Edward IV

The Wars of the Roses saw some of the bloodiest months in English history, but winning on the battlefield did not necessarily mean winning the war.

Hugh Ross Williamson describes how, in the fierce dynastic struggles of the later fifteenth century, Edward IV’s brother, George Plantagenet, played a devious and ill-fated part.

Dorothy Margaret Stuart introduces a grandee at the court of Edward IV, a warrior both on land and sea, and the first patron of English printing; Earl Rivers, who met his death in the sinister Castle of Pontefract at the orders of Richard III. 

Save at the Arthurian Court, writes Dorothy Margaret Stuart, such splendid scenes had never before been witnessed as accompanied the marriage of Edward IV’s sister to the Duke of Burgundy.

A.K.B Evans recounts the story behind the centre for the Knights of the Garter at Windsor, which was built by Edward IV in 1475.

Hannes Kleineke examines the career of the first Yorkist king.

Jonathan Hughes looks at the significance, in alchemical terms, of this reign, and what the King himself made of alchemical prophecy.

Jane Geddes investigates the remarkable ironwork of the gates of the tomb of Edward IV, and considers what they can tell us about 15th-century craft and culture.

Eric Ives looks at the cases of two English monarchs who broke with convention by selecting spouses for reasons of the heart, rather than political convenience.