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Unit Six

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Kings of England of the Plantagenet House
1. Stephen
2. Henry II
3. Richard I
4. John I
5. Henry III
6. Edward I
7. Edward II
8. Edward II

Kings of England of the Lancastrian House

1. Henry IV
2. Henry V
3. Henry VI

Kings of England of the York House

1. Edward IV
2. Edward V
3. Richard III

The Purpose of Unit Six

This Unit completes the history of England up to the Tudor dynasty and includes
the succession of kings up to that period. Pupils should know the struggle of the
Royal Houses at that time, as well as the civilization during the last years of the
medieval times in England and the coming Renaissance

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King Stephen of England
Stephen was born in around 1097 in Blois, France, the son of the Count of Blois
and Adela, daughter of William the Conqueror. He was sent to England to be
raised at the court of his uncle, Henry I. Although Stephen and other nobles
pledged to support Henry's daughter, Matilda, as Henry's successor there was
widespread unhappiness at the thought of a woman ruler. Consequently, after
Henry I died in December 1135, the leading lords and bishops welcomed Stephen
as the new king. He was not a natural leader, rapidly making concessions that
exposed his weakness. He appointed large numbers of new earls, an expensive
act that brought little reward and alienated his nobles with his desperate measures
to build support and with the lawlessness of his Flemish mercenaries.
In 1138, Matilda's half-brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, took up arms on her
behalf. Early victories for Stephen faded when he lost the support of the church.
Seizing her opportunity, Matilda invaded England in September 1139. With foolish
chivalry, Stephen had Matilda escorted to Bristol, whereupon she proceeded to
take control of western England. Early in 1141, Matilda's supporters captured
Stephen in a battle at Lincoln. In November, he was exchanged for Gloucester,
who had been captured by forces loyal to the king. Over time, Stephen gained the
upper hand and in 1148 Matilda left England.
But Stephen had only nominal control over most of the kingdom and was unable to
enforce the law or mediate between warring nobles. He hoped only to secure the
succession for his son, Eustace. Matilda's son Henry invaded England in 1153 to
claim his royal inheritance. When Eustace died in August, under the Treaty of
Wallingford, Stephen agreed that Henry should be his successor. When Stephen
died in October 1154, Henry ascended the throne as Henry II.

King Henry II of England

King of England from 1154, Henry strengthened royal administration but suffered
from quarrels with Thomas Becket and his own family.
Henry was born at Le Mans in North West France on 4 March 1133. His father was
Count of Anjou and his mother Matilda, daughter of Henry I of England. Henry had
named Matilda as his successor to the English throne but her cousin Stephen had
taken over.
In 1150 - 1151, Henry became ruler of Normandy and Anjou, after the death of his
father. In 1152, he married Eleanor of Aquitaine, the greatest heiress in Western
Europe. In 1153, he crossed to England to pursue his claim to the throne, reaching
an agreement that he would succeed Stephen on his death, which occurred in
1154.

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Henry now began to restore order. Using his talented chancellor Thomas Becket,
Henry began reorganizing the judicial system. The Assize of Clarendon (1166)
established procedures of criminal justice, establishing courts and prisons for those
awaiting trial. In addition, the assizes gave fast and clear verdicts, enriched the
treasury and extended royal control.
In 1164, Henry restated his ancestral rights over the church. Now Archbishop of
Canterbury, Becket refused to obey. An attempted reconciliation failed and Becket
punished priests who had co-operated with Henry. On hearing this Henry
reportedly exclaimed, 'Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?' Four knights took
his words literally and murdered Becket in Canterbury Cathedral in December
1170. Almost overnight Becket became a saint. Henry reconciled himself with the
church, but royal control over the church changed little.
In 1169, an Anglo-Norman force landed in Ireland to support of one of the
claimants to the Irish high kingship. Fearing the creation of a separate Norman
power to the west, Henry travelled to Dublin to assert his over lordship of the
territory they had won. And so, an English presence in Ireland was established. In
the course of his reign, Henry had dominion over territories stretching from the
Ireland to the Pyrenees.
Henry now had problems within his own family. His sons - Henry, Geoffrey,
Richard and John - mistrusted each other and resented their father's policy of
dividing land among them. There were serious family disputes in 1173, 1181 and
1184. The king's attempt to find an inheritance for John led to opposition from
Richard and Philip II of France. Henry was forced to give way. News that John had
also turned against him hastened Henry's death on 6 July 1189.

