King Edward IV of England
England in the Middle Ages was a political mess. This was especially true in the period leading up to, and immediately after, the War of the Roses. This conflict saw the two distinct branches of the Plantagenet dynasty, the House of York and the House of Lancashire, battle it out for the throne. Power changed hands on several different, due in no small part to the habit of major players routinely switching allegiances. And nobody epitomised this turbulence quite like King Edward IV. He enjoyed power, lost it and then finally enjoyed one of the greatest comebacks seen in Medieval Europe.
Edward was born April 1442 in Normandy, France. Since he was a Yorkist, he had to grow up seeing a rival on the throne. Luckily for him, however, he came of age when the ruling Lancastrian monarch, Henry VI, was weak and vulnerable. His grip over England was weakening by the day and, by 1460, Edward and his allies sensed an opportunity. Crucially, the young Edward won the support of the Earl of Warwick, a figure so influential he was known as ‘The Kingmaker’. With Warwick behind him, Edward launched his bid for the throne. After a series of bloody battles, culminating in the 1461 Battle of Towton, Henry was overthrown. Edward IV was crowned King of England.
Once in power, Edward should have been able to consolidate is rule. However, not only was he tall, handsome and charismatic, he was also a serial womaniser. This wasn’t a problem until he fell in love with Elizabeth Woodville. Not only was she a Lancastrian, she was also already a mother and she was from common stock. When news of Henry’s secret marriage to Elizabeth leaked out, many were fearful he would never be able to consolidate his position. Significantly, the Earl of Warwick switched his allegiance to the ousted King Henry VI. The Lancastrians revolted and Edward fled across the water to the Netherlands.
Edward could have lived a comfortable life with his wife in Holland. However, he was determined to win his throne back. And so he launched a spectacular comeback. Despite only having a relatively small army to draw on, he sailed back into England and confronted his enemies head-on. Remarkably, he defeated The Kingmaker on the battlefield, leaving the path to power open to him. He took back the throne in April of 1461. Henry was thrown into the Tower of London, where he was murdered just a few weeks later (though whether he was killed on the orders of Edward is the subject of great historical debate). This time round, Edward enjoyed a relatively uneventful reign, dying of natural causes in 1483, aged just 40.