The Betrayal And Revenge Of King Edward | Wars Of The Roses | Real Royalty

Almost 600 years ago England was torn apart by a series of bloody battles for the throne in just 30 years the crown changed hands seven times thousands of people were massacred it was one of the most turbulent and violent periods in British history known as the

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of the Roses in 1461, six years after the Wars of the Roses broke out, the imbecile Henry VI, practically the weakest

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England had ever known, was snatched away by the young and charismatic Edward IV. The man who put it there was one of the most powerful barons in England. Richard Neville Earl of Warwick The story goes that Warwick, the

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maker, turned evil by sinking the country into Anakin and Edward had to destroy his mind.

I am going to show you that the truth is that the seeds of Warwick's destruction were sown from the day Edward became king. Still, it took Edward seven long years to learn the hardest lessons about kingship: that to save his country a good king must do bad things, and to be a great king, the kingmaker must die. The foreign mist of a Yorkshire field. The bloodiest battle ever fought. British soil is finally ending. The foreign Count of March has bet that he can take the crown from the useless Henry VI and his scheming wife Margaret of Anjou and in this battle he has had great success: the forces of the king and queen have been annihilated by the incompetent King.

Henry VI is forced to flee to Scotland with his wife and his son. This is the total victory for Eduardo. This is the battlefield where Edward triumphs outside the village of Toughton, south of York. Perhaps 60,000 men lined this field and contemporaries estimated 28,000. Of them were massacred in just 10 hours, that is practically half of the troops that took to the field that morning, the ground is saturated with their blood. Henry VI may still be alive, but the Throne of England is now occupied by Edwards, who is next to him, the man who more than anyone else made it all happen Richard Neville Earl of Warwick the kingmaker vigorously ambitious and only 18 years let us thank God Edward Earl of March is now Edward IV the twelfth plantagenet King of England is well, but Edwards inherited a country that has been torn apart by blood feuds it has been only three months since the same soldiers Edwards just defeated his father, the Duke of York, was killed, heal his position as King Edward needs to end the cycle of violence, it is a great challenge for any leader, the man who will help him. achieving it is his closest ally Warwick England is a focus of unrest to stabilize him.

One of Edward's first jobs is to put an end to trouble in the violent North, and of course Warwick is willing to do it. This is Bambra Castle in Northumberland, freezing rain. devastated the northern power base of Sir Ralph Percy, the troublemaking leader and staunch supporter of Henry VI and Queen Margaret, the dangerous queen is in exile just over the Scottish border, just 20 miles from Percy. Edward needs to make sure she won't be welcomed back if she tries to get

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on him, so on Christmas Eve 1462, after a siege that lasted less than a month, Warwick stormed this castle and took Percy prisoner while Edward fought. for the throne, Percy decisively sided with Margaret and Henry VI, that is now treason and Percy should die.

Instead, Edward offers him an extraordinary choice: he could cut off his head or, alternatively, he could join Edward's cause and keep his castles, his land and, of course, his life, beheading or a life of luxury, It's not the hardest decision I've ever made. This is Edward's grand plan to secure his government, turn his enemies into allies, build a broad alliance to save England's fractured policy abroad. For the first time in more than six years, the country calms down and Edward settles into the role. of king one man more than any other is responsible for Edward's success Warwick has been the young king's mentor since long before Edward's father died, he is the go-to person, the man who gets things done for the king and does he know it, or is he

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ly Edward's right hand man, who makes kings. man and wants to keep it that way three years into his reign, things are getting better for Edward, he is getting the country's nobility on his side and money has begun to flow into a treasury that was bankrupt during his government. of Enrique.

There's just one more thing on your to-do list. finding a wife and it's not just about producing an heir to the throne, a well-chosen royal marriage could cement foreign alliances, boost trade, even increase military strength, your excellence or, with a little luck, all three at the same time. time as the king's right hand. Warwick believes that there is only one man capable of choosing a winning bride for Eduardo. Him, my pardon, his excellence. May I take my leave, Your Excellency, for the matters of state we spoke of? I am very pleased to find you well, sir, please, in March 1464 with The Blessing of Edward Warwick meets with the envoys of King Louis XI of France to arrange the king's marriage to the French princess of Savoy.

