Born: 11 Feb 1442 at Rouen, France Died: 9 Apr 1483 at London, England Years ruled: 1461 - 1470 & 1471 - 1483 Son of: Richard duke of York and Cicely Neville Married to: Elizabeth Woodville (1464) Edward IV ascended to the throne in 1461 finally achieving the goal of seating a member of the York family pushed forth by his father, Richard, duke of York, for the entire decade of the 1450s. He fought alongside his father at the battle at Ludford after which Edward fled to Calais with the earl of Warwick and the earl of Salisbury. Edward defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimor's Cross and was proclaimed king in March 1461. In 1464 he married Elizabeth Woodville which became the root of many future troubles. Unable to muster enough forces to confront a set of Lancastrian armies (one of which was led by Richard Neville, earl of Warwick), Edward fled to Holland in September 1470.

The next year he returned and defeated the Lancastrian forces at the battle of Tewkesbury. That same year he had Henry VI executed. Upon his death in 1483, his legacies include two young sons, Edward V and Richard, both of which would be murdered in the Tower of London that year. Elizabeth Woodville | queen of England | Britannica.com queen of England Jane Austen Elizabeth Woodville, (born 1437—died June 7/8, 1492, London ), wife of King Edward IV of England . After Edward’s death popular dislike of her and her court facilitated the usurpation of power by Richard, duke of Gloucester (King Richard III). A woman of great beauty, she was already a widow with two sons when Edward IV married her in May 1464. The match was repugnant to the ruling nobility of the House of York because she was a daughter of the Lancastrians, the traditional enemies of the Yorkists, and because she was not of royal rank. Her penchant for procuring high offices and titles of nobility for her relatives increased her widespread unpopularity.

Because Elizabeth bore Edward two surviving sons and five daughters, the Yorkist succession seemed secure. Within three months after the death (on April 9, 1483) of Edward IV, however, Gloucester had defeated Elizabeth’s party and seized the throne from Edward IV’s son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V. It is not entirely clear why Elizabeth, who had taken sanctuary , surrendered her younger son (on June 16) and later her daughters to Richard III . Soon both sons disappeared from Richard’s custody, presumably murdered. After Henry Tudor became king as Henry VII in 1485, he married Elizabeth’s eldest daughter; but in 1487 Elizabeth was disgraced—probably for treasonable activities—and forced to withdraw to a convent, where she died five years later. Learn More in these related articles: BBC - History - Edward IV z Edward IV © Edward IV was twice king of England, winning the struggle against the Lancastrians to establish the House of York on the English throne. Edward was born on 28 April 1442 at Rouen in France, the son of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York.

Edward's father was the leading Yorkist in the dynastic struggle against the Lancastrians known as the Wars of the Roses, which began in 1455. When Richard Plantagenet was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, Edward inherited his claim. With the support of the powerful Earl of Warwick, known as 'the Kingmaker', Edward defeated the Lancastrians in a series of battles, culminating in the Battle of Towton in 1461. With the Lancastrian king, Henry VI, overthrown, Edward was crowned Edward IV. Warwick believed he could continue to control the new king. He was keen to negotiate a foreign marriage for Edward, but in 1464 Edward secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner. Warwick was furious at the favours now shown to Elizabeth's relatives and allied himself to Edward's brother George, Duke of Clarence, leading a revolt against the king. Warwick and Clarence then fled to France, where they joined Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI. Margaret's Lancastrian army invaded England in September 1470.

Edward fled to the Netherlands until March 1471, when he and his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, returned to England. Edward defeated and killed Warwick at Barnet before defeating the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury in May. Henry VI was put to death in the Tower of London. The second part of Edward's reign, from 1471 to 1483, was a period of relative peace and security. He used income from the Crown Estates to pay governmental costs, and was therefore less in need of parliamentary grants than his predecessors - he called parliament only six times. Commercial treaties, external peace and internal order revived trade, benefiting customs duties and other revenues. Councils were set up to govern in the Marches of Wales and in the north. Edward died on 9 April 1483. His young sons, Edward and Richard, were left in the protection of their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Richard housed them in the Tower of London where they were probably murdered on his orders. Parliament requested that Richard take the throne and he accepted, being crowned Richard III.

Edward IV | king of England | Britannica.com king of England Alternative Title: Earl of March Edward IV Richard, 3rd duke of York Edward IV, also called (until 1459) Earl of March (born April 28, 1442, Rouen , Fr.—died April 9, 1483, Westminster, Eng.), king of England from 1461 until October 1470 and again from April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a leading participant in the Yorkist-Lancastrian conflict known as the Wars of the Roses . Edward IV, portrait by an unknown artist; in the National Portrait Gallery, London. Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery, London Edward was the eldest surviving son of Richard, duke of York , by Cicely, daughter of Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland. His father was descended from two sons of the 14th-century king Edward III and, in the 1450s, led a revolt against Henry VI; in 1460, Richard’s supporters declared him Henry’s successor.

