Edward IV York, King of England
General Notes: Edward IV (1442-83), king of England, son of Richard, duke of York, and Cicely Nevill, daughter of the first earl of Westmoreland, was born in Rouen, France. During his father’s lifetime he was known as the Earl of March. After his father’s death at Wakefield (1460), he became the head of the Yorkist party, of which the great Earl of Warwick was the leader. He defeated the Lancastrians, under the Earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire, at Mortimer’s Cross (1461); pushed on to London, and laid claim to the crown; and in the Battle of Towton (March 29, 1461) completely overthrew the Lancastrians. His reign was a constitutional disappointment, for he lessened the importance of Parliament, collected benevolences, employed torture, and deprived men of their right to trial by jury. Consult J. R. Green’s History of the English People. [World Wide Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1935] Noted events in his life were: • Title: King of England, 1461-1470. • Title: King of England, 1471-1483. Edward married Elizabeth Woodville, daughter of Sir Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta de St. Pol, of Luxembourg, on 1 May 1464 in Grafton, Northamptonshire, England.782 (Elizabeth Woodville was born about 1437 in Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire, England 782 and died on 7 Jun 1492 in Bermondsey Abbey, London, England 782.) Edward also had a relationship with Jane Shore. (Jane Shore died in 1527.) Edward next married Lady Elizabeth Lucy. |