Unit 30 - Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII, 1399-1509
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Summary The Yorkists divided 1471-83
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Unit 30 - Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII, 1399-1509
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This document provides a full summary of the chapter of the Yorkists divided 1971-83. This is the depth topic in Lancastrians and Yorkists option 30 Edexcel A level history. I used these notes in my mocks to get an A* predicted and have a place at Oxford for history
Unit 30 - Lancastrians, Yorkists and Henry VII, 1399-1509
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The Yorkists divided 1478 – 85
Brief timeline:
1478 February – Clarence is privately executed in the Tower
1483 9th April – Edward IV dies at Westminster
1483 Late April – Richard of Gloucester, supported by an armed retinue, intercepts Edward V’s party
at Stony Stratford and arrests members of the young kings household
Edward V’s coronation delayed
Queen Elisabeth seeks sanctuary at Westminster Abbey with her second son, Richard.
1483 May – Richard and Edward V enter London together and Edward is housed in the Tower of
London. Gloucester is named as the protector.
1483 June 13th – Gloucester arrests a number of Henry IV’s leading allies in the council meeting
1483 June 26th – Richard proclaims himself as King Richard III
1483 July 6th –Coronation of Richard III
1483 Late July – Plot to free prices from the Tower of London uncovered. Those involved put on trial
and found guilty. Later in the summer, Princes in the tower disappear and are assumed dead.
1483 Late September - Rebellion against Richard III in favour of Henry Tudor (led by Buckingham).
1483 November – Rebellion of Henry Tudor fails and he returns to Brittany
1484 Autumn – Tudor flees from Brittany to France where he gains support for his invasion of
England from Charles VIII’s minority council
1485 22nd August – Battle of Bosworth. Richard III killed and Henry Tudor takes the throne as Henry
VII .
Edward IV and the breach with the Earl of Warwick
Edward’s initial dependency on Warwick:
- Edward depended on on the Earl of Warwick, especially in regard to defending the Scottish
border against attack from the Scots
- Edward’s reliance to Warwick gained him favours and he was lavished with land and status’
- Warwick was the major power house behind Edward in the early 1960s
- He engaged in important diplomatic missions on behalf of the king.
- Various foreign commentators noted how influential Warwick was at court, depicting him as
an ‘over mighty’ noble.
Edward’s growing tensions with Warwick
- Warwick, in 1464 for a year, had been seeking to arrange a match between Edward and the
French king’s sister in law, Bona.
- Warwick had been working on this match as he believed it would lead to peace between the
two nations
- Edward instead married Elisabeth Woodville in may of 1464.
- Edward kept his marriage to Elisabeth secret for over 6 months and was deeply humiliating
for the earl
- Final turning point was when Edward chose to make alliance with Burgundy over France.
Burgundians were enemies of France
- Warwick also alienated by Woodville’s. Elisabeth encouraged the king to oppose marriage of
Isabel Neville to Clarence.
Why was Elisabeth unsuitable for Edward
- She was english and brought no advantage in terms of foreign policy
- She was a member of the gentry (poor in the standards of nobles) and brought no wealth
- She was a widow with two sons (kings supposed to marry virgins)
, - Her former husband (Sir Thomas Grey) had supported the Lancastrians (along with her
father)
- She came from large family and encouraged Edward to reward them lavishly
Warwick’s changing allegiance
- From 1467, Warwick’s allegiance appeared to be changing (at least from the perspective of
the French/ Lancastrians)
- In the winter of 1467 he remained absent from court without permission from Edward
- Warwick took his revenge when he sailed to Calais in 1469 and arranged a marriage
between Duke of Clarence and his daughter Isabel (marriage which took place on 11 th July)
- Following the marriage, Clarence and Warwick jointly published criticism of Edward’s
government (especially in regard to Richard Woodville who had gained title of Earl rivers)
Warwick and Clarence’s ‘rebellion’
- Warwick’s forces successfully fought King’s forces at the Battle of Edgecote on 26 th July 1469
and later the king was captured and imprisoned
- Warwick may have wished to depose Edward but had no choice but to release him due to
the extent of the disorder in England.
- There was an attempt at reconciliation but Warwick clearly felt insecure and fled to the
court of Louis XI
Warwicks ‘second rebellion/ attempt at usurpation’
- Here, from the work of Louis, Margaret of Anjou and Warwick were able to reconcile
- To seal the pact, Anne Neville married Prince Edward (Henry VI son) and Warwick agreed to
return Henry VI to the throne
- In autumn 1470, Warwick reinvaded England and Edward IV fled and Henry VI was
reinstated
- The reinstated Henry VI did not last long with Edward IV invading England and landing in
Humber in March 1471 supported by Burgundian troops
- Clarence betrayed Warwick and returned to his brothers side bringing 4000 troops with him
- By 11th April the Yorkists had seized Henry VI and on April 14 th they forced Henry VI to come
to face Warwick at the battle of Barnet (In order to create confusion and exploit conflicting
loyalties)
- Warwick was defeated and killed as he tried to escape
- Henry VI imprisoned and Edward returned as king
- Yorkist success was solidified when winning the Battle of Tewksbury where the Lancastrian
Price Edward died as well as Margaret of Anjou captured.
- Margaret of Anjou’s choice to invade a month later than Warwick was the fatal flaw and led
to the defeat.
Edward’s success and start of second reign
- Henry VI died in Tower of London two weeks later after the battle of Tewksbury
- When Edward returned to the throne in 1471, his position was far stronger and he had
proved that no noble could control him
- As Henry VI and Prince Edward were both dead there was no figurehead to lead a rebellion
- Death of both Lancastrian king and his son meant that Edward could reconcile with
Lancastrian supporters and made sure they found places in the new regime to prevent any
further rebellions eg Sir Richard Tunstall
- Richard Neville (Warwick) was dead so he no longer posed a threat.
Royal patronage and the quarrel of Clarence and Gloucester over land
- Downfall of Warwick as well as some other supporters meant that Edward had a lot of land
to redistribute
- This needed to be done with care to prevent another ‘over mighty’ noble
- Edward concentrated most of the new land and wealth in his families hand (with both
Clarence and Gloucester receiving large quantities of land)
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