Henry VI (6 December 1421 – 21 May 1471) wasKing of England from 1422 to 1461 and 1470 to 1471,[1] anddisputed King of France from 1422 to 1453. The only child ofHenry V, he succeeded to theEnglish throne at the age of eight months, upon his father's death, and to theFrench throne on the death of his maternal grandfather,Charles VI, shortly afterwards.
Henry was born during theHundred Years' War (1337–1453). He is the only English monarch to have been crowned King of France, following his coronation atNotre-Dame de Paris in 1431 asHenry II. His early reign, when England was ruled by aregency government, saw the pinnacle of English power inFrance. However, setbacks followed once he assumed full control in 1437. The young king faced military reversals in France, as well as political and financial crises in England, where divisions among thenobility in his government began to widen. His reign saw the near total loss ofEnglish lands in France.
In contrast to his father, Henry VI was described as timid, passive, benevolent and averse to warfare and violence. In 1445, Henry married Charles VII's nieceMargaret of Anjou in the hope of achieving peace. However,the peace policy failed and war recommenced. By 1453,Calais was the only English-governed territory on the continent. Henry's domestic popularity declined in the 1440s, and political unrest in England grew as a result. Because of military defeats and political crises, Henry suffered a mental breakdown in 1453, triggering a power struggle between theroyal family:Richard, 3rd Duke of York,Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, and Queen Margaret. Civil war broke out in 1455, leading to a long period ofdynastic conflict known as theWars of the Roses (1455–1487).
Henry VI upon his accession, shown being placed in the care of theEarl of Warwick
Henry was born on 6 December 1421 atWindsor Castle, the only child and heir-apparent ofKing Henry V. He succeeded to the throne asKing of England at the age of eight months on 1 September 1422, the day after his father's death; he remains the youngest person ever to succeed to the English throne.[2] On 21 October 1422, in accordance with theTreaty of Troyes of 1420, he became titularKing of France upon his grandfatherCharles VI's death. His mother, the 20-year-oldCatherine of Valois, was viewed with considerable suspicion by English nobles as Charles VI's daughter. She was prevented from playing a full role in her son's upbringing.
On 28 September 1423, the nobles swore loyalty to Henry VI, who was not yet two years old. They summonedParliament in the King's name and established aregency council to govern until the King should come of age. One of Henry V's surviving brothers,John, Duke of Bedford, was appointed seniorregent of the realm and was in charge of theongoing war in France. During Bedford's absence, the government of England was headed by Henry V's other surviving brother,Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who was appointedLord Protector and Defender of the Realm. His duties were limited to keeping the peace and summoning Parliament. Henry V's uncleHenry Beaufort,Bishop of Winchester (after 1426 alsoCardinal), had an important place on the Council. After the Duke of Bedford died in 1435, the Duke of Gloucester claimed the Regency himself but was contested by the other members of the Council.
From 1428, Henry's tutor wasRichard de Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, whosefather had been instrumental in theopposition to Richard II's reign. For the period 1430–1432, Henry was also tutored by the physicianJohn Somerset. Somerset's duties were to "tutor the young king as well as preserv[e] his health".[3] Somerset remained within the royal household until early 1451 after theEnglish House of Commons petitioned for his removal because of his "dangerous and subversive influence over Henry VI".[4]
Henry's mother Catherine remarried toOwen Tudor and had two sons by him,Edmund andJasper. Henry later gave his half-brothers earldoms. Edmund then fathered the future KingHenry VII of England.
In reaction to the coronation ofCharles VII of France inReims Cathedral on 17 July 1429,[5] Henry was soon crowned King of England atWestminster Abbey on 6 November 1429,[6] aged 7, followed by his own coronation as King of France atNotre-Dame de Paris on 16 December 1431, aged 10.[6] He was the only English king to be crowned king in both England and France. It was shortly after his crowning ceremony atMerton Priory onAll Saints' Day, 1 November 1437,[7] shortly before his 16th birthday, that he obtained some measure of independent authority. This was confirmed on 13 November 1437,[8] but his growing willingness to involve himself in administration had already become apparent in 1434, when the place named on writs temporarily changed fromWestminster (where thePrivy Council met) toCirencester (where the King resided).[9] He finally assumed full royal powers when he came of age at the end of the year 1437, when he turned 16 years old.[10] Henry's assumption of full royal powers occurred during theGreat Bullion Famine and the beginning of theGreat Slump in England.