When his father was killed in December of that year, Edward gathered an army in Wales and defeated Henry’s supporters (called Lancastrians because of Henry’s descent from John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster). Edward was crowned as King Edward IV in London on June 28, 1461. Edward’s struggle with Warwick. Edward at this time showed little promise. He owed his throne largely to his cousin Richard Neville , earl of Warwick , who was in the first years of Edward’s reign the most powerful man in England. Warwick crushed Lancastrian resistance in the far north of England between 1462 and 1464 and conducted England’s diplomacy. Edward, however, was winning many friends (especially in London) by his comeliness and charm and was determined to assert his independence. On May 1, 1464, he secretly married a young widow, Elizabeth Woodville , of no great rank, offending Warwick and other Yorkist nobles who were planning to marry him to a French princess.

By showering favours on Elizabeth’s two sons by her first husband and on her five brothers and her seven sisters, Edward began to build up a group of magnates who would be a counterpoise to the Nevilles. Gradually Warwick lost all influence at court, and when he was negotiating an alliance with France , Edward humiliated him by revealing that he had already concluded an alliance (1467) with France’s enemy Burgundy . Edward’s sister Margaret was married in July 1468 with great pomp to Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy, and the brothers-in-law planned a joint invasion of France. United Kingdom: Edward IV (1461–70 and 1471–83) Warwick, in a countermove encouraged by Louis XI of France, seized Edward and made him a prisoner in July 1469. But Edward had by now too many supporters (especially in London) for him to be kept under tutelage for long. He regained his freedom in October; Warwick fled to France, allied himself with the Lancastrians and with Louis, and invaded England in September 1470.

Britannica Stories EU Considers Rules For Robots Surprised, Edward fled with a few faithful supporters to the Netherlands in October. Aided by Charles of Burgundy, he and his brother, Richard, duke of Gloucester, returned to England in March 1471. Taking London, he defeated and killed Warwick at Barnet on April 14. On the same day, Queen Margaret (Henry VI’s wife) belatedly landed in Dorset from France with her only son, Edward, prince of Wales . Her advisers hoped to gain Lancastrian support in Wales, and it became a race for time between Edward IV’s forces and hers as to whether she could get there before he overtook her. At Tewkesbury , after some remarkable forced marches (one of more than 40 miles at a stretch), he caught up with her army on May 4. There he won another crushing victory. Nearly all the remaining Lancastrian leaders were killed on the field or executed afterward, and, after murdering Henry (May 21–22) and repelling an attack on London, Edward was secure for the remainder of his life. The second half of Edward’s reign. Structures of Government: Fact or Fiction?

He was now able to revive the project of an invasion of France in concert with the Duke of Burgundy. He made great preparations in 1474 and obtained a large grant from Parliament. In 1475 he invaded France with the largest army, it was said, that had ever left England, but he found the Duke of Burgundy very ill-prepared and the French formidable and willing to buy him out. Hence the Treaty of Picquigny was made by which Edward agreed to withdraw from France in return for 75,000 gold crowns down and a pension of 50,000 gold crowns a year. These sums helped to free Edward from dependence on parliamentary grants. As he grew older, he showed considerable ingenuity in raising money by reviving obsolescent rights and using doubtfully legal devices. Commercial treaties with France (1475), Burgundy (1468), and the Hanseatic League (1474) combined with external peace and growing internal order to revive trade strikingly after 1475, and this benefitted the customs duties and other revenues. Edward became a trader himself, transporting goods in his own ships and those of foreign merchants.

He began a reorganization of the revenues from the crown estates, experimenting with methods of improving yields and promoting more efficient auditing under officials of the flexible royal household treasury instead of the unadaptable Exchequer . These and other measures enabled him to leave behind a fortune; some of his improved financial administration was continued and developed by his successors Richard III and Henry VII . Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies The last decade of Edward’s reign also saw an improvement in law enforcement. One especially disturbed area was Wales and the Welsh marches; Edward used the royal estates there as a foundation on which to base a council that acted in the name of his infant heir, the Prince of Wales, and employed the royal prerogative to make a start in repressing disorder. It was the forerunner of the council of Wales and the marches that subjugated the area to English rule. Modern research has emphasized these administrative achievements of Edward IV, and contemporary and Tudor historians viewed his later years as a time of prosperity and success. He rebuilt St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, and collected illuminated Flemish manuscripts.

He was also a friend and patron of the printer William Caxton , and his book collection became the foundation of the Old Royal Library, later one of the glories of the British Museum . Edward’s promiscuity enabled Richard of Gloucester, after his death, to question the validity of his marriage and so to ruin his sons. As a young man Edward had been trustful and openhanded, but his experiences made him increasingly suspicious, leading him in 1478 to execute his brother George, duke of Clarence , who in former years had sided with Warwick against him. In 1482, Louis XI, in order to come to terms with the rulers of Burgundy, tacitly repudiated the Treaty of Picquigny and the annual tribute that it provided. Edward contemplated a fresh invasion of France, but before it could be carried out he fell ill and died at the age of only 40. By Elizabeth Woodville he had seven children who survived him: two sons, Edward (afterward Edward V) and Richard, duke of York, who were probably murdered in the Tower of London in August 1483, and five daughters, of whom the eldest, Elizabeth, married Henry VII.