This union could end the endless conflicts with England's deadliest enemy, France, with many details, but I pray for order over the course of several weeks that it successfully broke as an agreement for the king to marry the French princess . Warwick is clearly a man in charge to the point that a French dignitary later jokes that the English have two rulers, Warwick and another whose name I have forgotten, that sort of thing can go to a man's head Warwick is The power behind the throne that has become King Edward has now also organized the future of the royal dynasty in September 1464 Warwick arrives to read the Abbey with other high-ranking nobles of England to confirm Edward's marriage arrangements and he can announce It is for the adulation of the great and good Kingdoms, which could go wrong before Warwick or any of the other Nobles have a chance to speak.

Edward stands up to make an announcement of his own, gentlemen, I have good news for you, you are now married. she married almost five months ago, while Warwick was still negotiating with the French. My consort is a lady of great virtue, wit and beauty. Lady Elizabeth Woodville, worse than a valuable foreign princess. He chose one of her own subjects and she married him before. An unprecedented king has made a fool of Warwick and everyone knows it after the coronation ceremony that Edward celebrates and offers a spectacular banquet for his new queen. Edward may be pleased with his new bride, but in the eyes of Warwick and many of the other nobles.

Queen Elizabeth's family is basically the enemy because her father, Sir Richard Woodville, fought against Edward at Towton. Warwick feels so betrayed that he doesn't even show up, but even if the Woodvilles were whiter than white, most of the nobility would find his elevation to the top. of society is quite difficult to accept, thank you. Isabel may be extraordinarily beautiful, but she is a widow, already has two children, and comes from a large family of extremely ambitious but very minor nobles. Edward IV, King of England, has basically married a chav that Elizabeth brings with her. the whole family to celebrate are two sons three brothers six sisters his mom and dad and his extended family this seems less like a celebration for Edward and his new Queen more like a launch invasion by the Woodvilles most of the older nobility are Quite dissatisfied with what they do, they see it as a huge group of low-ranking opportunists who interfere with the well-established order.

Edward is already planning to start forcibly marrying the woods to the old aristocracy. Elizabeth's 20-year-old brother John will end up married to the 65-year-old Countess of Oxford, that's all. very unpleasant by marrying Elizabeth, he knew he would anger Warwick, which is why he kept it a secret for so long. Rumors spread that Edward had fallen for the oldest trick in the book, which the beautiful Elizabeth simply went out of her way to achieve, marriage apparently being the only way she could. I bet Elizabeth is certainly the kind of person who would have played that card: she's smart, beautiful, ruthlessly loyal to her own family, and extremely ambitious.

It seems incredibly as if the opinionated Edward IV married for love or at least lust, and that's easy enough. so people believe that Edward has a fabulously deserved reputation for being guided by his guts, but I think there's more to it than the marriage fits perfectly with Edward's plan to get closer to his former enemies by starting with the wood fillings he's willing to give them. the benefit of the doubt as far as Edward is concerned they simply backed the wrong horse at Towton in 65, three months after Elizabeth's coronation, Edward receives a belated wedding gift, left exile in Scotland and is caught lurking in the north from England.

Edward hasn't. locked up here in the Tower of London, but instead of executing him, Edward maintains his policy of approaching his former enemies, so he orders that Henry be treated well. They housed him in the Royal Apartments. They gave him good food and wine. He even allowed visitors. Things seem to be going incredibly well for Edward, but he knows that he has snubbed Warwick and the King does everything he can to make it up to him. Gives him Cockermouth Castle, the hereditary office of Sheriff of Westmoreland, custody of all the royal forests north of the Trent prophets of all the Royal Gold and Silver Mines in the same region

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hip of the lands of the rich Pier Lord Lovell and control of the most imposing Dover Castle in England, but Warwick already has money and land, what he wants, what he needs is to be Edward's indispensable right-hand man, just as he has always been, and that is the only thing that Edward cannot give him.