Richard I (1157 - 1199)

Richard I was a king of England, later known as the 'Lion Heart', and famous for his
exploits in the Third Crusade, although during his 10-year reign he spent only six
months in England.
Richard was born on 8 September 1157 in Oxford, son of Henry II and Eleanor of
Aquitaine. He possessed considerable political and military ability. However, like
his brothers, he fought with his family, joining them in the great rebellion against
their father in 1173. In 1183 his brother Henry died, leaving Richard heir to the
throne. Henry II wanted to give Aquitaine to his youngest son, John. Richard
refused and, in 1189, joined forces with Philip II of France against his father,
hounding him to a premature death in July 1189.
As king, Richard's chief ambition was to join the Third Crusade, prompted by
Saladin's capture of Jerusalem in 1187. To finance this, he sold sheriffdoms and

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other offices and in 1190 he departed for the Holy Land. In May, he reached
Cyprus where he married Berengaria, daughter of the king of Navarre. Richard
arrived in the Holy Land in June 1191 and Acre fell the following month. In
September, his victory at Arsuf gave the crusaders possession of Joppa. Although
he came close, Jerusalem, the crusade's main objective, eluded him. Moreover,
fierce quarrels among the French, German and English contingents provided
further troubles. After a year's stalemate, Richard made a truce with Saladin and
started his journey home.
Bad weather drove him ashore near Venice and he was imprisoned by Duke
Leopold of Austria before being handed over to the German emperor Henry VI,
who ransomed him for the huge sum of 150,000 marks. The raising of the ransom
was a remarkable achievement. In February 1194, Richard was released. He
returned at once to England and was crowned for a second time, fearing that the
ransom payment had compromised his independence. Yet a month later he went
to Normandy, never to return. His last five years were spent in intermittent warfare
against Philip II. While besieging the castle of Châlus in central France he was
fatally wounded and died on 6 April 1199. He was succeeded by his younger
brother John, who had spent the years of Richard's absence scheming against
him.

John I
John I was a king of England who is most famous for signing the Magna Carta.
John was born around Christmas in 1166 or 1167 in Oxford, the youngest and
favourite son of Henry II. On his father's death in 1189 his brother, Richard,
became king. John received titles, lands and money, but this was not enough. In
October 1190, Richard recognized his nephew, Arthur, as his heir. Three years
later, when Richard was imprisoned in Germany, John tried to seize control. He
was unsuccessful and, when Richard returned in early 1194, was exiled. The two
were soon reconciled and, when Arthur was captured by Philip II in 1196, Richard
named John heir to the throne.
In 1199, Richard died and John became king. War with France was renewed,
triggered by John's second marriage. While asked to mediate between the rival
families of Lusignan and Angoulâme, he married the Angoulâme heiress Isabella,
who had been betrothed to Hugh de Lusignan. A rebellion broke out and John was
ordered to appear before his overlord, Philip II of France. His failure to do so
resulted in war.
By 1206, John had lost Normandy, Anjou, Maine and parts of Poitou. These
failures were a damaging blow to his prestige and he was determined to win them
back. This required money, so his government became increasingly ruthless and

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efficient in its financial administration. Taxes soared and he began to exploit his
feudal rights ever more harshly.
This bred increasing baronial discontent. Negotiations between John and his
barons failed and civil war broke out in May 1215. When the rebels seized London,
John was compelled to negotiate further and, on 19 June at Runnymede on the
River Thames, he accepted the baronial terms embodied in the Magna Carta,
which limited royal power, ensured feudal rights and restated English law. It was
the first formal document stating that the monarch was as much under the rule of
law as his people, and that the rights of individuals were to be upheld even against
the wishes of the sovereign.
This settlement was soon rendered impractical when John claimed it was signed
under duress. Pope Innocent took his side and in the ensuing civil war John laid
waste to the northern counties and the Scottish border. Prince Louis of France then
invaded at the barons' request. John continued to wage war vigorously, but his
death in October 1216 enabled a compromise peace and the succession of his son
Henry III.

