Edward IV (mar 5, 1461 – apr 9, 1483)

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son of Richard, Duke of York and Cecily Neville. He was the first Yorkist King of England, an extremely capable and daring military commander, and an able administrator, despite his occasional political setbacks—usually at the hands of his great Machiavellian rival Louis XI of France. His father Richard had been heir to Henry VI until the birth of Henry's son Edward in 1453. Richard carried on a factional struggle with the king's Beaufort relatives. He established a dominant position after his victory at the First Battle of St Albans in 1455, in which his chief rival Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, was killed. However, Henry's Queen, Margaret of Anjou, rebuilt a powerful faction to oppose the Yorkists over the following years. In 1459 Margaret moved against the Duke of York and his principal supporters—his brother-in-law Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, and Salisbury's son Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who rose in revolt. The Yorkist leaders fled from England after the collapse of their army in the confrontation at Ludford Bridge. The Duke of York took refuge in Ireland, while Edward went with the Nevilles to Calais where Warwick was governor. In 1460 Edward landed in Kent with Salisbury and Warwick, raised an army, and occupied London. They then advanced against the king, who was with an army in the Midlands, and defeated and captured him in the Battle of Northampton. York returned to England and was declared the king's heir by parliament (in the Act of Accord), but Queen Margaret raised a fresh army against him, and he was killed at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460, along with his second surviving son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and the Earl of Salisbury. This left Edward, now Duke of York, at the head of the Yorkist faction. He defeated a Lancastrian army at Mortimer's Cross on 2–3 February 1461. He then united his forces with those of Warwick, whom Margaret's army had defeated at the Second Battle of St Albans (17 February 1461), during which Henry VI had been rescued by his supporters. Edward's father had restricted his ambitions to becoming Henry's heir, but Edward now took the more radical step of proclaiming himself king in March 1461. He then advanced against the Lancastrians defeating them in the exceptionally bloody Battle of Towton in Yorkshire on 29 March 1461. Edward and his new regime relied heavily on the support of the Nevilles, who held vast estates and had been so instrumental in bringing Edward to the throne. However, the king increasingly became estranged from Warwick, due primarily to his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in 1464. Warwick eventually instigated rebellions against the king with the help of Edward's disaffected younger brother Clarence. Edward was briefly deposed and Henry VI restored in 1470 when Warwick allied with Margaret of Anjou and scheming French king Louis XI. Edward fled to Flanders, gained the support of his brother-in-law Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and returned to England to take back his kingdom in 1471. Edward and his brothers (Clarence had returned to his side) defeated and killed Warwick at the Battle of Barnet and eliminated the remaining Lancastrian resistance at the Battle of Tewkesbury (the Lancastrian heir, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, was killed on the battlefield). Henry VI died a few days later. Edward then reigned in peace until his sudden death in 1483. He was succeeded by his twelve-year-old son Edward V of England (who was never crowned) and then by his brother Richard.

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