October 13, 1453: Birth of Prince Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales

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Anne Neville, Battle of Tewkesbury, Earl of Warwick, Edward IV of England, Edward of Westminster, George of Clarence, King Henry VI of England and Lord of Ireland, Margaret of Anjou, Prince of Wales, Richard III of England, Richard Neville, Richard of York, Wars of the Roses

Edward of Westminster (October 13, 1453 – May 4, 1471), also known as Edward of Lancaster, and Princes of Wales.

Early life

Prince Edward was born at the Palace of Westminster, London, the only son of King Henry VI of England, Lord of Ireland and his wife, Margaret of Anjou. Margaret of Anjou was born in the Duchy of Lorraine, the second eldest daughter of René, King of Naples, and Isabella, Duchess of Lorraine. Her father, René of Anjou was a member of the House of Valois-Anjou, a cadet branch of the French royal house, and the great-grandson of King Jean II of France. He was a prince of the blood, and for most of his adult life also the brother-in-law/cousin of the reigning King Charles VII of France. Other than the aforementioned titles, he was for several years also Duke of Bar and Duke of Lorraine.

At the time of Prince Edward of Westminster’s birth there was strife between Henry VI’s supporters and those of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, who had a claim to the throne and challenged the authority of Henry’s officers of state.

Henry VI was suffering from mental illness, and there were widespread rumours that the prince was the result of an affair between his mother and one of her loyal supporters. Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset and James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond, were both suspected of fathering Prince Edward; however, there is no firm evidence to support the rumours, and King Henry VI himself never doubted the boy’s legitimacy and publicly acknowledged paternity. Edward was invested as Prince of Wales at Windsor Castle in 1454.

War over the English throne

In 1460, King Henry VI was captured by the supporters of the Duke of York at the Battle of Northampton and taken to London. The Duke of York was dissuaded from claiming the throne immediately, but he induced Parliament to pass the Act of Accord, by which Henry VI was allowed to reign but Edward was disinherited, as York or his heirs would become king on Henry VI’s death.

Queen Margaret and Edward had meanwhile fled through Cheshire. By Margaret’s later account, she induced outlaws and pillagers to aid her by pledging them to recognise the seven-year-old Edward as rightful heir to the crown. They subsequently reached safety in Wales and journeyed to Scotland, where Margaret raised support, while the Duke of York’s enemies gathered in the north of England.

Prince Edward of York 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 as King Edward IV of England.

After Prince Richard, Duke of York was killed at the Battle of Wakefield, the large army which Margaret had gathered advanced south. They defeated the army of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, one of York’s most prominent supporters, at the Second Battle of St Albans. Warwick had brought the captive King Henry VI in the train of his army, and he was found abandoned on the battlefield.

Two of Warwick’s knights, William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville, and Sir Thomas Kyriell, who had agreed to remain with Henry VI and see that he came to no harm, were captured. The day after the battle, Margaret asked Edward what death the two knights should suffer. Edward readily replied that their heads should be cut off.

Exile in France

Queen Margaret hesitated to advance on London with her unruly army, and subsequently retreated. They were routed at the Battle of Towton a few weeks later. Margaret and Edward fled once again, to Scotland. For the next three years, Margaret inspired several revolts in the northernmost counties of England, but was eventually forced to sail to France, where she and Edward maintained a court in exile. (Henry VI had once again been captured and was a prisoner in the Tower of London.)

In 1467 the ambassador of the Duchy of Milan to the court of France wrote that Edward “already talks of nothing but cutting off heads or making war, as if he had everything in his hands or was the god of battle or the peaceful occupant of that throne.”

After several years in exile, Margaret took the best opportunity that presented itself and allied herself with the renegade Earl of Warwick. King Louis XI of France wanted to start a war with Burgundy, allies of the Yorkist King Edward IV. He believed if he allied himself to restoring Lancastrian rule they would help him conquer Burgundy. As a compliment to his new allies Louis made young Edward godfather to his son Charles.

In December 1470, Prince Edward was married to Anne Neville, younger daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and Anne Beauchamp, the daughter of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, and his second wife Isabel le Despenser. There is some doubt as to whether the marriage between Prince Edward and Anne Neville was ever consummated.

Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury

The Earl of Warwick returned to England and deposed King Edward IV, with the help of Edward IV’s younger brother, Prince George, the Duke of Clarence. Edward IV fled into exile to Burgundy with his youngest brother the Duke of Gloucester, while Warwick restored Henry VI to the throne.

Prince Edward and Margaret lingered behind in France until April 1471. However, Edward IV had already raised an army, returned to England, and reconciled with his brother the Duke of Clarence. On the same day Margaret and Edward landed in England (April 14), Edward IV defeated and killed the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. With little real hope of success, the inexperienced Prince Edward and his mother led the remnant of their forces to meet Edward IV in the Battle of Tewkesbury.

They were defeated and Edward of Westminster was killed.

According to some accounts, shortly after the rout of the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury, a small contingent of men under the Duke of Clarence found the grieving prince near a grove, and immediately beheaded him on a makeshift block, despite his pleas. Paul Murray Kendall, a biographer of Richard III, accepts this version of events.