Henry III (1207 - 1272)

Henry was born on 1 October 1207 in Winchester, the son of John. Henry was nine
when his father died and he became king. The country was ruled by a series of
regencies until 1234, when Henry took over. Problems began as early as 1237,
when his barons objected to the influence of Henry's Savoyard relatives. The
marriage arranged in 1238 between Henry's sister and English nobleman Simon
de Montfort only made relationship between Henry and his leading nobles worse.
In 1242, Henry's half-brothers involved him in a disastrously expensive military
venture in France. This prompted parliament to demand new blood on the council
to act as 'conservators of liberties' and oversee royal finances. But the king was
able to exploit the differences between his opponents and little happened.
Finally, in 1258 a bungled deal with the Papacy threatened Henry with
excommunication. This, together with defeats in Wales and local crises, brought
about the main crisis of his reign. The Provisions of Oxford (1258) created a 15-
member privy council, selected by the barons, to advise the king and oversee the
entire administration. Parliament was to be held three times a year and the
households of the king and queen were also to be reformed.
The settlement began to break down in 1260 with quarrels between the Earl of
Gloucester and the ambitious Simon de Montfort. Civil war was inevitable. In May
1264, Simon de Montfort won a resounding victory at Lewes and set up a new
government. In May 1265, Henry's eldest son Prince Edward escaped captivity and

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rallied the royalist forces, defeating and killing de Montfort at Evesham before
taking control of government from his weakened father.
The rest of the reign was occupied by resolving the problems created by the
rebellion. Henry deprived de Montfort's supporters of their lands, but the
'disinherited' fought back until terms were agreed in 1266 for former rebels to buy
back their lands. By 1270, the country was sufficiently settled for Edward to set off
on crusade. Henry died on 16 November 1272. He was buried in Westminster
Abbey, which he had largely rebuilt in the gothic style during his reign.

Edward I
Edward I, known by many names including, ‘Edward Longshanks’, ‘Hammer of the
Scots’ and ‘English Justinian’, reigned as King of England from 1272 until 1307.
Edward I was born in June 1239 at the Palace of Westminster, son of King Henry
III and Eleanor of Provence. His father decided to give him a name which had not
been popular amongst the English aristocracy, in honour of Edward the Confessor.
During young Edward’s childhood, poor health was a massive concern,
nevertheless as an adult he reached a rather imposing six foot two inches in
height, which was extremely rare for the time and earned him the nickname
“Longshanks”, meaning “long legs”.

When Edward was fourteen years of age, his father made the decision, for political
reasons, to arrange a marriage between him and the thirteen year old Eleanor, the
half-sister of King Alfonso X of Castile. The motivation behind this arrangement
was induced by fears of a Castilian invasion of Gascony, in southwest France,
which at the time was an English province. Therefore, on 1st November 1254 in
Castile, Edward married Eleanor, a marriage that would end up producing sixteen
children, with only five daughters reaching adulthood and one son, Edward II,
outliving his father.
Whilst Edward was young he fell under the influence of his Poitevin uncles, a
relationship which was resented by other members of the English aristocracy.
Once the uncles were subsequently expelled, Edward became involved with Simon
de Montfort, a ringleader of a group of barons in opposition to the misgovernment
of Henry III, Edward’s father.
The complexity of relationships worsened when the ‘Provisions of Oxford’ were
drawn up in May 1258, introducing a new type of government in which a fifteen-
member Privy Council would advise the king, three times a year. Edward
responded by opposing these reforms but later he began to change his opinion,
and the following year he entered into a formal alliance with one of the main

