - Edward V and Richard of York - remained imprisoned.

Further events

After some time, Elizabeth tried to plot to free her children and place them on the throne, but one of her closest allies informed her that they were dead.

A year later, the queen was deprived of her land holdings, but Richard III publicly promised her and her daughters life and freedom.

Elizabeth settled at court, where power soon changed: her brother-in-law was killed in battle, and Henry Tudor ascended to the English throne.

Elizabeth never learned about the real fate of her sons.

The fate of the princes

What happened to the little prisoners? They most likely died in 1483, a few months after their arrest. Although, according to some information, funds were allocated for their detention for several more years.

Versions of the murder of the heirs to the English throne still occupy the minds of historians and all concerned. The main culprit in the death of the brothers is, of course, Richard III. The English lawyer and writer Thomas More wrote that the princes in the Tower were strangled by James Tyrrell on the orders of their uncle.

However, there is another attempt to explain the disappearance of the crowned boys. For example, there is an opinion that they were killed on the orders of Henry Tudor, who was afraid to leave the direct heirs to the English throne alive. In order to strengthen his royal position, he even married the sister of the missing princes, Elizabeth.

There was another version of the murder, according to which Edward V suffered death from illness or poor treatment. But, if you believe this legend, then the question remains open about what happened to Richard of York.

Centuries later

About two centuries after the brothers disappeared, the skeletons of two teenagers were found in one of the tower towers. The remains were discovered under the stairs and were reburied by order of the current king, Charles II, under the names of Edward and Richard.

In the mid-1930s, a study of the remains of the princes was carried out, which showed that they were missing some elements and contained an admixture of animal cells.

Today it is impossible to carry out full research these remains, since the current Queen of Great Britain refuses to exhume and conduct research. Therefore, the belonging of the skeletons found in the Tower to the children of Elizabeth Woodville and King Edward has not been proven. Just as their future fate has not been fully clarified.

According to official data, at the end of the 15th century a man appeared calling himself Prince Richard of York. He managed to convince some European monarchs of this and organize an uprising, but he was soon executed along with his supporter. The origins of this man are still unknown, but his external resemblance to the children of Edward V suggests that he is one of the illegitimate sons of the king himself or his closest relatives.

The secret of the Princes of the Tower remains a mystery. Most likely, we will never know the truth about their death and burial.

However, there is hope that documents are still stored somewhere that can reveal to us the secret of their sad fate. Wait and see.

28 April 1442 - 09 April 1483

king of England in 1461-1470 and 1471-1483, representative of the York Plantagenet line, seized the throne during the Wars of the Roses

Biography

Edward IV and his great-grandfather Edmund Langley, the founder of the family, are the only male representatives of the York dynasty (not counting infants) who died a natural death (nine Yorks died a violent death: 1415 - Richard, Earl of Cambridge, was executed, and his elder brother died at the Battle of Agincourt Edward, 2nd Duke of York; 1460 - Richard, 3rd Duke of York and his 2nd son Edmund, Earl of Rutland were killed at the Battle of Wakefield 1478 - George, Duke of Clarence was executed in the Tower; The teenage princes Edward V and Richard, Duke of York disappeared in the Tower (according to one version, they were killed by Richard III, according to another - Henry VII Tudor, according to the third - Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham 1485 - Richard III of Gloucester died at the Battle of Bosworth); 1499 - Edward, 17th Earl of Warwick, son of Clarence, was executed)

Marriage and children

Wife: from 1 May 1464 Elizabeth Woodville (c. 1437 – 8 June 1492), daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl of Rivers, and Jacquetta (Jacobina) of Luxembourg. Children:

• Elizabeth (February 11, 1466 – February 11, 1503); husband: from 18 January 1486 Henry VII (28 January 1457 - 21 April 1509), Earl of Richmond from 1462, King of England from 1485;
• Maria (11 August 1467 - 23 May 1482);
• Cecily (20 March 1469 – 24 August 1507); 1st husband: c 1485 (divorced 1486) Ralph Le Scrope (after 1459 – 17 September 1515), 8th Baron Scrope of Masham from c. 1512; 2nd husband: from 25 November 1487/1 January 1488 John Welles (d. 9 February 1499), 1st Viscount Welles from 8 February 1485/1486; 3rd husband: from 13 May 1502/March 1504 Thomas Kyme of Wainfleet
• Edward V (1-4 November 1470-1483?), Earl of March and Pembroke from 1479, King of England in 1483;
• Margaret (10 April 1472 – 11 December 1472);
• Richard of Shrewsbury (17 August 1473-1483?), Duke of York from 1474, Earl of Nottingham from 1476, Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Surrey and Warenne from 1477;
• Anna (November 2, 1475 - November 22, 1511/1512); husband: from 4 February 1495 Thomas Howard (1473 - 25 August 1554), 2nd Earl of Surrey from 1514, 3rd Duke of Norfolk from 1524;
• George of Windsor (1477 - March 1479);
• Catherine (August 14, 1479 - November 15, 1527); husband: from 1495 William Courtenay (c. 1475 - 9 June 1511), 1st Earl of Devon from 1511
• Bridget (10 or 20 November 1480 – before 1513), nun at Dartford Priory in Kent.

The king was a great lover of women and, in addition to his official wife, was secretly engaged to one or more women, which later allowed the royal council to declare his son Edward V illegitimate and, together with his other son, imprison him in the Tower.

