Richard III -- Wars Of The Roses

 
Henry II through Henry VI

Henry VI, wife Margaret of Anjou and young son Prince Edward

• insane, weak

Opportunity for Richard, Duke of York: wife Cecily Neville

• four sons, one dies early
• Edward, Edmund, George, and Richard (to be III)

1460: prologue

• Richard, Duke of York: loses at Wakefield, near York; Henry VI / Margaret king/queen
• big surprise / shock to family that Richard, Duke of York killed
• son Richard, 8 years old -- too young to really know his father
• his mother Cecily kept her husband's / Richard's father alive as a "demigod"
• Cecily Neville: incredibly important. The Cecily Neville society.

Background to beginning of War of the Roses:

• around 1430, Richard regent of France; then by 1447, exiled to Ireland
• arch enemy Somerset was next to the throne
• Somerset had lost all of France except Calais and Henry VI was "destroying "England.
• after Somerset lost France, York had had enough and unexpectedly showed up in London via Wales, about 1452)
• Henry VI catatonic, 1453, after another loss in France
• Richard took control; put Somerset in the Tower and "protected" the King (much more to the story)
• Henry VI recovers, 1454

The factions:

• royalty: York VS Somerset; and,
• wealthy families: Nevilles VS Percys
  

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, "the kingmaker," was one of the wealthiest landowners outside the Royal Families in the 1450's and 60's. His father was the Earl of Salisbury and one of his aunts, Cecily Neville, married Richard, Duke of York. This meant that Richard Neville, Edward IV and Richard III were first cousins.

St Albans, first battle, 1455; also ends Shakespeare play Henry VI Part 2. 

• York and Nevilles soundly defeat King Henry and Somerset
• Earl of Warwick, age 28, begins his reputation as "strong man." Eventually "the kingmaker" -- put brothers Edward and Richard III on the throne (their mother, Cecily Neville)

The nature of Richard’s relationship with Cecily remains one of the many mysteries surrounding his accession to the throne. Cecily herself is one of the best documented and most fascinating women of the fifteenth century. She was, for a time, the most powerful woman in England and she was an astonishing political survivor through many regime changes.

Cecily was born in 1415, the daughter of a staunchly Lancastrian family, and she was married to Richard, Duke of York before her tenth birthday. Richard, Duke of York was the ward of Cecily's father! Richard was the orphaned son of a traitor, his father was beheaded, 1415, plot to overthrow King Henry V; Richard III's father (beheaded, by Henry V) had married into the wealthy Mortimer family. Mortimer's were far to the left on the Edward III / Lancasterian family tree and strong legitimacy to claim to throne.  So, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York) had married a strong Lancasterian woman, and after inheriting Mortimer's estate, richest man in England (inherited Mortimer estate after father beheaded). Also direct line to throne. 

Richard, Duke of York, father of the "three sons" was the heir to a huge fortune and a potential claim to the throne of England. After ‘a long time of barrenness’, the Cecily and Richard had twelve children, seven of whom survived infancy. It appears to have been a happy marriage – York trusted her to act on his behalf in business and politics and he spent huge sums on her clothes and jewels. Cecily’s youngest surviving children were Margaret (future duchess of Burgundy), George and Richard. These children were with her during some of the most traumatic years of her life, as the Lancastrian kingship collapsed and her husband made his unsuccessful bid for the throne of England. She would have supervised their early education, perhaps taught them to read.

In the winter of 1460/61 Yorkist fortunes were at their lowest, following the Duke of York’s death at Wakefield (1460) and the Earl of Warwick’s death at St Albans (1455). Albans considered the first battle of the War of Roses. Those first two battles: Henry VI/Margaret and Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset VS Richard, Duke of York and his Neville allies, the earls of Warwick and Salisbury. Somerset killed and King Henry VI captured, and Richard appointed Lord Protector. [So Beaufort family vs Cecily Neville family.]

For their safety Cecily sent the boys, aged just eleven and eight, to the court of the Duke of Burgundy. Her decision to remain in London to defend the interests of her only surviving son – the eighteen year old Edward, Earl of March – indicates her priorities and her ambition for her family. Immediately after their return to England the King’s little brothers, like their mother, probably spent much of their time within the royal household. Richard may well have been nearly thirteen before he left the regular company of his mother for the household of the Earl of Warwick.

As king’s mother, Cecily used her own vast wealth and wide administration to support Edward IV’s policies. One observer claimed in 1461 that Cecily ‘can rule the king as she pleases’, although it seems unlikely that she retained such influence as Edward grew older. Decades later, writers plausibly recorded that she was appalled by Edward IV’s choice of queen. Nonetheless, Cecily loaned one of her longest serving gentlewomen to the new queen’s household and later events indicate that if there were tensions early on these were very soon resolved.

So, the three brothers: Edward, George (Clarence), Richard (to be III).

Mentor to all: Earl of Warwick, the "kingmaker"

• eldest son of the 5th Earl of Salisbury, Richard Neville,
• married into being 15th Earl of Warwick
• thus becomes: 6th earl of Salisbury; 16th Earl of Warwick, the "kingmaker"

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, 6th Earl of Salisbury KG (22 November 1428 – 14 April 1471), known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator, landowner of the House of Neville fortune and military commander. The eldest son of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury, he became Earl of Warwick through marriage, and was the wealthiest and most powerful English peer of his age, with political connections that went beyond the country's borders. One of the leaders in the Wars of the Roses, originally on the Yorkist side but later switching to the Lancastrian side, he was instrumental in the deposition of two kings (Edward IV and Richard III), which led to his epithet of "Kingmaker." 

When Richard III rose up unsuccessfully, the "kingmaker" (and the "kingmaker's" father) rose up in defense of Henry VI. Another long story. 

So, now, very, very convoluted but the richest man in England, second to the king, was a Neville, the Earl of Salisbury, the Earl of Warwick, the "kingmaker."  He had a falling out with Richard III but Richard III ultimately won. 

A Neville descendant then wrote a play about Richard III who was cast in a bad, bad light.

Warwick was killed at the battle of Barnet, 1471, by Edward IV, before Richard III became king. Shakespeare's Henry VI, Part 3.

Very confusing, but it appears the Nevilles were strong supporters of the Yorks until there was a falling out and the Nevilles (Lancasterians) ended back up on the side of the Lancasterians but losing to Edward IV at Battle of Barnet, and eventually Richard III becoming King. 

The last half of the story, how Richard III lost his life and how Henry VII, a Tudor but son a Beaufort, his mother's family, became king.