Henry, who was by nature shy, pious, and averse to deceit and bloodshed, immediately allowed his court to be dominated by a few noble favourites who clashed on the matter of the French war when he assumed the reins of government in 1437. After the death of King Henry V, England had lost momentum in theHundred Years' War, whereas theHouse of Valois had gained ground beginning withJoan of Arc's military victories in the year 1429. The young King came to favour a policy of peace in France and thus favoured the faction around Cardinal Beaufort andWilliam de la Pole, Earl of Suffolk, who thought likewise; theDuke of Gloucester andRichard, Duke of York, who argued for a continuation of the war, were ignored.
As the English military situation in France deteriorated, talks emerged in England about arranging a marriage for the king to strengthen England's foreign connections[11] and facilitate a peace between the warring parties. In 1434, the English council suggested that peace with the Scots could best be effected by the wedding of Henry to one of the daughters of KingJames I of Scotland; the proposal came to nothing. During theCongress of Arras in 1435, the English put forth the idea of a union between Henry and a daughter of KingCharles VII of France, but theArmagnacs refused even to contemplate the suggestion unless Henry renounced his claim to the French throne. Another proposal in 1438 to a daughter of KingAlbert II of Germany likewise failed.[11]
Better prospects for England arose amid a growing effort by French lords to resist the growing power of the French monarchy, a conflict which culminated in thePraguerie revolt of 1440.[11] Though the English failed to take advantage of the Praguerie itself, the prospect of gaining the allegiance of one of Charles VII's more rebellious nobles was attractive from a military perspective. In about 1441, the recently ransomedCharles, Duke of Orléans, in an attempt to force Charles VII to make peace with the English, suggested a marriage between Henry VI and Isabella of Armagnac, daughter ofJohn IV, Count of Armagnac,[12] a powerful noble in southwestern France who was at odds with the Valois crown.[13] An alliance with Armagnac would have helped to protect EnglishGascony from increasing French threats in the region, especially in the face of defections to the enemy by local English vassals,[14] and might have helped to wean some other French nobles to the English party.[15] The proposal was seriously entertained between 1441 and 1443, but a massive French campaign in 1442 against Gascony disrupted the work of the ambassadors[16] and frightened theCount of Armagnac into reluctance.[17] The deal fell through due to problems in commissioning portraits of the Count's daughters[18] and the Count's imprisonment by Charles VII's men in 1443.[19]
Cardinal Beaufort and theDuke of Suffolk persuaded Henry that the best way to pursue peace with France was through a marriage withMargaret of Anjou, the niece of King Charles VII. Henry agreed, especially when he heard reports of Margaret's stunning beauty, and sent Suffolk to negotiate with Charles, who consented to the marriage on condition that he would not have to provide the customarydowry and instead would receive the province ofMaine from the English. These conditions were agreed upon in theTreaty of Tours in 1444, but the cession of Maine was kept secret from Parliament, as it was known that this would be hugely unpopular with the English populace. The marriage took place atTitchfield Abbey on 23 April 1445,[20] one month after Margaret's 15th birthday. She had arrived with an established household, composed primarily not of Angevins, but of members of Henry's royal servants; this increase in the size of the royal household, and a concomitant increase on the birth of their son,Edward of Westminster, in 1453, led to proportionately greater expense but also to greater patronage opportunities at Court.[21]
Henry had wavered in yielding Maine to Charles, knowing that the move was unpopular and would be opposed by the Dukes of Gloucester and York, and also because Maine was vital to the defence ofNormandy. However, Margaret was determined that he should see it through. As the treaty became public knowledge in 1446, public anger focused on the Earl of Suffolk, but Henry and Margaret were determined to protect him.