The middle of the 15th century was a difficult time for England. The weak and weak-willed King Henry VI was an obedient puppet in the hands of his advisers. In addition, he inherited madness from his grandfather. The fight for the right to establish a regency over the mad king was won by him distant relative Richard of York (Richard and Henry were descendants), which the Lancastrians, led by Queen Margaret of Anjou, resisted in every possible way. It started in England internecine war between Lancaster and York, known as the War of the Roses. (The scarlet rose was the symbol of the Lancastrians, and the white rose was the symbol of the Yorks).

On December 30, 1460, the Yorks were defeated at Wakefield and fell in battle. Richard fell in battle. His son Edmund, Earl of Rutland was captured after the battle and killed by Lord Clifford. Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, who had been on the York side, was also captured by the Lancastrians the day after the battle and executed.

Edward, Earl of March, succeeded his father as pretender to the throne. He took the title Duke of York, inheriting all his father's rights. Edward gathered an army in Wales and, uniting with the Earls of Warwick and Norfolk, marched on London. On February 2, 1461, he defeated the Lancastrians, earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire at the Battle of Mortimer's Cross, and on March 4, 1461 he was proclaimed king in London. On March 29, 1461, a major battle took place at Towton. According to chroniclers, one hundred thousand people took part in the battle. Bad weather played against the Lancasters: a strong snowstorm arose, the wind blew in their faces and blew their arrows to the side. The Lancasters were completely defeated. Margarita, having left her husband, fled first to and then to, where she continued to weave intrigues. Mad Henry, abandoned by everyone, wandered around the country in the company of wandering monks, who eventually handed him over to the Yorks. In July 1465, Henry was captured and imprisoned in the Tower.

On 28 June 1461, Edward of York was crowned Edward IV. The new king had the talent of a commander and knew how to be charming, skillfully hiding his despotic nature. Edward's reign began with brutal repressions. The three previous kings were declared usurpers. All decrees issued by them were declared invalid, all awards distributed were destroyed. By a special resolution of Parliament, the Somersets, Exeters and other nobles who supported the Lancasters were recognized as traitors worthy of the death penalty, and their estates were confiscated and distributed to Edward's associates. So one of his brothers, George, received the title of Duke of Clarence, and the other, Duke of Gloucester. The amount of confiscated wealth was so great that Edward, despite the huge expenses, did not have to resort to increasing taxes for a long time.

At first, Edward got away with his cruel antics. However, Edward soon fell in love with Elizabeth, the widow of the murdered Lancastrian Richard Woodville. Edward was generally woman-loving and did not let a single pretty woman pass by, regardless of her social status and marital status. However, he unexpectedly met a rebuff from Elizabeth Woodville. Elizabeth refused to become the king's mistress, but wanted to become a legal wife. This union was opposed by the Royal Council, which believed that Elizabeth was not a match for the monarch; The powerful Earl of Warwick opposed it, hoping to marry one of his daughters to Edward. In the spring of 1464, Edward and Elizabeth were secretly married in Bedford, and only a year later Elizabeth was crowned. Edward brought his wife's relatives closer to him and alienated Warwick. In 1467, Edward sent Warwick to negotiate with the king of France, and in the meantime he entered into an alliance with the most evil of the French king, the Duke of Burgundy, thereby framing Warwick. The powerful nobleman did not forgive Edward for his insult. Teaming up with the heir to the throne, the Duke of Clarence, he rebelled against Edward in 1470, but failed and fled to France. A year later, with the support of Warwick, he formed an alliance with the exiled queen Margaret, landed an army in England and took Edward by surprise. The king had to flee to Holland so quickly that he did not have time to take with him either money or linen.

Edward IV took refuge with his son-in-law, the Duke of Burgundy. On next year With Burgundian money, Edward gathered an army of 60,000 and invaded England. Warwick opposed him, but unexpectedly the Duke of Clarence went over to Edward's side. In two battles, Edward won victories, occupied London, and overthrew him, where the unfortunate king soon died.

Since then, Edward has gained undivided power in the state. In 1475, in order to get even with, he entered into an alliance with the Dukes of Brittany and Burgundy and invaded France. Although he brought with him a powerful army of 12,500 people ("the best English army that ever set foot on French soil," as the French historian of the time Commines claimed), the impetuous and unbalanced did not provide him with the promised support. Therefore, when he offered acceptable peace terms, including a one-time cash contribution and subsequent annual payments, as well as the provision of favorable terms of trade, Edward accepted them.

In general, the second part of the reign of Edward IV passed relatively calmly. The king was busy strengthening his power and replenishing the treasury in every possible way. In particular, “voluntary” gifts and donations from subjects were legalized. In addition, Edward was personally involved in trading operations and was very successful in them. Despite the unpopularity of the innovations, Edward was one of the few medieval English kings who remained solvent until the end of his reign.

The only troublemaker was the king's brother, the Duke of Clarence, who constantly incited the barons to revolt. In 1478, Edward accused his brother of treason and sentenced him to execution “privately.” According to legend, Clarence was allowed to choose his own method of execution, and the Duke, a big drunkard, asked to drown him in a huge barrel of malvasia, which was done

Edward spent the last years of his life in drunkenness, gluttony and debauchery, became terribly fat and died suddenly at the 41st year of his life, leaving behind an heir - a young son, installing his brother as regent with him.