Elizabeth Woodville – History Wars Weapons About Elizabeth Woodville Elizabeth Woodville was the Queen consort of King Edward IV of England from 1464 until his death in 1483. She was born in 1437 at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire, to Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. Elizabeth was a distant descendant of King John of England. She was a maid of honour to Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI in 1445 when she was only about 10. In about 1452, she married Sir John Grey of Groby, who was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461, fighting for the Lancastrian cause. Elizabeth had two sons from the marriage, Thomas, Marquess of Dorset, and Richard. Elizabeth Woodville married secretly Edward IV in 1464. Elizabeth was crowned Queen on Ascension Day, 26 May 1465. With the arrival on the scene of the new queen came a host of siblings who soon married into some of the most notable families in England.

Elizabeth and Edward’s marriage was produced ten children, including two sons who were still living at the time of the King’s sudden death in 1483. The elder, Edward, had been born in sanctuary at Westminster Abbey in 1470, during the period when his father was out of power and in exile following his overthrow by Warwick in favour of Henry VI. Edward later returned to England and Warwick was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. After Edward’s death, Elizabeth Woodville briefly became Queen Mother, but on 25 June 1483, her marriage was declared null and void by Parliament in the act Titulus Regius on the grounds that Edward had previously promised to marry Lady Eleanor Butler, which was considered a legally binding contract that rendered any other marriage contract invalid as bigamous. On the basis of his evidence, all Elizabeth’s children by Edward, including King Edward V, were declared illegitimate, and her brother-in-law, Richard III, was given the crown. Young Edward and his brother Richard, Duke of York, were kept in the Tower of London, where they had already been lodged to await the Coronation.

The exact fate of the so-called Princes in the Tower is still unknown, but they were probably dead by September 1483. Elizabeth now lost the title of Queen Mother and was referred to as Dame Elizabeth Grey. She and her other children were in sanctuary, fearing for their safety. On March 1, 1484 Elizabeth and her daughters came out of sanctuary and returned to Court. Before Elizabeth and her daughters came out of sanctuary, Richard III publicly swore an oath that her daughters would not be harmed or ravished and that they would not be imprisoned in the Tower of London or in any other prison. Richard III also promised to provide them with marriage portions and to marry them to "gentlemen born." But Richard was defeated and killed at the Battle of Bosworth. Henry Tudor became King Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York. Elizabeth Wydeville’s marriage to Edward IV was declared to have been valid, and thus their children were once again legitimized and Elizabeth was accorded the title of Queen Dowager. Elizabeth Woodville decided to spend her last years in an abbey, leading a religious contemplative life.

There she was treated with all the respect due to a Queen Mother and received a pension of £400 and small gifts from the King. She did not attend her daughter’s coronation, but was present at the birth of her second grandchild, Margaret, at Westminster Palace in November 1489. Elizabeth Woodville died at Bermondsey Abbey on June 8, 1492. Categories: Uncategorized Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England - Timeline Index Timeline Index Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England Elizabeth Woodville was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483. Her family, at the time of her birth was mid-ranked in the English aristocracy and her first marriage was to a minor supporter of the House of Lancaster, Sir John Grey of Groby, who died at the Second Battle of St Albans, leaving Elizabeth a widowed mother of two sons.

Her second marriage, to Edward IV, was a cause celebre of the day, thanks to Elizabeth's great beauty, lack of great estates and being English yet still becoming queen, and she seized upon it to become a key figure in the ongoing dynastic civil wars now known as the Wars of the Roses, then known as the cousins' wars. Edward was only the second King of England since the Norman Conquest to have married one of his subjects, and Elizabeth was the first such consort to be crowned Queen. Her marriage greatly enriched her siblings and children, but their advancement incurred the hostility of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, 'The Kingmaker' and his various alliances with the most senior figures in the increasingly divided Royal Family.

More on this Website Edward IV of England | eHISTORY Edward IV of England Years ruled 1461 - 1470 & 1471 - 1483 Son of: Richard, Duke of York and Cicely Neville Married to: Elizabeth Woodville (1464) Edward IV ascended to the throne in 1461 finally achieving the goal of seating a member of the York family pushed forth by his father, Richard, Duke of York, for the entire decade of the 1450s. He fought alongside his father at the battle at Ludford after which Edward fled to Calais with the Earl of Warwick and the Earl of Salisbury. Edward defeated the Lancastrians at Mortimor's Cross and was proclaimed king in March 1461. In 1464 he married Elizabeth Woodville which became the root of many future troubles. Unable to muster enough forces to confront a set of Lancastrian armies (one of which was led by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick), Edward fled to Holland in September 1470. The next year he returned and defeated the Lancastrian forces at the battle of Tewkesbury.

That same year he had Henry VI executed. Upon his death in 1483, his legacies include two young sons, Edward V and Richard, both of whom are suspected of being murdered in the Tower of London that year; and his eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, who would marry Henry VII. Birth Location: Edward IV., King of England – kleio.org Richard, Duke of York (1411-1460) Mother: Cecily Neville (1415-1495), the youngest daughter of Ralph, 1st Earl of Westmorland († 1425), and his second wife, Joan Beaufort Siblings: his sister Joan, born in 1438, died as an infant his sister Anne, born on 10.

