Happy Birthday Edward IV

King Edward IV of England was born at Rouen, France on 28 April 1442.

Edward’s father, Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, who had been on the continent as a commander during the final decades of the Hundred Years War, had left for England a few months prior to his son’s birth, opening up later accusations (from his supposedly devoted brother, King Richard III) that Edward was not really the duke’s get. This is a vile calumny against Edward’s mother, Cecily Neville; there was not even a hint of impropriety in her behaviour and her husband was certainly living with her when she became pregnant. Edward was certainly the duke’s true-born son, and because his elder brother, Henry of York, had died in infancy, Edward was his father’s heir. 

The newborn Edward’s blood was forget-me-not blue, because he was a direct descendant of King Edward III through both his parents. His father was a great-grandson of Edward III’s second surviving son Lionel of Antwerp,  as well as Edward III’s grandson through  Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York. His mother was the granddaughter of Edward III’s third surviving son John of Gaunt via his mistress-then-third-wife Katherine Swynford. Yet in spite of these strong ties to throne, Edward was not expected to become king. Henry VI sat on the throne, and had a son of his own. So how did the crown wind up on Edward IV’s head?

The crux of the reason Edward became king is that Henry VI was mentally unstable and his French wife was unpopular, opening up a path to usurpation which the Duke of York gladly took. However, the fact that Edward — the alternative king after his father’s death at the end of 1460 — was a mighty military commander, warrior, and charismatic leader all helped him win the bloody and bitter Wars of the Roses.

In a time when the average man stood 5’7″ tall,  the Earl of March stood more than 6’4″ and a whopping 6’7″ when in full armour. Seeing him stride across the battlefield would have been like seeing Kal Drogo coming for you in Game of Thrones, and to see him in court — with his beauty as well as his muscular build — would have been like seeing Jason Momoa surrounded by courtiers. No wonder all those who saw him in the flesh considered him to be as kingly as needs be, and no wonder so many ladies went so happily into his arms! He really WAS the sun in splendour in so many ways …

His success with the ladies is one of the reasons that Edward IV was actually crowned twice. The first time was after he defeated Henry VI’s forces in the Battle of Towton in Yorkshire on 29 March 1461. The Yorkist win broke Lancastrian resistance for the time being, and Edward rode into London to take the throne on 28 June. Deposed monarch Henry VI was captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London, while his queen, Margaret of Anjou, took their son Edward of Westminster and escaped to the continent along with many of their supporters.

Things were looking good for Edward IV, but then he met the super-hot young widow of Sir John Grey, the soon-to-be queen Elizabeth Woodville. Edward married her in secret while his strongest and most valuable ally, the Earl of Warwick, was negotiating Edward’s marriage to a French princess in good faith. When Edward told everyone what he had done, it horrified his court and vexed the humiliated Warwick to no end. Edward, who was stubborn when he needed to yield, did not butter up Warwick by giving him grants and honors. Nope. Edward even rubbed Warwick’s nose more raw by forbidding the marriage of Warwick’s daughters to the royal siblings, George, 1st Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester. This was pure spite, to teach Warwick who was really king. Worse, the king began elevating his wife’s family in an “I’ll-show-you” fit of sovereignty against his nobles. No one was going to tell Edward what to do!

So, Edward got his recalcitrant tushy deposed when Warwick and Edward’s brother, the Duke of Clarence, turned against him. Richard had obeyed his brother’s orders regarding a Neville marriage, but George defiantly married Warwick’s eldest daughter, Isabel Neville, in the summer of 1469. Then, George and his father-in-law allied themselves with King Henry VI’s wife and son when the king threatened to retaliate. Warwick married his youngest daughter, Anne Neville, who had been betrothed to the king’s brother Richard, Duke of Glouster, to Henry VI’s son Edward of Westminster and helped put Henry VI back on the throne in 1470.

The newly-uncrowned Edward fled to his brother-in-law in Flanders, where he eventually got enough military aid to get back on his feet. He sailed to the north of England, where he sweet-talked the city of York into letting him inside the gates, claiming he was merely trying to assert his rights to the dukedom again. However, once in the city, Edward alerted his allies of his plans and marched south with a steadily growing army. The Yorkists defeated and killed Warwick in April 1471, and then capped off their victory by slaughtering the 17-year-old Edward of Westminster and his army at the Battle of Tewkesbury in early May.

The reinstalled King Edward IV probably had Henry VI murdered soon thereafter, but word was put round that the former monarch “died of melancholy”. The widowed Margaret of Anjou was brought, humiliated, into London on a hurdle, and as a reward for his loyalty, the king’s youngest brother, Richard, wed Edward of Westminster’s widow, Anne Neville. The Lancasterians had lost everything, and the York family was ascendant.

Edward IV was finally undisputed king. He even had two fine young heirs in the form of his two surviving legitimate sons, Edward Prince of Wales and Richard of Shrewsbury. Unfortunately for the boys, their seemingly robust father became ill in the early spring of 1483. The dying king made his beloved and trusted brother, Richard of Gloucester, the official Protector of Edward’s widow and children.

That … didn’t work out as well as one might hope.

Edward IV died on 9 April 1483 and his 12 year old son was proclaimed Edward V, but the new king ruled for only 86 days. In that time, Richard of Gloucester stealthily rounded up all of the young monarch’s maternal uncles and half-uncles and relatives that he could get his hands on and had them judicially murdered for “treason” without trial. Once the boy-king’s strongest sources of support were dead, Richard declared the Edward V and his brother to be bastards and had himself crowned King Richard III. Shortly thereafter the boys disappeared from view and Richard, in spite of his excellent kingship, had his best allies turn against him. This has led to speculation that Richard III had his nephews murdered in the Tower.

Richard III’s supporters insist their disappearance and Richard’s newfound unpopularity is merely a coincidence and the boys were really killed by someone else (*cough* Henry Tudor *cough*). No evidence will ever be ENOUGH evidence to make a die-hard Richardian think that the man with the most obvious means, motive, and opportunity to kill the boys really did it. Nonetheless, Occam’s razor and I think it was Uncle Richard who had the deed done.

Although his sons were murdered, Edward IV did have his royal dynasty continued through his eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York.

Elizabeth of York married King Henry VII after Richard III was deposed and killed, uniting the fractured lines of Edward III’s second and third-born sons.  Elizabeth and Henry’s eldest daughter, King Edward IV’s granddaughter, Margaret Tudor, wed the King of Scotland in 1503. Margaret Tudor’s great-grandson, King James VI of Scotland also became King James I of England in 1603, uniting both kingdoms under one Tudor/Stuart heir.

The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, is a direct descendant of James I, and therefore one of Edward IV’s direct descendants wears the crown he fought so hard to get. I have no idea if he would think the suffering and death incurred — and the murder of his own sons — was worth it.