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reformers. By 15th October, Edward had pledged his support for the barons and
their leader, Simon de Montfort. This decision put him at odds with his father who
feared he was instigating a coup. It was only a year later that he and his father
could be reconciled on the issue.
In 1264, the Second Barons’ War saw Edward side once more with his father
Henry and those defending the royal rights; he subsequently reunited with the men
he had previously alienated in order to retake Windsor Castle and dispel the rebels
once and for all. All attempts at negotiation, instigated by King Louis IX of France
failed and the conflict continued. Edward launched a military campaign culminating
in the Battle of Evesham in August 1265. The result was Montfort’s death and a
final end to the baronial group who were brought down at Kenilworth Castle.
Six years later, Edward would find himself embroiled in further conflict, this time
international: The Ninth Crusade, the last major Crusade to the Holy Land. Edward,
realising that King Louis IX of France had failed to capture Tunis, decided to set
sail for Acre. However, his time in this conflict was short-lived, as news from home
forced a gradual return home for Edward. Whilst in Sicily he received news of his
father’s death but rather than hurrying home, the country was governed by a royal
council and Edward was proclaimed king in his absence. Over a year later, he
returned to England and was crowned as King Edward I on 19th August 1274.
Edward I became well-known during his reign for his contributions to reforms and
developments in administration. He encompassed medieval kingship in all its
forms, serving as an administrator, soldier and a man of religious conviction.
In 1274 Edward I began his reforming programme by launching an investigation
into government and administrative practices. The findings from this inquiry were
recorded in ‘Hundred Rolls’ (a hundred being a subdivision of the shire) and
demonstrated where royal rights had been abused by local citizens holding
substantial power. Edward wanted to restore law and order, later earning him the
nickname of the ‘English Justinian’, after the Byzantine Emperor who codified
Roman laws.
During his reign, many statutes were passed in order to deal with the problems that
had been identified by the inquiry. One of the main ones included ‘The First Statute
of Westminster’ in 1275 which codified many existing laws from the time of
the Magna Carta.
Other statutes involved strengthening the policing system of watchmen, restoring
public order, caring for traders and merchants and gaining control of the acquisition
of land for ecclesiastical purposes. This process was largely influenced by
Edward’s chancellor, Robert Burnell, who helped to instigate a complete
reorganisation of administration and in doing so, defined a new era in English
government.

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One of Edward I’s greatest legacies is the birth of the English Parliament; under his
leadership the meetings became increasingly frequent, amounting to around forty-
six occasions during his thirty-five-year reign.

Edward II (1284 - 1327)

