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See also: king of
See also: England, son of See also: Richard, duke of See also: York, by See also: Cicely Neville, was See also: born at See also: Rouen on the 28th of See also: April 1442
.
As a boy he was styled See also: earl of See also: March, and spent most of his
See also: time at See also: Ludlow
.
After the Yorkist failure at Ludlow See also: field in
See also: October 1459, See also: Edward fled with the earls of See also: Salisbury and See also: Warwick, his See also: uncle and See also: cousin, to See also: Calais
.
Thence in the following See also: July he accompanied them in their successful invasion of England, to be welcomed in See also: London, and to share in the victory over the Lancastrians at Northampton
.
After the acceptance of Richard of York as heir to the See also: crown, Edward returned to the Welsh See also: marches, where early in the new
See also: year he heard of his See also: father's defeat and See also: death at Wakefield
.
Hastily gathering an army he defeated the earls of Pembroke and See also: Wiltshire at See also: Mortimer's See also: Cross on the 2nd of See also: February 1461, and then marched on London
.
He was acclaimed by the citizens in an See also: assembly at See also: Clerkenwell, declared king by a Yorkist council, and took possession of the regality on the 4th of March
.
Soon after the new king and the earl of Warwick went See also: north, and on the 28th of March won a decisive victory at See also: Towton
.
Edward owed his See also: throne to his kinsmen the Nevilles, and he was content for the time to be guided by them
.
For himself he was See also: young and fond of pleasure
.
Still he made frequent progresses, and took some See also: part in the fighting that went on in the north during 1462 and 1463
.
But he was absent from the final victory at See also: Hexham on the 14th of May 1464, and was at the very time engaged in contracting a secret See also: marriage with See also: Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Woodville,
See also: Lord See also: Rivers, and widow of See also: Sir See also: John
See also: Grey of Groby (d
.
1461)
.
The marriage was disclosed at Michaelmas, much to the vexation of Warwick, who in pursuit of his See also: foreign policy had projected a match with a French princess
.
Edward heaped favours on his new relatives; his father-in-See also: law was made treasurer, and See also: great marriages were found for his wife's sisters and See also: brothers
.
In foreign affairs also Edward thwarted Warwick's plans by favouring an See also: alliance with See also: Burgundy rather than See also: France
.
There was, however, no open breach till 1469, when Warwick, taking See also: advantage of the unpopularity of the Woodvilles, and supported by the king's next See also: brother See also: George, duke of See also: Clarence, appeared in arms
.
Edward was surprised and made prisoner at See also: Middle-See also: ham, and Rivers was beheaded
.
For six months Edward had to submit to Warwick's tutelage; then on the occasion of a rising in See also: Lincolnshire he gathered an army of his own
.
Sir Robert See also: Welles, the See also: leader of this See also: rebellion, made a confession implicating Warwick, who fled with Clarence to France
.
The king thought himself secure, but when Warwick and Clarence made terms with the Lancastrian exiles, Edward in his turn had to seek See also: refuge in See also: Holland (
See also: September 1470)
.
His brother-in-law, See also: Charles of Burgundy, at first refused him any assistance, but at last furnished him with
See also: money, and on the 14th of March 1471 Edward and his brother Richard landed with a small force at Ravenspur near See also: Hull
.
Marching See also: south he was welcomed at London on the 11th of April, defeated Warwick at See also: Barnet three days later, and the Lancastrians at See also: Tewkesbury on the 4th of May
.
From thenceforth Edward's possession of the crown was secure . His position was strengthened by the See also: birth of a son (2nd of See also: November 1470, during his exile), and by the See also: wealth which he acquired through the confiscation of the estates of his opponents
.
Clarence had made his See also: peace with Edward, but was at enmity with his other brother Richard of See also: Gloucester, who now married Warwick's second daughter and claimed a share in the Neville See also: inheritance
.
Their rivalry and Clarence's continued intrigues furnished Edward with his chief domestic difficulty; the trouble was ended by the judicial See also: murder of Clarence in 1478
.
The only serious enterprise of these latter years was the See also: short French war of 1475, from which Edward was bought out by the treaty of Pecquigny
.
As foreign policy it was inglorious, and involved a departure from Edward's earlier See also: plan of a Burgundian affiance
.
However, it shows a certain recognition of England's need to concentrate her energies on her own development
.
The See also: annual subsidy which See also: Louis XI. agreed to pay further served Edward's purposes by providing him with money for home
See also: government, and enabled him to avoid possible trouble through the See also: necessity for too frequent parliaments and heavy See also: taxation
.
So Edward's See also: personal See also: rule became in its character autocratic; but it was in the See also: art of courting popularity and concealing despotism that he most shows himself as a type of tyranny
.
He lacked neither ambition nor capacity, but was indolent and only exerted himself spasmodically
.
He could be ruthless, but was not habitually cruel
.
His strongest weapons were the See also: fine presence, the affable See also: manners (even with citizens), and the love of pleasure and entertainments which secured his personal popularity
.
In his last years he was given to self- indulgence and scandalous excesses, which did not, however, alienate the London citizens, with whose wives he was tooSee also: familiar
.
Most of the power at See also: court was in the hands of the Woodvilles, in spite of their unpopularity; the more arduous See also: work of administration in the north was See also: left to Richard of Gloucester
.
If as a See also: prince of the See also: Renaissance Edward was the first to rule tyrannically in England, he also deserves See also: credit as a See also: patron of the new culture and friend of See also: Caxton; he further resembles his See also: Italian contemporaries in the commercial purposes to which he applied his wealth in partnership with London merchants
.
Edward died at See also: Westminster on the 9th of April 1483, and was buried at Windsor
.
By Elizabeth Woodville, who died on the 8th of See also: June 1492, he had two sons, Edward V. and Richard of York, who were murdered in the Tower; and five daughters, of whom the eldest, Elizabeth, married See also: Henry VII
.
Of his numerous mistresses the most notorious was Jane
See also: Shore
.
Before his marriage he had been contracted to Lady Eleanor See also: Butler, and this was alleged by Richard III. to have made his
See also: children by Elizabeth Woodville illegitimate
.
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