To what extent was the crisis of 1470 brought about by the marriage of Edward IV to Elizabeth Woodville.
A level essay for war of the roses source question
To what extent was the crisis of 1470 brought about by the marriage
of Edward IV to Elizabeth Woodville (20)
The 1470 crisis occurred when Edward IV lost the throne due to his scandalous
marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, where Edward prioritised love instead of
using the union as a diplomatic tool. However, the crisis can be argued to have
been caused by other factors such as Edwards role as a king, other marriages,
Warwick and Edwards age difference, clarence and the role of Louis XI of
France.
The humiliation of Warwick negotiating a match with Bona of Savoy in 1464
can be considered to be the most important factor which led to the crisis of
1470, since Edward IV secretly married without informing Warwick of his
actions, this would have obviously made Warwick feel grief as he had been a
father figure to Edward after the former duke of York died in 1460 at the battle
of Wakefield. Due to the unintentional actions of Edward IV, Warwick felt as if
he needed to plot against Edward, this was not only because of Edwards
Scandalous marriage but because of Warwick’s general dislike for the
Woodville’s which later became hatred since Edward prioritised the marriages
of Woodville women over Warwick’s daughter to Clarence (Edwards brother)
since he believed that marriage for the noblemen should be to secure alliances
between families which was a typical thing for Edward to say after marrying a
women who came from minor nobility.
Other factors that can be considered to be much more important than the
Woodville marriage which could have led to the crisis of 1470 is the failure of
Edward IV controlling the power of his nobility because he relied on the
persuasive power of his own personality; this later had an effect on him as he
couldn’t enforce his own law about retaining. This was not the only flaw of
Edward IV but he later compromised a marriage between his sister Margaret
and the duke of Burgundy in July 1468 not only did this anger Warwick even
more because he initially tried to secure alliances with France rather than
Burgundy through Edwards marriage with Bona of Savoy, but it also caused
Louis XI (king of France) to become annoyed because of his dislike for Edwards
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