August 1439, died in 1476 or 1482; in 1447 she was married to her first husband Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter (1430-1475); after the annulment of her first marriage she was married to Sir Thomas St Leger in 1472, who was executed in 1483 his brother Henry, born on 10. February 1441, died as an infant his brother Edmund, Earl of Rutland, born on 17. May 1443, died on 30. December 1460 his sister Elizabeth , born on 22. April 1444, died around 1503/4; in 1460 she was married to John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk his sister Margaret , born on 3. May 1446, died on 23. November 1503; she was married to the Duke Charles of Burgundy (1433-1477) his brother William, born on 7.

July 1447, died as an infant his brother John, born on 7. November 1448, died as an infant his brother George, Duke of Clarence , born on 21. October 1449, executed by him as a traitor on 18. February 1478; in 1467 he married Isabel Neville (1451-1476), the elder daughter of the Earl of Warwick; his son Edward, Earl of Warwick (1475-1499), was executed by Henry VII. of England; his daughter Margaret, Countess of Salisbury (1473-1541), was married to Sir Richard Pole († 1505) and gave birth to the following five children: Henry Pole (1492-1539), 1st Baron Montagu, who was executed by Henry VIII.

of England in 1539; Reginald Pole (1500-1558), Cardinal and Archbishop of Canterbury, who should play an important political and religious role in England under Queen Maria Tudor; Geoffrey Pole (around 1501-1558); Arthur Pole (around 1502-1535) and Ursula Pole (around 1504-1570), who was married to Henry Stafford (1501-1563) and gave birth to nine children his brother Thomas, born 1450/51, died as an infant his brother Richard III. , King of England, born on 2. October 1452, died on 22.

August 1485 (in the battle of Bosworth); in 1472 he married Anne Neville (1456-1485), the younger daughter of the Earl of Warwick; they had one son, Edward, Prince of Wales (1473-1484) his sister Ursula, born in 1454 or 1455, died as an infant Spouse: Elizabeth Woodville (1437/38-1492), first child of Sir Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg and widow of Sir John Grey of Groby († 1461); she had two sons by her first husband: Thomas Grey (1457-1501), Marquess of Dorset, and Richard Grey (1458-1483); Edward IV. married Elizabeth Woodville clandestinely on 1 May 1464 Children: his daughter Elizabeth , born on 11. February 1466, died on 11. February 1503; she married the English King Henry VII.

(1457-1509) his daughter Mary, born on 11. August 1467, died on 23. May 1482 his daughter Cecily, born on 20. March 1469, died in 1507; in 1485 she was married to her first husband, Ralph Scrope; the marriage was annulled in 1486; in 1487 she was married to her second husband, John Viscount Welles († 1499); and around 1502 she married her third husband, William Kyme – she had two daughters by her second husband, Elizabeth (c. 1488-1498) and Anne (c. 1491-c.1499), and a daughter, Margaret, and a son, Richard, by her third husband his son, King Edward V. of England , born on 2. November 1470, allegedly murdered by his uncle King Richard III. in 1483 his daughter Margaret, born on 10.

April 1472, died in December 1472 his son Richard, Duke of York, born on 17. August 1473, allegedly murdered by his uncle King Richard III. in 1483, in 1478 he was married to Anne Mowbray (1472-1481), the only child of John Mowbray († 1476), 4th Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Nottingham and Warenne his daughter Anne, born in November 1475, died in 1511; she was married to Thomas Howard (1473-1554), 3rd Duke of Norfolk; she gave birth to four children, who all died shortly after the birth his son George, born in 1477, died in 1479 his daughter Catherine, born on 14. August 1479, died on 15.

November 1527, in 1495 she was married to William Courtenay (1475-1511), 1st Earl of Devon; she was the mother of Henry Courtenay, 1st Marquis of Exeter, born around 1496, who was executed by his cousin, the English King Henry VIII., on 9. January 1539, of Edward Courtenay (around 1497-1502) and of Margaret Courtenay (around 1499-before 1526) and she was the grandmother of Edward Courtenay (1527-1556), Earl of Devon his daughter Bridget, born on 10. November 1480, died around 1517; she became a Dominican nun in a cloister in Dartford Another Image: The Morris Clan EDWARD IV, KING OF ENGLAND HUSBAND: EDWARD IV, King of England. [ CHART A1 ].

Born 28 April 1442 at Rouen, Normandy, France; son of Richard PLANTAGENET, Duke of York, and Cecily NEVILLE . Edward was born in 1442, at Rouen in France, the eldest son of Richard, Duke of York, a leading claimant to the throne of England. York's challenge to the ruling family marked the beginning of the conflict known as the Wars of the Roses. When Richard was killed in 1460, at the Battle of Wakefield, pressing his claim against the Lancastrian king, Henry VI of England, Edward became his heir. With the support of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick ("The Kingmaker"), Edward, already showing great promise as a leader of men, defeated the Lancastrians in a succession of battles. While Henry and his militant queen, Margaret of Anjou, were campaigning in the north, Warwick gained control of the capital and had Edward declared king in London in 1461. Edward strengthened his claim with a decisive victory at the Battle of Towton in the same year, in the course of which the Lancastrian army was virtually wiped out.