Edward II was a king of England whose reign was marked by conflict with the
nobles until he was eventually overthrown by his wife in favour of his son.
Edward was born on 25 April 1284, the fourth son of Edward I of England. He was
the first English prince to hold the title prince of Wales, which was bestowed on him
by his father in 1301.
Edward I died in July 1307 and, his three elder brothers having pre-deceased him,
Edward became king. He immediately recalled his favourite, Piers Gaveston from
exile - Edward I had banished him to France for his bad influence on his son.
Gaveston was given the earldom of Cornwall, previously a title conferred on
royalty.
Opposition to the king and his favourite began almost immediately, and in 1311 the
nobles issued the 'Ordinances', which attempted to limit royal control of finance
and appointments. Gaveston was twice exiled at the demand of the barons, only to
return to England shortly afterwards. In 1312, he was captured and executed by
the barons.
In 1314, Edward invaded Scotland, only to be decisively defeated by Robert the
Bruce at Bannockburn. Power was now in the hands of the barons headed by
Edward's cousin Thomas of Lancaster, who by 1315 had made himself the real
ruler of England. Yet Lancaster did little to initiate reform and parts of the country
collapsed into anarchy.
By 1318, Edward and Lancaster had been partly reconciled, but the king had two
new favourites, Hugh le Despenser and his son. When Edward supported the two
Despensers' ambitions in Wales, a group of barons banished both father and son,
prompting Edward to fight back. He defeated Lancaster - who had appealed to the
Scots for help - at Boroughbridge in March 1322, executing him and recalling the
Despensers, with whom he now ruled.
Edward's wife, Isabella of France, now emerged as a focus of opposition. In 1325,
she was sent on a diplomatic mission to France where she met and became the
mistress of Roger Mortimer, an exiled opponent of Edward. In September 1326,
they invaded England. There was virtually no resistance and the Despensers were
captured and executed. Edward was deposed in favour of his and Isabella's son,
who was crowned Edward III in January 1327.
Edward II was imprisoned at Berkeley Castle and murdered there.
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Edward III
Edward III was king of England for 50 years. His reign saw the beginning of the
Hundred Years War against France. Edward was born on 13 November 1312,
possibly at Windsor, although little is known of his early life, the son of Edward II
and Isabella of France. Edward himself became king in 1327 after his father was
deposed by his mother and her lover, Roger Mortimer. A year later Edward married
Philippa of Hainault - they were to have 13 children. Isabella and Roger ruled in
Edward's name until 1330, when he executed Mortimer and banished his mother.
Edward's primary focus was now war with France. Ongoing territorial disputes were
intensified in 1340 when Edward assumed the title of king of France, starting a war
that would last intermittently for over a century. In July 1346, Edward landed in
Normandy, accompanied by his son Edward, the Black Prince. His decisive victory
at Crécy in August scattered the French army. Edward then captured Calais,
establishing it as a base for future campaigns. In 1348, he created the Order of the
Garter.
War restarted in 1355. The following year, the Black Prince won a significant
victory at Poitiers, capturing the French king, John II. The resulting Treaty of
Bretigny in 1360 marked the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years War and
the high point of English influence in France. Edward renounced his claim to the
French crown in return for the whole of Aquitaine. In 1369, the French declared war
again. Edward, by now an elderly man, left the fighting to his sons. They enjoyed
little success and the English lost much of the territory they had gained in 1360.
After the death of his queen, Philippa, in 1369, Edward fell under the influence of
Alice Perrers, his mistress, who was regarded as corrupt and grasping. Against a
backdrop of military failure in France and outbreaks of the plague, the 'Good
Parliament' of 1376 was summoned. Perrers and other members of the court were
severely criticized and heavy taxation attacked. The death of the Black Prince,
Edward's heir, interrupted the crisis and the king's younger son, John of Gaunt,
who had ruled the country during Edward's frequent absence in France, later
reversed the Good Parliamentary reforming efforts.
Edward died on 21 June 1377, leaving his young grandson Richard as king.

Richard II (1367 - 1400)

Richard II was Plantagenet king of England from 1377 to 1399 and was usurped by
Henry IV. Richard was born on 6 January 1367 in Bordeaux, the son of Edward,
the Black Prince and grandson of Edward III. Richard's father died in 1376 and his
grandfather the following year, making Richard king at the age of 10. The country

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was ruled largely by his uncle, John of Gaunt. The first crisis of Richard's reign was
the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The young king bravely rode out to meet the rebels,
who were led by Wat Tyler. Tyler was killed and the revolt crushed.
As Richard began to take control of government himself, he built a group of
unpopular favourites. His request for money to fight in France prompted parliament
to demand the dismissal of these favourites. Richard's refusal provoked parliament
into impeaching his chancellor, the Earl of Suffolk, and creating a commission to
oversee the king's activities. When Richard declared these measures treasonable,
parliament and his opponents retaliated in 1388 by outlawing his closest friends,
some of whom were executed. Richard appeared defeated and submitted to the
demands of the five 'Lords Appellant'.
For eight years Richard worked in apparent harmony with Gaunt and the Lords
Appellant. Yet he was waiting for revenge. He gradually formed a second, stronger
royalist party. In 1397, he arrested and tried three of the appellants. Arundel was
convicted of treason and executed, Warwick was banished and Gloucester
imprisoned and murdered. Richard was granted revenues for life and the powers of
parliament were delegated to a committee.
In September 1398, a quarrel between two former appellants, Gaunt's son Henry
Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, gave the king another
opportunity for revenge and he banished them both. When Gaunt died in February
1399, Richard confiscated the vast Lancastrian estates, which would have passed
to Bolingbroke. In May, Richard left to campaign in Ireland. Bolingbroke invaded
England and rallied both noble and popular support. Returning to England in
August, Richard surrendered without a fight. In September, he abdicated and
Bolingbroke ascended the throne as Henry IV. In October, Richard was imprisoned
in Pontefract Castle, where he died four months later.