Salut d'or, depicting Henry as King of England and France, struck inRouen
In 1447, the king and queen summoned the Duke of Gloucester to appear before parliament on the charge of treason. Queen Margaret had no tolerance for any sign of disloyalty toward her husband and kingdom, thus any suspicion of this was immediately brought to her attention. This move was instigated by Gloucester's enemies, the earl of Suffolk, whom Margaret held in great esteem, and the ageing Cardinal Beaufort and his nephew,Edmund Beaufort, Earl of Somerset. Gloucester was put in custody inBury St Edmunds, where he died, probably of a heart attack (although contemporary rumours spoke of poisoning) before he could be tried.[a]
The Duke of York, being the most powerful duke in the realm and also being both anagnate and theheir general ofEdward III (thus having, according to some, a better claim to the throne than Henry VI himself), probably had the best chances to succeed to the throne after Gloucester. However, he was excluded from the court circle and sent to governIreland, while his opponents, the earls of Suffolk and Somerset, were promoted todukes, a title at that time still normally reserved for immediate relatives of the monarch.[22] The new duke of Somerset was sent to France to assume the command of the English forces; this prestigious position was previously held by the duke of York himself, who was dismayed at his term not being renewed and at seeing his enemy take control of it.
Manuscript depiction of Henry VI c. 1457
In the later years of Henry's reign, the monarchy became increasingly unpopular, due to a breakdown in law and order, corruption, the distribution of royal land to the king's courtfavourites, the troubled state of the crown's finances, and the steady loss of territories in France. In 1447, this unpopularity took the form of a Commons campaign againstWilliam de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk, who was the most unpopular of all the king's entourage and widely seen as a traitor. He was impeached by Parliament to a background that has been called "the baying for Suffolk's blood [by] a London mob",[23] to the extent that Suffolk admitted his alarm to Henry.[24] Ultimately, Henry was forced to send him intoexile, but Suffolk's ship was intercepted in theEnglish Channel. His murdered body was found on the beach atDover.[25]
Henry's mental health began to deteriorate in the late 1440s. He exhibited possible signs of paranoia (the arrest of Duke Humphrey in 1447) and grandiosity (the scale of his plans of expansion for Eton Chapel in 1449 and King's College in 1446). By 1449, Henry had many critics questioning his ability to rule due to his mental health.[26]
In 1449, the Duke of Somerset, leading the campaign in France, reopened hostilities inNormandy (although he had previously been one of the main advocates for peace), but by the autumn he had been pushed back toCaen. By 1450, the French had retaken the whole province, so hard won by Henry V. Returning troops, who had often not been paid, added to the lawlessness in the southern counties of England.Jack Cade led a rebellion inKent in 1450, calling himself "John Mortimer", apparently in sympathy with York, and setting up residence at theWhite Hart Inn in Southwark (thewhite hart had been the symbol of the deposedRichard II).[27] Henry came to London with an army to crush the rebellion, but on finding that Cade had fled kept most of his troops behind while a small force followed the rebels and met them atSevenoaks. The flight proved to have been tactical: Cade successfully ambushed the force in the Battle of Solefields (near Sevenoaks) and returned to occupy London. In the end, the rebellion achieved nothing, and London was retaken after a few days of disorder; but this was principally because of the efforts of its own residents rather than those of the army. At any rate, the rebellion showed that feelings of discontent were running high.[28]
In 1451, theDuchy of Aquitaine, held by England sinceHenry II's time, was also lost. In October 1452, an English advance in Aquitaine retookBordeaux and was having some success, but by 1453 Bordeaux was lost again, leavingCalais as England's only remaining territory on the continent.[citation needed]
