page_title: Edward IV of England
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Edward IV of England / Aftermath
context_page_description: Edward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England fought between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions between 1455 and 1487.
  Edward inherited the Yorkist claim when his father, Richard, Duke of York, died at the Battle of Wakefield in December 1460. After defeating Lancastrian armies at Mortimer's Cross and Towton in early 1461, he deposed King Henry VI and took the throne. His marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in 1464 led to conflict with his chief advisor, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the "Kingmaker". In 1470, a revolt led by Warwick and Edward's brother George, Duke of Clarence, briefly re-installed Henry VI.
  Edward fled to Flanders, where he gathered support and invaded England in March 1471; after victories at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury, he resumed the throne. Shortly afterwards, Henry VI was found dead in the Tower of London. Despite a continuing threat from Henry Tudor, the last Lancastrian claimant, Edward reigned in relative peace for the next twelve years.
context_section_description: Edward IV's eldest son, also named Edward, was made Prince of Wales when he was seven months old and given his own household at the age of three. Based in Ludlow Castle, he was supervised by his uncle, Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, who also acted as his regent for the Council of Wales and the Marches. The historical consensus is he and his brother Richard were killed, probably between July to September 1483; debate on who gave the orders, and why, continues, although their uncle Richard III was the beneficiary. 
  By mid-August, Elizabeth Woodville was certain of the deaths of her sons; after her initial grief turned to fury, she opened secret talks with Margaret Beaufort. She promised her support in return for Henry's agreement to marry her eldest daughter Elizabeth. In December 1483, Henry swore an oath to do so, which he duly carried out after his coronation in October 1485.
  Prior to his succession, Richard III declared his nephews illegitimate, on the grounds his brother's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville was invalid. The Titulus Regius argued Edward had agreed to marry Lady Eleanor Talbot, rendering his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville void. Both parties were dead, but Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, claimed to have carried out the ceremony. The Titulus was annulled by Henry VII, since his marriage to her daughter Elizabeth added legitimacy to his claim; Stillington died in prison in 1491. 
  Despite this apparent resolution, the Yorkist cause continued well into the 16th century. The most famous are the pretenders Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck but Yorkist challengers remained a concern for Henry VII and his son. In 1541, Henry VIII executed Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, daughter of the Duke of Clarence, while a number of attempts were made on the life of her son, the last legitimate direct heir, Cardinal Reginald Pole, who died in 1558.
caption: Cardinal Reginald Pole, (1500–1558), last legitimate male Yorkist heir
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