King Edward IV

1442 – 1483 · Generation XX · King of England (r. 1461–1483) · House of Plantagenet

Edward IV of York (1442–1483). King of England (r. 1461–1483). Married Elizabeth Woodville in 1464. Won the crown in battle at eighteen, lost and regained it; his secret marriage split his own party. After his father fell at Wakefield, victories at Mortimer’s Cross and Towton carried him to the throne in Henry VI’s place. His breach with Warwick “the Kingmaker” drove him briefly to Flanders; on his return Warwick fell in battle at Barnet and the Lancastrian Prince of Wales at Tewkesbury — and Henry VI, a prisoner in the Tower, was soon dead, perhaps at Edward’s bidding. A dozen years of comparative peace followed, his 1475 invasion of France bought off by Louis XI at Picquigny, the treaty that formally closed the Hundred Years’ War. Dying suddenly, he named his brother Gloucester protector for his young heir; within months both his sons had vanished.

One of 23 people of House of Plantagenet (1126–1485) in this archive. The longest-reigning English house, counting its Angevin beginning and the rival Lancaster and York branches that fought the Wars of the Roses.

Line of descent: King William I The Conqueror → King Henry I → Matilda the Empress → King Henry II → King John → King Henry III → King Edward I Longshanks → King Edward II → King Edward III → Edmund of Langley → Richard of Conisburgh → Richard of York → King Edward IV.

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Parents

• Richard of York (1411 – 1460)
• Cecily Neville (1415 – 1495)

Siblings

• King Richard III (1452 – 1485)

Partners

• Married Elizabeth Woodville (1437 – 1492) in 1464 — 2 children together

Children

• Elizabeth of York (1466 – 1503)
• King Edward V (1470 – 1483)

Life

• 1442 — Born
• 1461 — Edward, son of Richard of York, is declared king by the Earl of Warwick following the Yorkist victory at the Battle of Towton.
• 1464 — Married Elizabeth Woodville
• 1464 — Edward marries Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of a commoner, offending Warwick.
• 1469 — Warwick falls out with Edward IV, and defeats him at Edgecote. They are later reconciled but Warwick is banished. He makes peace with Margaret, returns to England with an army, and Edward flees to Flanders. Henry VI is restored to the throne.
• 1471 — Edward returns to England from Flanders and defeats and kills Warwick at the Battle of Barnet.
• 1471 — Margaret is defeated at the Battle of Tewkesbury and the Lancastrian heir, Prince Edward, is killed. Soon after, Henry VI is murdered in the Tower of London.
• 1474 — Edward grants privileges to the Hanseatic League of North German trading cities to conduct trade in England.
• 1478 — Edward falls out with his brother George, Duke of Clarence, who is then murdered in the Tower, supposedly in a butt of malmsey wine.
• 1483 — Died
• 1483 — Death of Edward.