Henry IV (1367 - 1413)

The House of Lancaster
Henry IV
Henry IV seized the crown and successfully consolidated his power despite
repeated uprisings. Henry was born in Lancashire in April 1367. His parents were
cousins, his father John of Gaunt, third surviving son of Edward III, his mother
descended from Henry III. In 1377 Henry's cousin, Richard II became king. In
1386, Henry joined a group of opposition leaders - the lords appellants - who
outlawed Richard's closest associates and forced the king to accept their counsel.
In 1398, Richard took revenge, banishing Henry after he quarrelled with another
member of the court. The following year, John of Gaunt died. Richard seized the

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family estates, depriving Henry of his inheritance and prompting him to invade
England. He met little opposition, as many were horrified by the king's actions.
Richard surrendered in August and Henry was crowned in October 1399, claiming
that Richard had abdicated of his own free will.
Henry's first task was to consolidate his position. Most rebellions were quashed
easily, but the revolt of the Welsh squire Owen Glendower in 1400 was more
serious. In 1403, Glendower allied himself with Henry Percy, Earl of
Northumberland, and his son Henry, called Hotspur. Hotspur's brief uprising,
Henry's most serious challenge, ended when he was killed in battle with the king's
forces near Shrewsbury in July 1403.
Northumberland's subsequent rebellion in 1408 was quickly suppressed and was
the last armed challenge to Henry's authority. However, he also had to fight off
Scottish border raids and conflict with the French. To finance these activities,
Henry was forced to rely on parliamentary grants. From 1401 to 1406 parliament
repeatedly accused him of fiscal mismanagement and gradually acquired new
powers over royal expenditures and appointments.
As Henry's health deteriorated, a power struggle developed between his favourite,
Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, and a faction headed by Henry's half-
brothers and his son, Prince Henry. From 1408 to 1411 the government was
dominated first by Archbishop Arundel and then Prince Henry. Argument raged
over the best strategy to adopt in France, where civil war had erupted. Prince
Henry wanted to resume war in France, but the king favoured peace. Uneasy
relations between the prince and his father persisted until Henry IV's death in
London on 20 March 1413.

Henry V
One of the most renowned kings in English history, Henry V (1387-1422) led two
successful invasions of France, cheering his outnumbered troops to victory at the
1415 Battle of Agincourt and eventually securing full control of the French throne.
His portrayal in three of Shakespeare’s histories made him a paragon of English
spirit and chivalry—though his wartime actions reveal a more ruthless approach.
Henry was born in August of 1386 (or 1387) at Monmouth Castle on the Welsh
border. His father, Henry of Bolingbroke, deposed his cousin Richard II in 1399.
With Henry IV’s ascension, the younger Henry became Prince of Wales and spent
eight years leading armies against the rebellious Welsh ruler Owain Glyndwr. In
1403 Henry fought alongside his father against their former ally Henry “Hotspur”
Percy in the Battle of Shrewsbury. During the battle, the younger Henry was hit in
the face with an arrow but was saved by the daring surgical removal of the

