8 - Edward IV's first reign: 1461–1471

Summary

Edward began his reign under difficult circumstances. The war had left the country divided and disordered. Beyond the battlefields themselves, the absence of any real central authority in 1460–1 was the occasion for the reopening of old quarrels and the opening of new ones. The king did not yet control some of the peripheries of his kingdom, notably Wales and the north of England. Amongst the nobility he had little support. When it came to a choice between Henry VI and a usurper, several major figures had in the end committed themselves to the king. We have seen that the royal forces at Towton included the earls of Northumberland, Devon and Wiltshire and Lord Clifford, all of whom met their end there; amongst many other peers with the king in this battle were the dukes of Somerset and Exeter, the earl of Shrewsbury and Lords Roos, Dacre and Scales. Lord Hungerford had not fought at Towton but went into exile with the Lancastrians. The Nevilles had remained the Yorkists' only substantial noble allies, although at Towton, when he himself was already king, Edward was joined by a larger body of peers, including the Yorkists' unpredictable ally the duke of Norfolk. There were also the Bourchiers, whose head was Henry Bourchier, count of Eu, Edward's uncle by marriage. While this family had never committed itself wholesale to York in the 1450s, its members had tended to uphold Yorkist periods of rule and some of them had held office in both Protectorates.