Edward had numerous mistresses, the most well-known of whom is Jane Shore. Edward was tall, strong, handsome, and popular (and his grandson Henry VIII of England was much like him in these qualities). Warwick, believing that he could continue to rule through him, pressed him to enter into a marital alliance with a major European power. Edward, who had appeared to go along with the wishes of his mentor, then alienated Warwick by secretly marrying a widow, Elizabeth Woodville (having previously married the widow Eleanor Talbot even more secretly). With Elizabeth had a large group of relatively poor but very ambitious relations, who soon became powerful at Warwick's expense. The Earl changed sides and led an army against Edward. The king's army was defeated at the Battle of Edgecote, and Edward was captured. Warwick attempted to rule in the Edward's name, but the nobility, many of whom owed the preferments to the king, were restive. Warwick was forced to release Edward. Neither Warwick nor the king were powerful enough to subdue the other, until after a failed rebellion in 1470 Warwick was forced to flee to France.

There he joined forces with the Lancastrians, invaded again, and this time Edward was forced to flee. Henry VI was briefly restored to the throne, and Edward took refuge in Burgundy, where he raised an army to win back his kingdom. Philippe de Commines spent time with Edward while he was the guest of Louis de Bruges, sieur de la Gruthuyse, in 1470-1471. Later Commines said of King Edward: "He had been during the last twelve years more accustomed to his ease and pleasure than any other prince who lived in his time. He had nothing in his thoughts but les dames, and of them more than was reasonable; and hunting-matches, good eating, and great care of his person. . . [I]t is not surprising that his person was as jolly as any one I ever saw. He was then young, and as handsome as any man of his age; but he has since become enormously fat." Returning to England, he defeated Warwick at the Battle of Barnet.

With Warwick dead, he eliminated the remaining Lancastrian resistance at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, in the course of which the Lancastrian heir, Edward, Prince of Wales, was killed. Edward's two younger brothers, George, Duke of Clarence, and Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III of England), who were married to Warwick's two daughters, were at loggerheads for much of the rest of his reign. Clarence was eventually imprisoned and executed in the Tower of London. Commines explained that it was how much Edward owed them that had made Londoners eager to put him back on the throne, along with the fact that he was very popular with the women of that city, and they so nagged their husbands that the menfolk welcomed Edward back just "for the tranquility of their lives." He married Elizabeth LUCY [F243559].

In 1474 received an embassy from Scotland, one member of which was our ancestor (Sir) John COLQUHOUN [F565248], Lord of Colquhoun and Luss, that was sent to negotiate a marriage between the Scottish Royal Prince and Princess Cecilia, daughter of King Edward IV. Apparently the negotiations were not successful. Was Edward illegitimate? Questions about the paternity of Edward IV had been raised by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick in 1469 and repeated by George, Duke of Clarence shortly before his death in 1478, but with no evidence. Parliament seems to have addressed this rumour in Titulus Regius (the text of which is believed to come word-for-word from the petition presented by Buckingham to the assembly which met on June 25, 1483, to decide on the future of the monarchy). It describes Edward's brother Richard III as "the undoubted son and heir" of Richard, Duke of York and "born in this land" -- an oblique reference to his brother's birth at Rouen and baptism in circumstances which could have been considered questionable.

Dominic Mancini says that Cecily Neville, King Edward's and King Richard's mother, was herself the basis for the story: When she found out about Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, in 1464, "Proud Cis" flew into a rage. One of the things she said then was that she was of a good mind to declare he was illegitimate and so have him kicked off the throne for his foolishness. As historical novelist Sharon Kay Penman explains, paid propagandists for Henry Tudor, after he became Henry VII (and King Richard was dead), concocted out of whole cloth the story that Richard III had said his brother Edward was illegitimate: "Tudor's official historian, Polydore Vergil, . . . contend[ed] that Richard based his claim to the crown upon his brother Edward's illegitimacy. This was, of course, an out-and-out lie." Edward IV died suddenly 9 APR 1483 in Westminster, London, England. He was buried in Windsor Castle. He was succeeded by his twelve-year-old son, Edward V of England.

Although his son was quickly barred from the throne and succeeded by Richard of Gloucester, Edward IV's daughter, Elizabeth of York, later became the queen of Henry VII of England. MISTRESS: WIFE: Elizabeth Woodville. b: Bet. 1440 - 1450 in Graton Regis, Northamptonshire, ENGLAND d: June 08, 1492 in Abbey Bermondsey, ENGLAND. Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492) was the queen-consort of King Edward IV of England 1464-1483. She was the daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. In about 1452, she married Sir John Grey, 2nd Baron Ferrers of Groby, who was killed at the second Battle of St Albans in 1461, fighting for the Lancastrian cause. (This was ironic, as Edward IV was the Yorkist claimant to the throne.) Elizabeth had two sons from the marriage, Thomas (later Marquess of Dorset) and Richard.