In 1452, the Duke of York was persuaded to return fromIreland, claim his rightful place on the council, and put an end to bad government. His cause was a popular one and he soon raised an army atShrewsbury. The court party, meanwhile, raised their own similar-sized force in London. A stand-off took place south of London, with the Duke of York presenting a list of grievances and demands to the court circle, including the arrest of Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. The king initially agreed, but Margaret intervened to prevent the arrest of Beaufort. By 1453, Somerset's influence had been restored, and York was again isolated. The court party was also strengthened by the announcement that the queen was pregnant.[citation needed]
However, in August 1453, Henry received the bad news that his army had been routed in the decisiveBattle of Castillon. Shortly thereafter, Henry experienced a mental breakdown. He became completely unresponsive to everything that was going on around him for more than a year.[29] At the age of 31, he "fell by a sudden and accidental fright into such a weak state of health that for a whole year and a half he had neither sense nor reason capable of carrying on the government and neither physician nor medicine could cure that infirmity..." and he was, "...smitten with a frenzy and his wit and reason withdrawn."[26] Henry even failed to respond to the birth of his son Edward six months into the illness.[26]
The Duke of York, meanwhile, had gained a very important ally,Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, one of the most influential magnates and possibly richer than York himself. York was named regent as Protector of The Realm in 1454. The queen was excluded completely, and Edmund Beaufort was detained in the Tower of London, while many of York's supporters spread rumours that Edward was not the king's son, but Beaufort's.[30] Other than that, York's months as regent were spent tackling the problem of government overspending.[31][page needed]
Around Christmas Day 1454, King Henry regained his senses. Disaffected nobles who had grown in power during Henry's reign, most importantly the Earls of Warwick andSalisbury, took matters into their own hands. They backed the claims of the rivalHouse of York, first to the control of government, and then to the throne itself (from 1460), pointing to York's better descent from Edward III. It was agreed that York would become Henry's successor, despite York being older.[31][page needed] In 1457, Henry created theCouncil of Wales and the Marches for his sonPrince Edward,[32] and in 1458, he attempted to unite the warring factions by staging theLoveday in London as an arbitration event.[33]
Despite such attempts at reconciliation, tensions between the houses ofLancaster and York eventually broke out in open war. Their forces engaged at theBattle of Northampton, 10 July 1460, where the king was captured and taken into captivity under the Yorkists. Queen Margaret, who also had been on the field, managed to escape with her son, the prince, fleeing throughWales toScotland where she found refuge in the court of the queen regent,Mary of Guelders, recent widow ofJames II. Here she set about eliciting support for her husband from that kingdom.[34]
Re-entering England at the end of the year, the English queen in force engaged with the Duke of York at theBattle of Wakefield, 30 December 1460, where York fell. A few weeks later, at theSecond Battle of St Albans, 17 February 1461, her forces engaged with theEarl of Warwick, under whose custody her husband was being held. She defeated Warwick and liberated the king. Henry's mental state at the time was such that he had reputedly laughed and sung as the battle raged around him.[citation needed]
The victory however was short-lived. Within six weeks, the king and queen's forces were once more defeated at theBattle of Towton, 29 March 1461, by the Duke of York's son, Edward. Henry and Margaret together evaded capture by Edward and this time they both escaped into exile in Scotland. With Scottish aid, Margaret now travelled to the continent to elicit further support for her husband's cause.[35]