Another account of Edward’s death is given by three Tudor sources: The Grand Chronicle of London, Polydore Vergil, and Edward Hall. It was later dramatised by William Shakespeare in Henry VI, Part 3, Act V, scene v.

Their story is that Edward was captured and brought before the victorious Edward IV and his brothers and followers. The king received the prince graciously, and asked him why he had taken up arms against him. The prince replied defiantly, “I came to recover my father’s heritage.” The king then struck the prince across his face with his gauntlet hand, and his brothers killed the prince with their swords.

However, none of these accounts appear in any of the contemporaneous sources, which all report that Edward died in battle.

Edward’s body is buried at Tewkesbury Abbey. His widow, Anne Neville, married the Duke of Gloucester, who eventually succeeded as King Richard III in 1483.

Legal Succession: Henry VI & Edward IV: Part Four.

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Anne Neville, Battle of Tewkesbury, Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, Duke of York, Edward prince of Wales, George Neville, George of Clarence, King Edward IV of England, King Henry VI of England, Kings and Queens of England, Montagu Neville, Richard Neville, The Earl of Warwick, the prince of Wales, Tower of London

With Edward IV now the legal King of England and Henry VI arrested and sitting in the Tower of London one may think that the Wars of the Roses was over, but such was not the case. In history Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, friend and ally of King Edward IV, was known as the kingmaker. He was truly the most powerful man in England.

In the last post on this subject I mentioned that Warwick wanted Edward to marry a foreign princess in an effort to secure a powerfully ally to support Edward’s claim to the throne. The king did not abide by Warkwick’s wishes and instead married Elizabeth Woodville. This created great tensions between the two powerful men. The king also refused a match between his brother, George, Duke of Clarence, and Isabel Neville, The Earl of Warwick’s daughter. Warwick’s brother, George Neville, archbishop of York, was dismissed as Chancellor of England and this was the final blow that pushed the Earl of Warwick to the Lancastrian side. When a plot to confront the king with Warwick’s troops was uncovered by Edward IV, Warwick fled to France.

While in France King Louis XI reconciled Queen Margaret, who had been living in France since her husband was deposed, with Warwick and the two began plotting to restore Henry VI to the throne. George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV, also supported Warwick in replacing his brother with Henry VI. An agreement was reached that Margaret’s son, Edward, The Prince of Wales, would now marry Anne Neville, the Earl of Warwick’s daughter.

A diversion was created in the north of England which drew the king North while the forces of Warwick and Clarence arrived in the south of England. Lead by Montagu Neville, the Earl of Warwick’s other brother, who brought his forces down from the north and with the forces of Warwick and Clarence coming from the south, Edward IV was surrounded. On October 2, 1470 King Edward IV fled to the Netherlands and Henry VI was restored to the throne. Parliament legalized this restoration by placing an Attainder on Edward IV’s lands and titles and created George, Duke of Clarence, Duke of York.

With years spent in captivity Henry VI was in no shape to rule so Warwick and the new Duke of York were the true powers behind the throne. However, in a rapid turn of events international politics came into play which placed the exiled Edward IV in a position to regain his throne. Another part of the tension between Warwick and Edward IV surrounded the conflicts between France and Burgundy. Warwick wanted to place his support with France while Edward IV supported Burgundy. When war between Burgundy and France began early in 1471 Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy placed troops at Edward IV’s disposal to help him regain the throne.

The forces of Edward IV and the Earl of Warwick met at the Battle of Barnet on April 14, 1471. The Duke of Clarence & York defected back to his brother’s side. The forces of Edward IV were triumphant and as the Earl of Warwick was escaping the battlefield he was dismounted from his horse and killed. His brother Montagu was also killed in the battle. It took one more battle, the Battle of Tewkesbury, on May 4, 1471 to restore Edward IV to the throne. At the Battle of Tewkesbury the Lancastrian forces were led by Queen Margaret and Edward, Prince of Wales. The Lancastrian forces were defeated and the Prince of Wales was killed in the battle (the only Prince of Wales to have died in battle).

Edward IV was restored to the throne. Henry VI was returned to the Tower of London and on the morning prior to the re-crowning of Edward IV, Henry VI was found dead. There has been a great deal of speculation of how Henry died. It was said he died as a result of the news of the death of his son, Edward, Prince of Wales at the Battle of Tewkesbury. It has also been believed that Edward IV ordered the death of Henry VI and that his brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester (later King Richard III) actually committed the murder himself.

So what does this say about the legality of the throne? The times of the Wars of the Roses were a time of civil unrest and a wrestling for power. Technically, the restoration of Henry VI was by right of conquest, although this conquest was not conducted by him, it was merely conducted in his name. At this point Henry VI was just a puppet whose strings were pulled by others.

With Edward IV restored to the throne the legal line by male prefered primogeniture was also restored. The House of Lancaster was decimated and defeated although factions from other genealogical lines would one day rise up once more. But from his restoration until his death Edward IV was soundly on the throne.