Warwick was the perfect ally to take the crown, ruthless and bold, but that is in the past, what England needs now is stability, not war, and that is why from Edward's From Warwick's point of view, the Woodvilles of the future are an essential part of his plan to extend royal influence to the rest of the nobility, but from Warwick's point of view, he is the only one who should be able to exert that kind of influence over the rest of the nobility. reign Edward can have Warwick or he can have the wood fillings he can't have both and squaring that circle will haunt the next five years of Edward's reign in 1467 Edward sends Warwick to see his French allies, both Warwick and the French King Louis XI they think they are negotiating a lucrative new trade deal between the two countries they are not Edward just wants to get Warwick out of the way I pray you are well my Lord thank you because he is about to completely humiliate him with Warwick out of the way Edward organizes a massive tournament at Smithfield, just outside the city walls of London, thank you, it serves a purpose to ally England with the Burgundians, Woodville's favourites.

Unfortunately, they happen to be the mortal enemies of Warwick's friends, the French, my lords, pride of place goes to the Queen's brother, Anthony Woodville. he has been fighting the guest of honor, the son of the Duke of Burgundy, in the tournament fight. Putting a Burgundian in the show fight is the most public announcement possible that Edward doesn't give a damn about the French, when the French discover that. the English king is in bed with the hated Burgundians they will know that Warwick has become completely irrelevant my king would solemnly accept these terms he has clearly made his choice he has chosen the woods instead of Warwick Warwick is supposed to be King Edward's right hand man he has made him look like a fool again no wonder Warwick is getting paranoid that his influence on Edward is fading.

Warwick is not the type of man to quietly disappear into retirement, so he comes up with a plan to regain his influence with the King. can marry his daughter Elizabeth to the king's shallow and selfish younger brother, the Duke of Clarence, until Elizabeth produces a son, Clarence's heir to the crown, so Warwick clearly sees this as a form of LeapFrog for Woodfills Grace, my daughter's union with Lord Clarence. would be clear enough will not be Edward outright rejects the Warwick Prairie proposal will not discuss it further he argues that Clarence has to marry for political gain his cousin moves in, who is quite wealthy considering Edward's own record, power and influence of Warwick about the King being missing, it is an intolerable position for the kingmaker, have you intentionally made my victory so easy? foreigner if there is any doubt about who he blames for the breakup Warwick explains it by refusing to attend a meeting of the King's Council in Coventry if the queen Father Lord Rivers is present.

Warwick hates the Queen's Woodville family so passionately that he can't even stand to be in the same room as them, so what is he going to do about it? Warwick doesn't have to wait long for

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. Two years after the tournament, tax riots broke out across the North, fueled by rumors that the forests were diverting tax money for themselves.The riots themselves threatened to shatter the fragile peace Edward had built, fan the flames and set the kingdom alight. Richard Neville Earl of Warwick in June 1469 rumors circulated that 60,000 men were gathering in Yorkshire under the banner of the mysterious rebel Robin of Reedsdale.

The chroniclers describe it as the great insurrection. Robin of Reedsdale must be stopped suddenly. The king needs Warwick back in the game. On July 9, Edward writes to Warwick asking for help, but in return receives a deafening silence, hurt and bitter at having been discarded by the king. Warwick turned to Edward's weak and venal younger brother, Clarence. They are in Calais, where the Warwicks married Clarence to his daughter, some scheming by Warwick is a direct violation of royal orders and a very explicit challenge to royal authority. Edward writes to Warwick again almost immediately, saying that his flock is up to no good and demanding that he meet the king in Nottingham to explain himself.

Warwick and Clarence don't come, instead publishing an open letter. There is a copy from 500 years ago here in the Bodlean library in Oxford and this is it and it starts well, reliable and much loved, we greet you well, that's hello in medieval English, but then they get right to the point and say that certain people seditionists have been practicing deceitful greedy rule over the king who are those people? Well, here they are called Lord Rivers and the Duchess of Bedford, that is the mother and father of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, mention Lord Scales, that is her brother Anthony, Sir John Woodville and his brothers and others of his mischievous opinion of government, in other words, any of We may have forgotten to mention the Woodville clan and accuses them of enriching themselves at the expense of the country, but what is

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ly surprising is the last line of this letter which says that anyone who shares this opinion should be in Canterbury next Sunday.