Mainly under her leadership, Lancastrian resistance continued in the north of England during the first period of Edward IV's reign but met with little luck on the field. At the same time as Henry's cause was beginning to look increasingly desperate in military terms, an English embassy to Scotland, through theEarl of Warwick on behalf of Edward, served to further weaken his interests at the Scottish Court in political terms.[36] After the queen mother's death on 1 December 1463,Scotland now actively sued for peace with England and the exiled king passed back across the border to try his fortune with those nobles in the north of England and Wales who were still loyal.[citation needed]
Following defeat in theBattle of Hexham, 15 May 1464, Henry, as a fugitive in his own land, continued to be afforded safety in various Lancastrian houses across the north of England. Sir John Pennington provided refuge to Henry VI of England inMuncaster Castle following the battle. Legend has it that Henry VI left behind a Venetian glass bowl as a token of gratitude, known as the "Luck of Muncaster", ensuring the prosperity of thePennington family as long as it remained intact.[37]
Statue of Henry VI, originally part of theCoventry Cross, constructed in 1544
Nonetheless, while he was in hiding at Waddington Hall, inWaddington, Lancashire, the home of Sir Richard Tempest, he was betrayed by "a black monk of Addington" and on 13 July 1464, a party of Yorkist men, including Sir Richard's brother John, entered the house for his arrest. Henry fled into nearby woods but was soon captured at Brungerley Hippings (stepping stones) over theRiver Ribble.[38] He was subsequently held captive in the Tower of London.[39][40]
The following poem has long been attributed to Henry, allegedly having been written during his imprisonment.[41] However, a largely identical verse appears inWilliam Baldwin's 1559 workThe Mirror for Magistrates, a collection of poems written from the perspective of historical figures.[42]
Kingdoms are but cares State is devoid of stay, Riches are ready snares, And hasten to decay Pleasure is a privy prick Which vice doth still provoke; Pomps, imprompt; and fame, a flame; Power, a smoldering smoke. Who meanth to remove the rock Owst of the slimy mud Shall mire himself, and hardly [e]scape The swelling of the flood.[43]
Gold "Angel" coin of Henry's later reign, struck in either London or York, showing theArchangel Michael (hence the coin's name) slaying the Dragon (left), and Henry's shield being carried aboard a ship (right)
Queen Margaret, exiled in Scotland and later inFrance, was determined to win back the throne on behalf of her husband and her son, Edward of Westminster. By herself, there was little she could do. However, eventually, Edward IV fell out with two of his main supporters: Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, and his own younger brotherGeorge, Duke of Clarence. At the urging of KingLouis XI of France they formed a secret alliance with Margaret. After marrying his daughterAnne Neville to Henry and Margaret's son, Warwick returned to England, forced Edward IV into exile, and restored Henry VI to the throne on 3 October 1470; the term "readeption" is still sometimes used for this event. However, by this time, years in hiding followed by years in captivity had taken their toll on Henry. Warwick and Clarence effectively ruled in his name.[44]
Henry's return to the throne lasted less than six months. Warwick soon overreached himself by declaring war onBurgundy, whose rulerCharles the Bold responded by giving Edward IV the assistance he needed to win back his throne by force. Edward returned to England in early 1471 and was reconciled with Clarence. Warwick was killed at theBattle of Barnet on 14 April and the Yorkists won a final decisive victory at theBattle of Tewkesbury on 4 May, where Henry's son Edward of Westminster was killed.[b]
The Wakefield Tower in theTower of London, which is treated as Henry VI's place of death for ceremonial purposes
Henry was imprisoned in theTower of London again and, when the royal party arrived in London, he was reported dead. Official chronicles and documents state that the deposed king died on the night of 21 May 1471.[20] In all likelihood, his opponents had kept him alive up to that point, rather than leave the Lancastrians with a far more formidable leader in Henry's son, Edward. However, once the last of the most prominent Lancastrian supporters had been either killed or exiled, it became clear that Henry VI would be a burden on Edward IV's reign. The common fear was the possibility of another noble using the mentally unstable king to further their own agenda.
