Was Edward IV’s ruling between 1471-1483 effective?
Edward was the eldest surviving son of Richard Plantaganet, Duke of York, who was declared successor to Henry VI in 1460. Following York's death that December, Edward defeated Henry's Lancastrian supporters before being crowned Edward IV in June 1461. An invasion by Warwick and Margaret's Lancastrian forces In September 1470 forced Edward to flee into exile in the Netherlands. During March 1471 he and his brother Richard, duke of Gloucester, returned to England from the Netherlands. Taking London, he defeated and killed Warwick at Barnet before defeating the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury. Henry VI was put to death in the Tower. This was to be the start of Edward’s, very successful, second reign.
Edwards second reign (1471-1483), in contrast with his first (1461-69), was by far the more successful of the two. During 1461-70 Edward struggled to impose himself onto the people of England. Within the 1960’s Edward himself admitted that his interests in women, food and wine caused problems during his reign and whilst his surprising marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, politically caused problems, financially it only slowed his progress to recovery. In fact many historians have gone as far to say that Edward’s original reign was not much of an improvement to the disastrous reign of his predecessor, Henry VI. However, it must be remembered that Edward took over in very difficult circumstances. Edward was still very young when he took over control, only 19, and relied heavily on the support of Warwick. Edward had also been brought up not expecting to become king thus he had limited knowledge about government. Not only this, but Edward gained control during a poor financial situation. He gained the throne with the burden of being £400,000 in debt. This was not the only burden his father had left him with. Almost all the key nobles at Towton had backed Henry VI or chosen to stay out of these affaires. This left Edward with limited noble support.