Rebellion open invitations thus far from siding with the king Warwick and Clarence are supporting the rebels or if you want to say another way they have gone rogue July 16, 1469 Warwick lands in Kent with his new son-in-law, the younger brother of Edward, Clarence, two days later they head north from London at the vanguard of an army. Warwick publicly tells anyone who will listen that he is on Eduardo's side and that he is just trying to save his friend from the woods. How very selfless of him to be with the king at Nottingham with a small army. Cunningly creating a pincer movement, the king is trapped between Warwick approaching from the south and Robin of Reedsdale's men in the north.

Warwick goes to war with the king. The confrontation on July 26 is less of a battle and more of a route for Warwick's forces to annihilate. the royalists and Warwick bring Edward as a prisoner here to Midland Castle. Warwick's success may seem like an opportunistic punt taking advantage of Robin of Readsdale's rebellion and that is certainly what Warwick wants everyone to believe, but we now know that Reedsdale's shadowy figure is almost certainly Sir John Conyers, yours truly. loyal to the kingmaker, the entire rebellion was led by Warwick, the ruined king. The question is what his ultimate goal is, because if you're going to imprison a king, you better be prepared to replace him and kill him.

Also, Warwick's best option might be to declare Edward a bastard and replace him with the vain and malleable Clarence, but that will never work as long as Edward is still alive and Warwick isn't ready to take the final step, so maybe he's trying to keep things open. your options. but he has the king locked up. I don't think he really thought this through because Warwick has refused to kill the king. Instead, he takes out his frustration and hatred in a killing spree designed to wipe out as many wood fillers as possible. The highest profile. The victim is Edward's father-in-law, Lord Rivers, on 12 August 1469.

He was executed at Kennelworth Castle without a trial and without a king at large. The fragile piece that Edward built among his warring nobles is now collapsing into violence with astonishing speed, and the unrest that Warwick engineered during the Reedsdale riots shot fire into it, causing the rest of the country to put the brakes on the violence. Warwick asks other nobles for help to stabilize the country, but they get nothing out of helping Warwick, so they just laugh at him. after all, he was the one who arrested the king and triggered all the trouble in the first place.

This is exactly why Warwick is such a poor ally in peacetime. Exactly why Edward was marginalizing him. Warwick's big fast action, the pins, the move he used to capture Edward. Well, that's what he likes, but he can't understand it, and the politics and compromises necessary to actually govern a country. Warwick's decision to seize Edward without a coherent plan to replace or kill him has blown up in his face and England is descending into Anarchy just over a month after locking up Edward, Warwick is forced into a catastrophic descent. Come on, the word awkward probably doesn't do justice to the first meeting between Warwick and the King, so everything that was done was done for the good of the Kingdom Edward's support for control of England His ladder policy to appease his enemies Forgives Warwick and Clarence It is recorded that Edward even calls them his best friends, but Warwick clearly remains a dangerous man and England remains dangerously unstable March 1470 Rebellion breaks out in Lincolnshire and Edward sends out the troops, they encounter the rebels In the village of Empingham, near Peterborough, Edward's men disperse the rebels and, as they run, tear off any clothing that might identify them, which is why the site of the battle is known as a loose battlefield, but when Edward's men Edward runs across rebel leader Sir Robert Wells, finding letters hidden inside his helmet implicating Warwick and Clarence in the Rebellion.

It is irrefutable proof. Edward will never be able to trust them again. This is Warwick's second act of

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. He is stubborn, but he is not a fool. He knows that the king will come for him and this time there will be no hugs or best friends. Warwick, the powerful kingmaker, completely disgraced is forced to run for the safety of France, taking Clarence with him. Warwick now has only two options he can live with. his life in exile or he can go big and try to take down Edward permanently, but to achieve this he needs a powerful ally, someone who, if possible, hates Edward even more than Margaret of Anjou, the former's wife.

