A Timeline of Britain
Above: Muncaster Castle, in Cumbria, where Henry VI took shelter after the Battle of Hexham in 1464. Right: Tewkesbury Abbey, in Gloucestershire, where defeated Lancastrians sought sanctuary after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471
not refl ect a preoccupation with war. In fact, the battles were collectively known as ‘the Cousins’ wars,’ because they affected primarily the rival claimants.” By the time the forces of Lancaster and York met at
Towton in Yorkshire, on 29 March 1461, Richard of York was dead and his son Edward was pressing the family claim. Edward’s cousin, the mighty Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick – known to history as ‘the Kingmaker’ – strongly backed his claim, in a story that’s powerfully told at Warwick Castle. The Lancastrians were massacred in Towton’s snow during a ten-hour blood bath. Henry was deposed and Edward became the fi rst Yorkist monarch. Edward IV was every inch a king: dashing, fashionable,
witty; a winner of battles who was just as at ease bantering with his fellow men. He even got a grip on the royal fi nances, ensuring that the Crown could become solvent again. But he had a notoriously roving eye and, when it alighted on the beautiful and widowed Lady Elizabeth Wydeville, it was to prove his downfall. “Edward’s chief supporter and mainstay was the hugely powerful Earl of Warwick, and when the King’s
DID YOU KNOW?
Scotland’s first university, the University of St Andrews, was founded in 1413. Modern students have included Prince William and Kate Middleton. In 1464 Sir John Pennington of Muncaster Castle, Ravenglass, gave shelter to Henry VI following the Battle of Hexham. The grateful King left behind his drinking bowl, saying that as long as it remained whole and unbroken the Penning- tons would live and thrive there. The bowl (right), known as the Luck of Muncaster, is kept intact in a secret location in the castle.
www.muncaster.co.uk
84 BRITAIN
Richard, the second son of Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth, was created Duke of York in 1474, setting a precedent for the tradition that the second son of an English monarch should be granted this title. William Caxton estab- lished a printing press in London c 1475 and became the first printer of books in English. Among his earliest volumes are two magnificent editions of Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. The
originals are both in the British Library.
www.bl.uk Richard III had a keen interest in heraldry and founded the College of Arms in London in 1484. The college is still the official repository of the coats of arms of English, Welsh, Northern Irish and Commonwealth families and their descendants. www.
college-of-arms.gov.uk Richard III, killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, was the last English king to die in battle. Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre and Country Park tells this most dramatic story. www.
bosworthbattlefield.com.
secret marriage – made for lust – to Elizabeth was made public in 1464, Warwick was not only as scandalised as the rest of the nobility, but discountenanced too, because he had been negotiating for a French royal marriage for England’s political advantage,” Alison explains. As Warwick saw his power at court eroded by an
infl ux of Elizabeth’s greedy relatives, he proved himself equally able as an ‘unmaker’ of kings. He forged an alliance with Margaret of Anjou, the exiled queen of Henry VI and, in 1470, they invaded and put an ill-prepared Edward to fl ight, plucked a befuddled Henry from the Tower of London and set him back on the throne. It was a temporary interlude. Edward IV returned to the
fray in 1471, claiming victories at Barnet (where Warwick was killed) and Tewkesbury. Poor Henry VI soon found himself back in the Tower and was summarily murdered. The second half of Edward IV’s reign (1471-83) was
much less tempestuous and administratively sound. The King was a great patron of the arts and encouraged William Caxton to pioneer printing in England. He also fi nanced major building works at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, and Eltham Palace, Kent. However, when Edward IV died in 1483, the tragedy of
a child heir was to play out once again, as the 12-year-old Edward V was placed under the protection of his uncle, Richard of Gloucester. Did Richard, the evil hunchback
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