Who married Edward IV of England?

Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England fought between the Yorkist and Lancastrian factions between 1455 and 1487.

Edward inherited the Yorkist claim to the throne at the age of eighteen when his father, Richard, Duke of York, was killed at the Battle of Wakefield in December 1460. After defeating Lancastrian armies at Mortimer's Cross and Towton in early 1461, he deposed King Henry VI and took the throne. His marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in 1464 led to conflict with his chief advisor, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the "Kingmaker". In 1470, a revolt led by Warwick and Edward's brother George, Duke of Clarence, briefly re-installed Henry VI. Edward fled to Flanders, where he gathered support and invaded England in March 1471; after victories at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury (where both the Earl of Warwick and Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, were killed), he resumed the throne. Shortly afterwards, Henry VI was found dead in the Tower of London, possibly killed on Edward's orders.

Despite facing an overseas threat from Henry Tudor, the last remaining Lancastrian claimant, Edward reigned in relative peace for the next twelve years. However, he nearly restarted the Hundred Years' War, following his invasion of France in 1475, but was assuaged by Louis XI in the Treaty of Picquigny. This diplomatic agreement formally ended the Hundred Years' War, which had been in abeyance since 1453. Following his sudden death in April 1483, Edward was briefly succeeded by his son Edward V. He had appointed his younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, Lord Protector of England for the duration of the new king's minority. However, Edward V and his younger brother Richard, Duke of York, disappeared shortly after and their uncle seized the throne as Richard III.

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Éléonore Talbot (vers 1436 – juin 1468) est une femme de la noblesse anglaise principalement connue comme ayant été un instrument dans la prise du pouvoir de Richard III en 1483.

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Elizabeth Woodville (also spelt Wydville, Wydeville, or Widvile; c. 1437 – 8 June 1492), known as Dame Elizabeth Grey during her first marriage, was Queen of England from 1 May 1464 until 3 October 1470 and from 11 April 1471 until 9 April 1483 as the wife of King Edward IV. She was a key figure in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic civil war between the Lancastrian and the Yorkist factions between 1455 and 1487.

At the time of her birth, Elizabeth's family was of middle rank in the English social hierarchy. Her mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, had previously been an aunt-by-marriage to King Henry VI, and was the daughter of Peter I, Count of Saint-Pol. Elizabeth's first marriage was to a minor supporter of the House of Lancaster, John Grey of Groby. He died at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461, leaving Elizabeth a widowed mother of two young sons.

Elizabeth's second marriage, in 1464, to Edward IV became a cause célèbre. Elizabeth was known for her beauty but came from minor nobility with no great estates, and the marriage took place in secret. Edward was the first king of England since the Norman Conquest to marry one of his subjects, and Elizabeth was the first such consort to be crowned queen. The couple had ten children together. The marriage greatly enriched Elizabeth's siblings and children, but their advancement incurred the hostility of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, "The Kingmaker", and his various alliances with the most senior figures in the increasingly divided royal family. This hostility turned into open discord between King Edward and Warwick, leading to a battle of wills that finally resulted in Warwick's switching allegiance to the Lancastrian cause, and to the execution of Elizabeth's father, Richard Woodville, and her brother, John, by Warwick in 1469.

After the death of her husband in 1483, Elizabeth remained politically influential even after her son, briefly proclaimed King Edward V, was deposed by her brother-in-law, Richard III. Edward and his younger brother Richard both disappeared soon afterwards, and are presumed to have been murdered on Richard III's orders. Elizabeth subsequently played an important role in securing the accession of Henry VII in 1485.

Henry married Elizabeth's eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, which ended the Wars of the Roses and established the Tudor dynasty. Through her daughter, Elizabeth Woodville was a grandmother of the future Henry VIII. Elizabeth was forced to yield pre-eminence to Henry VII's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort; her influence on events in these years, and her eventual departure from court into retirement, remain obscure.

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