Henry VI to Henry VII
A quick overview of the Kings of England from Henry VI in 1422 to Henry VII in 1485.
King Henry VI 1422-1461, 1470-1471 to King Henry VII 1485-1509
© Georgios Pazios, Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Attribution only.
The White Tower beside the Thames in London, originally built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century.
Introduction
This post is number 6 in the series Kings and Queens of England
Below is a brief overview of the Kings of England from Henry VI, Duke of Lancaster, who lost out to Edward IV, Duke of York, in 1471, to Henry VII, who became the last King of England to win his crown on the battlefield.
THE loss of his French crown and lands in 1453 broke Henry VI’s mental health, and his weakness, combined with his grandfather Henry IV’s debatable claim to the throne, sorely tempted Richard, Duke of York, to seize it himself.
But the Wars of the Roses only swung York’s way when Richard’s son Edward overwhelmed Henry’s forces at Towton in 1461, and was proclaimed King Edward IV. A six-month restoration ten years later ended with Henry’s murder.
In 1483, Edward’s thirteen-year-old son and successor Edward V was on his way to his coronation when his uncle, also named Richard, unexpectedly took him into custody, and declared him illegitimate. Uncle Richard then crowned himself Richard III, and young Edward and his brother were imprisoned in the Tower of London, where the two princes apparently died.
However, after just two years Welshman Henry Tudor, a descendant of Edward III, rallied the Lancastrian cause, and defeated Richard at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, to become Henry VII.
Next in series: Henry VII to Mary I
The Wars of the Roses take their name from the emblems of the two rival Royal Houses, the white rose of the Dukes of York, and the red rose of the Dukes of Lancaster. Both Houses traced their claims to sons of King Edward III, the Lancastrians to John of Gaunt, the Yorkists to Edmund of Langley. See The Wars of the Roses.