Edward had many mistresses, the most notorious being Jane Shore, but Elizabeth insisted on marriage, which took place secretly (from the public but not from their family and friends) on May 1, 1464, at her family home in Northamptonshire. At the time, Edward's adviser, the Earl of Warwick, was negotiating a marriage alliance with France. When the marriage to Elizabeth Woodville became common knowledge, it was the cause of considerable rancour on Warwick's part, and when Elizabeth's relatives, especially her brother, Earl Rivers, began to be favored over him, he changed sides. (Nor was Warwick the only one who resented the way the queen's relatives scooped up favours and lucrative opportunities; in 1480, for example, when Elizabeth's obscure brother-in-law Sir Anthony Grey died, he was interred in St Albans Cathedral with a brass marker to rival the one for that abbey's greatest archbishop. That was nothing compared to the marriages the queen arranged for her family, the most outrageous being when her 20-year-old brother John Woodville married the dowager Duchess of Norfolk, widowed three times and nearly 80 but very, very wealthy.

The queen also married her 24-year-old sister Katherine (or Catherine) Woodville to Elizabeth's 12-year-old ward Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, who was quite wealthy already, too.) Elizabeth and Edward's marriage had produced ten children, including two sons who were still living at the time of the king's sudden death in 1483. The elder, Edward, had been born in sanctuary at Westminster Abbey in 1470, during the period when Edward IV was out of power during the Wars of the Roses. Elizabeth now, briefly, became Queen Mother, but on June 25, 1483, her marriage was declared null and void by Parliament in the act Titulus Regius on the grounds that Edward had previously promised to marry Lady Eleanor Talbot Butler, which was considered a legally binding contract that rendered any other marriage contract invalid as bigamous. (Eleanor Talbot had done the same thing Elizabeth Woodville did later: A widow who caught Edward's eye, she refused to give in to him until he promised to marry her.) This information came to the fore when Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, testified that he had carried out the ceremony.

On the basis of his evidence, all Elizabeth's children by Edward, including King Edward V, were declared illegitimate, and her brother-in-law, Richard III, accepted the crown and kept the two princes in the Tower of London, where they had already been lodged to await the coronation. The exact fate of the so-called Princes in the Tower is unknown but both were dead in this or the next reign. Elizabeth and her other children were in sanctuary again, fearing for their safety. This may have been to protect themselves against jealous courtiers who wanted their own back on the entire Woodville clan. Elizabeth then conspired with Lancastrians, promising to marry her eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, to the Lancastrian claimant to the throne, Henry Tudor (later King Henry VII), if he could supplant Richard. Following Henry's accession in 1485, Elizabeth Woodville's children by Edward IV were once again legitimised (because Henry wanted his wife to be the Yorkist heir to the throne, to cement his hold on it).

The former Queen Elizabeth Woodville, now simply Dame Elizabeth Grey again, died on June 8, at Bermondsey in London and was buried in the same chantry as her husband King Edward in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. CHILDREN of Elizabeth Woodville by Sir John Grey: Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset Richard Grey CHILDREN of Edward IV, King of England [F243558] and Elizabeth WOODVILLE: Elizabeth. (1466-15030. Queen of Henry VII. Mary Plantagenet, Princess Of England. b: August 1466-1467. d: May 23, 1482. buried in St. Geroge�s Chapel, Windsor Castle. Cecily Plantagenet, Princess Of England. b: March 20, 1468/69. She married (1) John WELLES, the first Viscount Welles (b: Bet. 1460 - 1470 d: 1486-1558) She married (2) Thomas KYMBE.

She died 24 AUG 1507. Edward V, King Of England. b: November 11, 1470 in Westminster Abbey, London, ENGLAND d: Abt. July 1483 Murdered in the Tower of London, Greater London, England. Margaret Plantagenet, Princess Of England. b: April 10, 1472 d: December 11, 1472. Buried in Westminster Abbey. Richard Plantagenet, Duke Of York. b: August 17, 1473 d: Abt. July 1483 Murdered in the Tower of London, Greater London, ENGLAND. Anne Plantagenet, Princess Of England. Born 2 NOV 1475. She married Thomas HOWARD, Duke of Norfolk. (b: 1474). She died 23 NOV 1511. George Plantagenet, Duke Of Bedford. b: March 1476/77 d: Abt. 1481. Buried in St. George�s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

Katherine (Catherine) Plantagenet, Princess Of England. b: Abt. August 14, 1479. She married William Countenay, 9th Earl of Devon (b: Bet. 1470 - 1480 d: 1500-1566). She died 15 NOV 1527. Bridget Plantagenet, Princess Of England. b: November 10, 1480. She became a nun at Dartford Priory in Kent. she d: 1517. WIFE: Eleanor Talbot. Lady Eleanor Talbot was a daughter of Sir John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. Her alleged pre-contract of marriage with King Edward IV of England was of great significance to the final fate of the Plantagenet dynasty. In 1449 or 1450, Eleanor married Sir Thomas Butler (son of Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley), who died some time before March 1461.

In the political turmoil surrounding the change of monarchs then, the widowed Eleanor's father-in-law took back one of the two manors he had settled on her and her husband when they married, but he did not complete the required paperwork by obtaining a licence for the transfer of title, and the new king, Edward IV, seized both the properties. The exact course of events is uncertain, but it seems that Lady Eleanor went directly to King Edward to ask him to return her property. Edward (who, though barely out of his teens, already had a reputation for womanizing) was more interested in her than in her property. It is said that Edward made a legally binding contract to marry her. According to the French political analyst, Philippe de Commines, the priest who later came forward and testified to having performed the ceremony was Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells. Edward married Elizabeth Woodville in 1464, and it was later suggested that one reason the marriage was not announced publicly was the danger that Eleanor would come forward with the news of her earlier marriage to the king. Robert Stillington rose to be Chancellor of England, along with other lucrative posts.

