AFTER Richard’s death, his son Edward took up the Yorkist cause, and victory at Towton in 1461 saw Henry imprisoned, and saw Edward proclaimed King Edward IV. Yet still Margaret fought on, first from Scotland and then from her native Anjou. In 1470, Edward’s trusted aide Richard Neville defected to Margaret’s side,* and launched an invasion that ousted his old friend and briefly restored Henry.* But Neville and Henry were both killed at Barnet on April 14th, and on May 4th Margaret was defeated at Tewkesbury.
With Henry and his heir Edward of Westminster dead, Edward thought he had eliminated all his rivals. But Henry’s distant relative, Henry Tudor, assembled an army of Lancastrians in France, and returned in 1485 to snatch the crown from Edward’s brother, Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth.* With careful diplomacy, Henry Tudor married Edward’s daughter Margaret of York, and named himself King Henry VII of the House of Tudor. The Wars of the Roses were at an end.*
Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (1428-1471), known as ‘the Kingmaker’ for his role in Henry’s brief restoration.
This short-lived restoration is known as Henry’s ‘readeption’, i.e. regaining.
If Edward IV’s brother Richard III had not usurped his nephews, Edward’s sons, and (apparently) had them murdered in the Tower of London, Henry Tudor might well never have thought of trying his luck in 1485. His own claim to the crown was very shaky and his followers small in number, but Richard had obligingly removed Henry’s rivals as well as his own and the temptation was too strong. See The Princes in the Tower.
Of course there were malcontents who did not acknowledge the fact. See Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel.