Richard is made justiciar of north Wales for life by his brother, Edward IV

Tags: Edward IV, Richard III

Richard, Duke of York (stained glass at St Laurence, Ludlow, © Worcestershire Branch, Richard III Society)

Act of Accord

After unsuccessfully claiming his right to the crown in parliament on 10 October 1460, Richard, duke of York, had to accept the Act of Accord on 25 October 1460, which stipulated that he would be the heir to the throne after King Henry VI’s death, instead of the king’s son, Edward of Lancaster.

His claim was that while on his father’s side he was descended from Edward III’s fourth son, on his mother’s side he was descended from Edward III’s son.  The Lancastrian Kings including Henry VI, however, were descendents of the third son of Edward III.

While the Duke of York’s claim ultimately failed, it was the basis for his son Edward IV to succeed to the crown.

More on the Act of Accord here.

Tags: Edward IV, Henry VI, Parliament, Richard Duke of York

Ludford Bridge (© Mr M Evison and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence)

Battle of Ludford Bridge/Ludlow, Shropshire, won by the Lancastrians.

Warwick’s re-inforcements from the garrison of Calais under Andrew Trollope defected to the Lancastrians.  The Yorkist leaders fled, York and Rutland to Ireland, and Edward, Earl of March (York’s eldest son), Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, and his son Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, to Calais.  After the battle Cecily, Duchess of York, and her three youngest children George, Margaret and Richard, were taken prisoner by the Lancastrians and placed into the care of Cecily’s older sister Anne, Duchess of Buckingham.

A short description of the various battles of the Wars of the Roses can be found on the website of the Richard III Society.

Tags: Battles, Edward IV, Family, Henry VI, Richard III

Truce of Hesdin between Edward IV of England and Louis XI of France. In it, Louis renounced all aid to the Lancastrians.

Reference:

Diana E. S. Dunn, ‘Margaret (1430–1482)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.   [accessed online 20 Jan. 2011]

Tags: Edward IV, France, Margaret of Anjou

Edward IV flees to Burgundy, after the rebels under Earl of Warwick, who had by then sided with his former enemy Margaret of Anjou, invaded England with the help of French troops to restore Henry VI.  Edward was accompanied by his brother-in-law Anthony, Earl Rivers, and William Lord Hastings.  It seems his brother Richard (later Richard III) followed later after trying to gather to support for Edward in England.

Tags: Edward IV, Nevilles, Richard III

Statue of Edward IV on the gate of Magdalen College, Oxford (D. Preis)

Edward IV visits Oxford University and stays at Magdalen College on the invitation by the college’s founder, William Waynflete, bishop of Winchester.  The king arrived after sunset with a large company, innumerable torches burning before them. They spent the night and much of the next day at the College, where he listened to a brief speech congratulating him on his arrival and petitioning his support.  A statue of Edward on the gate commemorates his visit.

Reference:

Robert C Hairsine, “Oxford University and the Life and Legend of Richard III”, in:  Richard III:  Crown and People, ed. by J Petre, Richard III Society, 1985, pp. 307-332

Dorothea Preis

Tags: Edward IV, Oxfordshire

After having been imprisoned by Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (‘The Kingmaker’), following the Battle of Edgecote, Edward IV is in York making autonomous decisions again.

Tags: Edward IV

Treaty of Picquigny between Louis XI of France and Edward IV, Edward IV and many of his nobles were paid a ‘pension’ to return to England and not to take up arms against France again in his claim to the French throne.  Richard Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) is said to have opposed the treaty and refused the pension.

Tags: Edward IV, France, Richard III

Birth of Catherine of York, ninth child and sixth daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, at Eltham Palace, Greenwich.  Married to William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon.  After his death on 9 May 1511 she took a voluntary vow of chastitity.  Died on 15 November 1527 at Tiverton Castle, Devon.

Tags: Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville, Family