Lady Eleanor Butler died in a convent in June 1468 and was buried in the Church of the White Carmelites, Norwich, England. Some years later, the priest in question (Commynes is the only source who identifies him as Stillington) is said to have told King Edward's unstable and untrustworthy brother, George, Duke of Clarence, about the pre-contract. Clarence was already on the verge of rebellion against his elder brother; Edward now threw both his brother and Stillington into the Tower of London. Clarence was tried before Parliament (with Edward himself as his accuser) in January 1478, convicted of treason, and sentenced to be executed. There has been speculation that the reason Clarence was killed privately in the Tower ( whether he was really drowned in a "butt of Malmsey" wine or not) may have been that Edward wanted to ensure that he did not have an opportunity to disclose in public the secret that would make his brother's children illegitimate and himself the next in line for the throne. Stillington's imprisonment was to be a warning.

Only after Edward's death did he come forward publicly with that evidence, this time offering it to the future Richard III of England, to prevent Edward IV's son from being crowned as Edward V. Richard then took the throne. No records survive of the meeting of the Parliamentary Lords on June 9, 1483, where Stillington is said to have presented the evidence of the pre-contract, including documents and other witnesses. The Duke of Buckingham is supposed to have told Morton afterwards that he had believed that evidence when he saw it but had later changed his mind. When Henry VII of England came to the throne, he ordered all documents relating to the case to be destroyed, as well as the act of parliament by which Richard was enabled to claim the throne; so efficiently were his orders carried out that only one copy of Titulus Regius has ever been found. MISTRESS: Elizabeth LUCY. (WAYTE). Born between 1440 and 1450 at Lumley, Durham, England; daughter of William LUCY and Eleanor GREY. She died about 1490 at Lumley, Durham, England.

After Richard's death, Tudor "historians" -- including Sir Thomas More in his History of Richard III -- named Elizabeth Lucy as the woman Stillington testified he had married to Edward. Elizabeth Lucy (who may also have been called Elizabeth Wayte) was probably the mother of Edward IV's bastard son Arthur (Plantagenet), Viscount Lisle CHILDREN of Edward IV, King of England, and Elizabeth LUCY: [F121779]. Elizabeth PLANTAGENET . Born between 1460 and 1470. She married Thomas de LUMLEY [F121778]. Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle. (1461-1542). Arthur was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1540 on charges of plotting to betray Calais to the French; when the verdict came in acquitting him, he had a heart attack and died. SOURCES: [S1]. Descendants of Charlemagne. [S2].

Anne Neville, Richard III's Queen - Biography By Jone Johnson Lewis Anne Neville Facts: Occupation: wife of Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VI; wife of Richard of Gloucester, and, when he became King Richard III, Anne became Queen of England Dates: June 11 , 1456 - March 16, 1485 Also known as: Princess of Wales Anne Neville Biography Anne's father, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, called the Kingmaker, was a nephew of the Duke of York's wife, Cecily Neville . He came into considerable property and wealth when he married Anne Beauchamp ; they had no sons, only two daughters, of whom Anne Neville was the younger. These daughters would inherit a fortune, and thus their marriages were especially important in the royal marriage game. In 1460, Anne's father and his uncle, Edward, Duke of York and Earl of March, defeated Henry VI at Northampton. In 1461, Edward was proclaimed King of England as Edward IV. Edward married Elizabeth Woodville in 1464, surprising Warwick who had plans for a more advantageous marriage for him.

continue reading below our video 4 Tips for Improving Test Performance Marriage to Edward, Prince of Wales By 1469, Warwick had turned against Edward IV and the Yorkists, and joined the Lancastrian cause promoting the return of Henry VI. Henry's queen, Margaret of Anjou , was heading the Lancastrian effort, from France. Warwick married his older daughter, Isabel , to George, Duke of Clarence, a brother of Edward IV, and Clarence switched from the York to the Lancaster party. The next year, Warwick, apparently to convince Margaret of Anjou that he was trustworthy (because he had originally sided with Edward IV in unseating Henry VI), he married his daughter Anne to Henry VI's son and heir apparent Edward of Westminster, who had been Prince of Wales when his father ruled Warwick, Margaret and Edward of Westminster invaded England, Edward IV fled to Burgundy. Clarence switched sides and rejoined his Yorkist brothers, Anne's marriage to Edward of Westminster convincing him that Warwick had not intention to promote his kingship.