According to theHistorie of the arrivall of Edward IV, an official chronicle favourable to Edward IV, Henry died ofmelancholia, but it is widely suspected, however, that Edward IV, who was re-crowned the morning following Henry's death, had ordered his murder.[45][c]
Modern tradition places his death in Wakefield Tower, part of theTower of London, but that is not supported by evidence, and is unlikely, since the tower was used for record storage at the time. Henry's actual place of death is unknown, though he was imprisoned within the Tower of London.[48]
King Henry VI was originally buried inChertsey Abbey inSurrey, but in 1484 Richard III had his body moved toSt George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.[20] When the body was exhumed in 1910, it was found to be 5 feet 9 inches (175 cm) tall with a damaged, abnormally thin skull and the fore-leg bone of a pig substituting his missing right arm. It was initially thought the damage to the skull indicated a violent death, however due to the difficult nature in identifying cause of death from bones alone, as well as the previous redisposition of his body, such evidence is inconclusive.[49][volume & issue needed]
Overall, Henry VI is largely seen as a weak, inept king, whose inability to rule effectively led to theWars of the Roses. He favoured diplomacy, rather than all-out war in theHundred Years' War, in stark contrast to his father,Henry V, who led the victory atAgincourt. This allowed Henry to be heavily influenced by many nobles, such asWilliam de la Pole, who oversaw significant English losses in France, such as theSiege of Orléans.[50] On the other hand, many historians see Henry as a pious, generous king, who was victim of an unstable crown, caused by the deposition ofRichard II.John Blacman, personal chaplain of Henry, described the king as a man without "any crook or uncouth."[51]
Henry's one lasting achievement was his fostering of education: he foundedEton College;King's College, Cambridge; andAll Souls College, Oxford. He continued a career of architectural patronage started by his father: King's College Chapel andEton College Chapel and most of his other architectural commissions (such as his completion of his father's foundation ofSyon Abbey) consisted of a lateGothic orPerpendicular-style church with a monastic or educational foundation attached. Each year on the anniversary of Henry VI's death, the Provosts of Eton and King's lay white lilies and roses, the respective floral emblems of those colleges, on the spot in the Wakefield Tower at the Tower of London where the imprisoned Henry VI was, according to tradition, murdered as he knelt at prayer. There is a similar ceremony at his resting place, St George's Chapel.[52]
Miracles were attributed to Henry, and he was informally regarded as asaint andmartyr, addressed particularly in cases of adversity. The anti-Yorkist cult was encouraged byHenry VII of England as dynastic propaganda. A volume was compiled of the miracles attributed to him at St George's Chapel, Windsor, where Richard III had reinterred him, and Henry VII began building a chapel at Westminster Abbey to house Henry VI's relics.[53] A number of Henry VI's miracles possessed a political dimension, such ashis cure of a young girl afflicted with theKing's evil, whose parents refused to bring her to the usurper, Richard III.[54] By the time ofHenry VIII'sbreak with Rome,canonisation proceedings were under way.[55] Hymns to him still exist, and until theReformation his hat was kept by his tomb atWindsor, where pilgrims would put it on to enlist Henry's aid against migraines.[56]
Numerous miracles were credited to the dead king, including his raising the plague victim Alice Newnett from the dead and appearing to her as she was being stitched in her shroud.[57] He also intervened in the attempted hanging of a man who had been unjustly condemned to death, accused of stealing some sheep. Henry placed his hand between the rope and the man's windpipe, thus keeping him alive, after which he was revived in the cart as it was taking him away for burial.[58] He was also capable of inflicting harm, such as when he struck John Robyns blind after Robyns cursed "Saint Henry". Robyns was healed only after he went on a pilgrimage to the shrine of King Henry.[59] A particular devotional act that was closely associated with the cult of Henry VI was the bending of a silver coin as an offering to the "saint" so that he might perform a miracle. One story had a woman, Katherine Bailey, who was blind in one eye. As she was kneeling at mass, a stranger told her to bend a coin to King Henry. She promised to do so, and as the priest was raising the communion host, her partial blindness was cured.[60]
Although Henry VI's shrine was enormously popular as a pilgrimage destination during the early decades of the 16th century,[61] over time, with the lessened need to legitimise Tudor rule, his cult faded.[62]