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arrowhead. Henry V was the first king of England since the Norman invasion to use
English as his primary language. His predecessors had all preferred French.
Henry IV died in 1413, and the 26-year-old prince took the throne as Henry V.
Conspiracies soon arose among his onetime friends to unseat him in favor of
Richard II’s heir Edmund Mortimer. In 1415 Henry executed Lord Scrope and the
earl of Cambridge, the leading plotters, and defeated a rebellion led by his old
associate John Oldcastle (the model for Shakespeare’s Falstaff).
Meanwhile, Henry was making demands of France—first for the return of Aquitaine
to England in fulfillment of a 1360 treaty, then for a 2-million-crown payment, then
for the king’s daughter Catherine’s hand in marriage. In 1415 Henry gathered his
army and sailed for France.
Henry abandoned plans to attack Paris after the victorious but costly siege of
Harfleur, in which one-third of his army died of dysentery. On October 25, 1415—
the feast day of St. Crispin—Henry’s army defeated a much larger French force at
Agincourt. Henry’s army of about 6,000 battled up to 30,000 French soldiers, who
were forced by the terrain to advance in narrow formations that made them easy
targets for Henry’s archers. The French advance was impeded by mud and their
own mounting dead. All the while, Henry kept control of the battle, encouraging his
troops and fighting hand-to-hand.
After the English took so many prisoners that Henry worried they might overpower
their guards, he violated the rule of war by ordering their immediate execution. All
told, the French lost as many as 7,000, while the English dead numbered at most a
few hundred. Though not militarily decisive, the victory at Agincourt won Henry
important allies and gained him a hero’s welcome on his return to England.
In 1417 Henry attacked France again, capturing Caen and Normandy and taking
Rouen after a six-month siege in which he refused to aid 12,000 expelled residents
left to starve between the city walls and the English lines. In 1420 the French king
Charles VI sued for peace. The Treaty of Troyes placed Henry in control of France
for the remainder of Charles VI’s life and promised that the English line would
succeed to the French throne. Henry married Charles’ daughter Catherine. The
royal couple arrived in England in 1421, and their only son, the future Henry VI,
was born soon after.
Henry returned to France to deal with territories allied with the disinherited dauphin,
the future Charles VII. In May of 1422 Henry won his last victory in the Siege of
Meaux. He died on August 31, 1422, of battlefield dysentery.
Henry V: Legacy
Henry VI was less than a year old when he took the English and French thrones.
By the time he was deposed in 1461, he had lost most of the French territories his
father had won and England was riven by the War of the Roses.

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HENRY VI
Henry VI was the King from 1422 to 1461 and from 1470 to 1471 and the last
Lancastrian ruler of England, Henry's reign was dominated by the Wars of the
Roses. Henry was born on 6 th December 1421 at Windsor Castle. He was only
nine months old when he succeeded his father, Henry V. He was crowned king of
England in 1429 and, as result of his father's successes against the French, king of
France in 1431. A regency council ran England until Henry was considered old
enough to rule in 1437. In 1445, he married Margaret of Anjou.
Henry was a pious man whose interest in government was sporadic, who picked
the wrong advisors and who was unable to prevent the power struggles that began
to develop at court. Meanwhile, the dual monarchy proved too difficult to maintain;
the successes of the Dauphin and Joan of Arc began to weaken England's grip on
its French possessions and Normandy was lost in 1450. This only contributed to
the erosion of Henry's prestige and authority.
In 1453, the king had a mental breakdown and Richard, Duke of York, was made
protector. The king recovered in 1455, but civil war broke out between the Yorkist
and Lancastrian factions. The ensuing struggle came to be known as the Wars of
the Roses. While the Duke of York was the main figure on the Yorkist side,
Margaret, Henry's queen, took charge of the Lancastrian cause. In 1460, York was
killed at the Battle of Wakefield but his son took up the fight, defeating the
Lancastrians at Towton in 1461 and crowning himself Edward IV. Henry fled into
exile, but returned and was captured by Edward in 1465. The Earl of Warwick -
previously an ally of Edward - now switched sides and restored Henry to the throne
in 1470. Edward returned from exile and destroyed the Lancastrian forces at
Tewkesbury in May 1471. Henry and Margaret's only son was among the
Lancastrian dead. Henry VI, who had been imprisoned in the Tower of London,
was murdered shortly afterwards.