On April 14, at the Battle of Barnet, the Yorkist party was victorious, and Anne's father, Warwick, and a brother of Warwick, John Neville, were among those killed. Then on May 4, in the battle of Tewkesbury, the Yorkists won another decisive victory over Margaret of Anjou's forces, and Anne's young husband, Edward of Westminster, was killed either during the battle or shortly after. With his heir dead, the Yorkists had Henry VI killed days later. Anne was imprisoned by the victorious and restored king Edward IV. Richard of Gloucester When siding with the Yorkists earlier, Warwick had been trying to marry his younger daughter Anne to Edward IV's youngest brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester. Richard's other brother George, Duke of Clarence, was already married to Anne's sister, Isabel Neville . Anne and Richard were first cousins once removed, as were George and Isabel, all descended from Ralph de Neville and Joan Beaufort . (Joan was the daughter of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, and Katherine Swynford .) Because Warwick had no sons, his valuable lands and titles would go to his daughters' husbands at his death.

George (Clarence) tried to prevent the marriage of his wife's sister to his brother. His motivation likely was that he didn't want to divide his wife's inheritance with his brother. Edward IV also opposed the marriage. Clarence attempted to take Anne in as his ward, to control her inheritance. But in circumstances that are not really known, Anne escaped, and Anne, widowed in May of 1471, married Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in July of 1472. When Anne's sister Isabel died in 1476, shortly after her birth of a short-lived fourth child, and then Clarence was executed for yet another rebellion against his brother Edward IV in 1478, Anne took in her sister's two remaining children. George, Duke of Clarence, was executed in 1478 for plotting against Edward IV; Isabel had died in 1476. Anne Neville took charge of raising their children. (The daughter, Margaret Pole , was executed much later, in 1541, by Henry VIII.) The Young Princes When Edward IV died in 1483, his minor son, Edward, became Edward V.

But the young prince was never crowned; he was put into the charge of his uncle, Anne's husband, Richard of Gloucester, as Protector. Prince Edward and, later, his younger brother were taken to the Tower of London, where they disappeared from history, presumed killed, though when is not known. Stories have long circulated that Richard III was responsible for the deaths of his nephews, the "Princes in the Tower," to remove rival claimants for the crown. Henry VII, Richard's successor, also had motive and, if the princes survived Richard's reign, would have had opportunity to have them killed. A few have pointed at Anne Neville herself as having the motivation to order the deaths. Heirs to the Throne Richard had his brother's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville declared invalid and his brother's children declared illegitimate on June 25, 1483, thereby inheriting the crown himself as the legitimate male heir. Anne was crowned as Queen and their son, Edward, made Prince of Wales. But Edward died on April 9, 1484; Richard adopted his sister's son, Edward, Earl of Warwick, as his heir, probably at Anne's request.

Anne's Death Anne, reportedly never very healthy, fell ill in early 1485, and died on March 16, 1485. Buried in Westminster, her grave was unmarked until 1960. Richard quickly named a different heir to the throne, his sister Elizabeth's adult son, the Earl of Lincoln. With Anne's death, Richard was rumored to be plotting to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York , to secure a stronger claim to the succession. Stories soon circulated that Richard had poisoned Anne to get her out of the way. If that was his plan, he was foiled; Richard III's reign ended with his defeat by Henry Tudor , who was crowned Henry VII and married Elizabeth of York , bringing to an end the Wars of the Roses. Edward, Earl of Warwick, the son of Anne's sister and Richard's brother whom Richard adopted as heir, was imprisoned in the Tower of London by Richard's successor, Henry VII, and executed after he attempted to escape in 1499.

Fictional Representations of Anne Neville Shakespeare: In Richard III , Anne appears early in the play with the body of her father-in-law, Henry VI; she blames Richard for his death and that of her husband, the Prince of Wales, son on Henry VI. Richard charms Anne, and, though she also loathes him, she marries him. Richard early reveals that he does not intend to keep her long, and Anne is suspicious that he intends to kill her. She conveniently disappears as Richard begins a plan to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York . Shakespeare takes considerable license with history in his story of Anne. The time of the play is much compressed, and motives are likely also exaggerated or changed for literary effect. In the historical timeline, Henry VI and his son, Anne's first husband, were killed in 1471; Anne married Richard in 1472; Richard III took power in 1483 soon after his brother, Edward IV, died suddenly, and Richard ruled for two years, dying in 1485. The White Queen: Anne Neville is a major character in the 2013 miniseries, The White Queen .

Recent fictional representation: Anne is the subject of The Rose of York: Love & War by Sandra Worth, 2003, historical fiction.

Family of Anne Neville Parents: Mother: Anne de Beauchamp (1426-1492?), a wealthy heiress in her own right whose lands and title (Warwick) made her husband one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in England Father: Richard Neville , Earl of Warwick (1428-1471), known as the Kingmaker; a supporter of Richard, Duke of York, in his unsuccessful conflict for the crown against Henry VI, then a supporter of Edward IV's successful campaign and finally a supporter of restoring Henry VI, briefly successful but finally killed in battle at Barnet by Edward IV's forces Sister: Isabel Neville (September 5, 1451 - December 22, 1476), married to George, Duke of Clarence, brother of king Edward IV and of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) Marriages: 1470: betrothed to and in December married Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VI July 12, 1472: married Richard, Duke of Gloucester, later Richard III, brother of Edward IV Children of Anne Neville and Richard III: Edward, Prince of Wales (147

3 - April 9 , 1484) More women's history biographies, by name:

Question: Which English King was married to Elizabeth Woodville from 1464 to 1483?
Answer: EDWARD IV