Nevertheless, Warwick’s disagreements with the king didn’t come over the Woodville marriage; the real reason for the growing incongruities came over Foreign Policy.
The accession of a new French king, Louis XII in 1461 meant that England had a choice of possible alliances. They could either ally with France, of France’s main enemy, Burgundy. As a way of blocking support for the King’s Lancastrian opponents, a French alliance seemed to be a sensible option. However, a Burgundian alliance also had advantages since the Duke ruled the Low Countries as well as the duchy of Burgundy proper. Both sides were keen to have Edward as their ally and the king to his time to decide. He decided to ally with Burgundy, sanctioning the marriage of his sister Margaret to the Duke, Charles the Bold. At the same time he prepared for war against France. Edward hoped to unite England like Henry V had. Henry V used a French invasion to win the support of the nobility.
Although Edward favoured an alliance with Burgundy, Warwick thought the opposite. He spent long months negotiating with the French. When Edward decided to ally with Burgundy Warwick was humiliated, he felt isolated and betrayed. He was further inflamed with the Queen’s brother, Earl Rivers, power. Also, his brother, George Neville was dismissed from his position as chancellor. Furthermore, the failure to find two powerful men for his daughters was another cause of friction between Warwick and the King. The Woodvilles had completely dominated the marriage market, and Warwick was convinced that Elizabeth had put Edward against him. By this time Warwick withdrew himself from court and decided to rebel against Edward IV.
At first all went well, his plan seemed to build up a coalition of powerful forces. Warwick encouraged a rising in Yorkshire led by his steward, “Robin Redesdale” to gather popular support. Edward had left to London with limited forces and by surprise was captured in Olney by the ex-chancellor. Warwick persuaded Edward’s younger brother, George, Duke of Clarence to rebel with him against the king. In defiant to Edward’s wishes, Warwick married his daughter Isobel Neville to Clarence. Edward had forbidden such marriages between his brothers and Warwick’s daughters, he feared that as one brother had already been won over, Richard might be too. His intention may have been for Clarence to depose Edward as he was the next heir.
Although Warwick’s daughter was married to Clarence, Warwick’s problem was that he could not justify the deposition or murder of the king. If Clarence became king his claim would be inferior to his older brother, so instead of regicide, Warwick issued Yorkist propaganda. Edward then declared Warwick and Clarence as traitors and as Warwick realised that Clarence’s claim would never be strong enough he resorted the French king.
Louis XII welcomed the rebels and prepared to help them in their struggle against the king. He convinced Warwick to seek an alliance with Margaret of Anjou. Warwick agreed to fight alongside his eternal enemies, the Lancastrians. He reverted to Henry VI, who was still alive but unwell. He agreed to restore Henry VI back to the throne as Margaret said she would not support him unless he did so. However, Margaret then had to agree to marry her son; Prince Edward to Warwick’s other daughter, Anne Neville.
Warwick’s plan to get rid of Edward worked out better than expected. He allied with the Lancastrians and had a lot of support, well; many were fighting because they wanted Henry VI as king again. Edward lost support and fled abroad before his opponents captured him. He started to find help in the Low Countries which was ruled by his ally and brother-in-law, Charles the Bold. Nevertheless, Edward did not have enough ships or men to conquer the kingdom. Warwick was in London with limited forces since Margaret’s forces had not yet arrived from France. Edward then said he was going to reclaim the duchy of York. Warwick’s forces were not powerful enough to stop Edward’s troops from entering London. Thus, he was able to regain control of Henry VI and then went to look for Warwick. The two armies met at Barnet, outside London and Warwick’s forces were defeated and he himself was killed.
Edward raised troops once more to deal with the threat of Margaret of Anjou and her son. Once again, Edward defeated his opponents, the Lancastrians once and for all. Prince Edward was killed so Edward secured his kingship with victory in battle yet again. Henry VI was killed once Edward returned to London. So this time all Lancastrian power was crushed for good.
In my opinion, I don’t think the opposition towards Edward was serious; he was able to deal with it and regain the throne the following year, it was just the fact that the greatest nobleman in the realm and his own brother had turned against him. However, Edward was a soldier all his life and it is highlighted when he won the Battle of Towton where he became king and then further military campaigns in 1469 and 1471 where his natural ability as a commander was confirmed. He earned the respect for the nobility and many complied with his regime. At the beginning of his reign, he dealt with the Lancastrian resistance and was safe; it wasn’t until he was unexpectedly opposed by Warwick and Clarence. He was overthrown by his friends not his enemies but once they were killed he was firmly re-established in 1471 and was in a much stronger position than he had been in 1461 since Henry VI and his heir was dead and he had no one to challenge his right to the throne.