The house of York in England

Edward IV
Edward IV was king of England, winning the struggle against the Lancastrians to
establish the House of York on the English throne. Edward was born on 28 th April
1442 at Rouen in France, the son of Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. Edward's
father was the leading Yorkist in the dynastic struggle against the Lancastrians
known as the Wars of the Roses, which began in 1455. When Richard Plantagenet
was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, Edward inherited his claim. With the
support of the powerful Earl of Warwick, known as 'the Kingmaker', Edward
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defeated the Lancastrians in a series of battles, culminating in the Battle of Towton
in 1461. With the Lancastrian king, Henry VI, overthrown, Edward was crowned
Edward IV.
Warwick believed he could continue to control the new king. He was keen to
negotiate a foreign marriage for Edward, but in 1464 Edward secretly married
Elizabeth Woodville, a commoner. Warwick was furious at the favours now shown
to Elizabeth's relatives and allied himself to Edward's brother George, Duke of
Clarence, leading a revolt against the king. Warwick and Clarence then fled to
France, where they joined Margaret of Anjou, wife of Henry VI. Margaret's
Lancastrian army invaded England in September 1470. Edward fled to the
Netherlands until March 1471, when he and his brother Richard, Duke of
Gloucester, returned to England. Edward defeated and killed Warwick at Barnet
before defeating the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury in May. Henry VI was put to
death in the Tower of London.
The second part of Edward's reign, from 1471 to 1483, was a period of relative
peace and security. He used income from the Crown Estates to pay governmental
costs, and was therefore less in need of parliamentary grants than his
predecessors - he called parliament only six times. Commercial treaties, external
peace and internal order revived trade, benefiting customs duties and other
revenues. Councils were set up to govern in the Marches of Wales and in the
north. Edward died on 9th April 1483. His young sons, Edward and Richard, were
left in the protection of their uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

Edward V
Edward V was King of England from April to June 1483; he was deposed and
probably murdered by Richard III, before his coronation.
The eldest surviving son of Edward IV, he was born when his father was in brief
exile in Holland after being deposed by the Earl of Warwick. After Edward IV had
reclaimed his crown, young Edward was made prince of Wales in June 1471. He
was sent with his mother to Ludlow in 1473 to be titular ruler of Wales and the
Welsh Marches, staying there for much of the rest of his father's reign.
Upon Edward IV's death in April 1483, Edward became king, aged 12. His uncle
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was appointed protector. Conflict between
Gloucester and the Woodville nobles who dominated Edward V soon led the duke
to arrest the Woodvilles and gain possession of Edward and his younger brother,
Richard. The two princes were housed in the Tower of London, then a royal
residence as well as a prison.
Edward V's brief reign came to an end on 26 June, when parliament accepted
Gloucester's claim that Edward IV's marriage was invalid and his children
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illegitimate. It proclaimed Gloucester Richard III and, soon afterwards, the two
princes disappeared from the Tower. It is possible they were murdered by
Richard's agents in August 1483, but responsibility for the crime has also been
attributed to Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, and to Richard's successor,
Henry VII. Skeletons found in the Tower in 1674 are thought to be those of Edward
and his brother.

Richard III of England

Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of
Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of
the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at
the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses,
marked the end of the Middle Ages in England.
Richard was named Duke of Gloucester in 1461 after the accession of his
brother King Edward IV. In 1472, he married Anne Neville, daughter of Richard
Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick. He governed northern England during Edward's
reign, and played a role in the invasion of Scotland in 1482. When Edward IV died
in April 1483, Richard was named Lord Protector of the realm for Edward's eldest
son and successor, the 12-year-old Edward V. Arrangements were made for
Edward V's coronation on 22 June 1483. Before the king could be crowned, the
marriage of his parents was declared bigamous and therefore invalid. Now officially
illegitimate, their children were barred from inheriting the throne. On 25 June, an
assembly of lords and commoners endorsed a declaration to this effect, and
proclaimed Richard as the rightful king. He was crowned on 6 July 1483.
There were two main rebellions against Richard during his reign. In October 1483,
an unsuccessful revolt was led by staunch allies of Edward IV and Richard's former
ally, Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. Then, in August 1485, Henry
Tudor and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, landed in southern Wales with a contingent of
French troops, and marched through Pembrokeshire, recruiting soldiers. Henry's
forces defeated Richard's army near the Leicestershire town of Market Bosworth.
Richard was slain, making him the last English king to die in battle. Henry Tudor
then ascended the throne as Henry VII.

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