King Henry VI. Laura Clarence, since the capture of her husband almost 10 years ago, has been living in frustrated and helpless exile in her native France. My queen. From this meeting between the enraged Warwick and the furious former queen emerges an impressive and scandalous plan to oust Edward from the throne and replace him. him with Henry VI, the Old King, currently locked up in the tower, after all, oryx, the kingmaker, isn't he? He did it for Edward, surely he can do it for Henry Warwick lands on the Devonshire coast with a small, fast-moving army of heads. North Edwards near Doncaster when he is awakened in the middle of the night and warned that enemy troops are only a mile away.

Edward's troops are completely outnumbered. He may resist and fight, but the odds don't look good or he may run away, thanks Edward. he flees to Flanders and as if that were not enough Edward has been forced to abandon the woman who precipitated all his problems Elizabeth Woodfield now pregnant again has sought Sanctuary here in Westminster Abbey in October after 10 years in captivity Warwick frees to Henry VI of the Tower Sir, long live the foreign king, this is the man the Warwicks depend on to save England from itself, he must be angry. Henry was always a disaster as a king and nothing has changed, but it is the only card that Warwick has left like this for the second time in his life.

Henry. VI is king of England, thousands of men behind him, Edward heads south to London to avoid confronting Edward Warwick's holdup in Coventry, he sends a desperate message to London to try to rally support behind Henry VI. The result is truly desperate on Monday Thursday 1471 in a chaotic piece of political theater. Henry is paraded through the streets of London, but in the face of the resulting sparse crowd, Seas is a weak and semi-senile man, so all Warwick is doing is pointing out in the most direct way possible all of the king's failures in the same On the day Henry paraded through the streets, Edward enters London at the head of an army.

The contrast with a weak and feeble old king could not be more extreme. Edwards is an energetic young man who represents the perfect example of

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and while Henry's parade was met with ridicule. Edwards was received with universal acclaim and the first thing he does is come here to Saint Paul to give thanks for his safe arrival, then it's all business. Edward crosses the river to Lambeth Palace, where Henry VI is waiting. My cousin will be fine. Edward may sound reassuring, but ominously he immediately has Henry return to the Tower, then Edward returns across the Thames as quickly as possible and comes here, to Westminster Abbey, to join his wife Elizabeth, who has been taking refuge from the Henry's men under the laws of sanctuary while he was away Elizabeth has given birth to a beautiful baby Edward has regained his throne his wife has regained and he has a sun and an heir he is king of England again he has learned the lessons of

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from the hard way no matter how much Edward wants to do it avoid bloodshed and recriminations forgiveness has its limits sometimes the only way to keep the throne is to implement the ultimate sanction: death, so Edward heads north with his army to hunt Warwick on April 14, 1471.

Warwick and Edward go to battle one last time at Barnet. as a towton Edward and Warwick are in the thick of it, both must know that only one of them can leave the field alive Warwick throws 15,000 men into the fight Edward twelve thousand the odds favor Warwick but confused by the dense fog his army accidentally attacks in chaos Edward's army overwhelms Warwick's men Warwick flees the battlefield but Edward's troops pursue him like a dog. The foreign manufacturer is dead. Edward has Warwick's body brought to London. He is completely naked except for a cloth covering his genitals and they display him for all to see in the old medieval cathedral here in San Pablo Edward sends a very simple and very clear message to the entire country The king has learned the old lessons there will be no more pardon make sure it is made on May 21, 1471, just a month after Edward's death Victory over Warwick Henry dies The official cause of death is pure disgust and melancholy, but few people believe that his corpse is reported to have been found with blood frozen in his hair, whether he was garroted to death or not, there is no doubt that Edward has had he killed Edward came to the throne determined to break the cycle of violence that had been consuming England, but simply it could not be realized.

I mean, look at the last 11 weeks he invaded England, raised an army, fought a brutal battle, killed his friend, and murdered. a rival king and that is the reality of medieval royalty, in the end there was only one way Edward was going to win his crown in blood next time, the most infamous story of the entire blood-soaked era, Richard III snatches the throne, the only obstacles are his own nephews the princes in the tower thanks