First page ofThe first Part of Henry the Sixth from theFirst Folio (1623)
William Shakespeare and possibly others[63][64] completed the Henry VI trilogy around 1593,[65] roughly 121 years after the real monarch's death. The period of history covered in the plays was between the funeral of Henry V (1422) to theBattle of Tewkesbury (1471).[66][63]
Though modern scholars are more interested in the context that the Henry VI trilogy paved for the more popular playRichard III,[67] it was very popular during Elizabethan times.[64] Rather than being representative of the historical events or the actual life and temperament of Henry VI himself, the Shakespearean plays are more representative of the pivotal political situation in England at that time: international war in the form of the Hundred Years' War, and civil strife in the form of the War of the Roses.[66]
Shakespeare's portrayal of Henry is notable in that it does not mention the King's madness.[citation needed] This is considered to have been a politically advisable move to not risk offendingElizabeth I whose family was descended from Henry's Lancastrian family.[citation needed] Instead, Henry is portrayed as a pious and peaceful man ill-suited to the crown. He spends most of his time in contemplation of theBible and expressing his wish to be anyone other than a king.[citation needed] Shakespeare's Henry is weak-willed and easily influenced allowing his policies to be led by Margaret and her allies, and being unable to defend himself against York's claim to the throne. He takes an act of his own volition only just before his death when he curses Richard of Gloucester just before he is murdered. (Shakespeare, William: Henry VI, Part III Act 5, scene 6)[citation needed]
Henry VI's marriage to Margaret of Anjou is the subject of the historical novelA Stormy Life (1867) byLady Georgiana Fullerton.[80] The novelThe Triple Crown (1912) by Rose Schuster focuses on Henry's insanity.[80] The novelLondon Bridge Is Falling (1934) byPhilip Lindsay depicts Henry's response toJack Cade's Rebellion.[80] Henry VI also features in the short story "The Duchess and the Doll" (1950) byEdith Pargeter.[81]
^With the King's only remaining uncle dead, there were many, though no obvious, candidates to succeed Henry VI to the throne if he died childless. Henry VI's grandfatherHenry IV had inaugurated a trend of favouring male succession by his deposition ofRichard II in 1399. By this logic, the most senior candidate in the royal family, throughmale line descent fromEdward III, was Richard of York, or his rival Edmund Beaufort (the Earl of Somerset) in case the Beaufort line was declared eligible to succeed (Henry IV had barred them from succession due to their initial illegitimacy). Throughprimogeniture, however, which was the traditional method of English succession, the legitimate successor would beAfonso V of Portugal through his descent fromHenry IV's eldest sister, but his status as a foreign monarch made him very unlikely to become king. An alternative line of succession would be the descendants ofHenry IV's second sister, whose son wasJohn Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter. A fifth candidate to the throne wasMargaret Beaufort, who was theheir general of theHouse of Lancaster (through Henry IV's semi-legitimate brother,John Beaufort), if the Beaufort family was admitted into the succession line. She would later marry Henry VI's maternal half-brotherEdmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, and originate the Tudor claim to the throne.
^The manner of the prince's death is one of historical speculation. See: Desmond Seward. "The Wars of the Roses", and Charles Ross, "Wars of the Roses". Both retell the traditional story that the prince sought sanctuary in Tewkesbury Abbey and was dragged out and butchered in the street.
^Either, that with Prince Edward's death, there was no longer any reason to keep Henry alive, or that,until Prince Edward died, there was little benefit to killing Henry. According to rumours at the time, which persisted for many years, Henry VI was killed by a blow to the back of the head, whilst at prayer in the late hours of 21 May 1471.[46]
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^Burgess, Michael, and Vassilakos, Jill H.Murder in Retrospect: A Selective Guide to Historical Mystery Fiction Westport, Conn; Libraries Unlimited, 2005.ISBN978-1-5915-8087-4 (p. 7)
McKenna, J. W. (1965). "Henry VI of England and the Dual Monarchy: Aspects of Royal Political Propaganda, 1422–1432".Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes.28:145–162.doi:10.2307/750667.JSTOR750667.S2CID158251523.
1 Briefly joined the Lancastrians.2 Briefly joined the Yorkists.3 Defected from the Yorkist to the Lancastrian cause.4 Initially a Yorkist who later supported the Tudor claim.5 Initially a Lancastrian who later supported the Tudor claim.
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