King Edward IV's Ancestery

The Tudor claim is just weird. In the end you have to argue whether the Beauforts were legitimized or not by the fact that John of Gaunt married Katherine Swynford. But then that still bares the fact that they were barred from the throne.

and even besides all of this, Edward IV technically - on a technicality - won the throne through conquest as well, even if it was argued that his claim was through his descent from Edward III via two lines.

Three actually. Iirc his mother Cecily Neville was a granddaughter of John of Gaunt.
 
Edward IV

All this comes from a document found at Rouen Cathedral that Richard of York was on campaign from 14 July to 21 August 1441. Edward was born 28 April 1442, meaning that the date of his conception would be in mid-July to mid-August, when Richard was on campaign at Pontoise.

Also sources indicate that Edward bore little resemblance to Richard, his siblings, George and Margret did. Also the fact that Edward's christening was a "low-key" affair, while his brother Edmund's was "lavish".

I'm not saying it is true, but it the evidence is quite interesting...
It comes down to simple genetics, which was not understood in Edward IV's time. It can happen that siplings don't resemble each other and don't look like they are from the same family at all. I have several relatives like this.
 
It comes down to simple genetics, which was not understood in Edward IV's time. It can happen that siplings don't resemble each other and don't look like they are from the same family at all. I have several relatives like this.

That goes for the mental as well as the physical. Charles II was a really smart cookie, his brother James II as thick as two short planks.

The four sons of Henry II were also a bunch of wildly differing personalities. So were the three children of Henry VIII.
 
Henry Tudor gained the crown by Conquest, rendering all previous lines of succession null.

But Henry cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, who if Edward was a bastard, would have been barred from succession, thus Henry couldn't have used her claim (also invalidating Henry VIII's).

Henry's claim was also descended through Margret Beaufort, granddaughter of John Beaufort, an illegitimate child of John of Gaunt by Katherine Swynford, before through their marriage.

So IF Edward was a bastard, then Henry's claim derives from two lines of bastardry. Despite winning the crown by battle, he would have had no legitimate to claim to keep it.
 
But Henry cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, who if Edward was a bastard, would have been barred from succession, thus Henry couldn't have used her claim (also invalidating Henry VIII's).

Henry's claim was also descended through Margret Beaufort, granddaughter of John Beaufort, an illegitimate child of John of Gaunt by Katherine Swynford, before through their marriage.

So IF Edward was a bastard, then Henry's claim derives from two lines of bastardry. Despite winning the crown by battle, he would have had no legitimate to claim to keep it.

The claim of winning by battle is legitimate enough. As Uhura's Mazda said, his claim of conquest thourgh battle rendered any other claim obselete. The previous king (Richard III) was killed on the field of battle, and Lord Stanley crowned Henry Tudor on the field itself. Besides, him marrying Elizabeth of York, if she was illegitimate, does not change the fact that Richard III was thinking of marrying her no - he would not have done so if she was illegitimate.

and in regards to Henry VIII. That is just grasping at straws. The Tudors were well established by his reign and recognised by the other European monarchs as the legitimate rulers of England. He only had internal problems to deal with really. such as Buckingham (apparently) and even his own marriages.
 
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But Henry cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, who if Edward was a bastard, would have been barred from succession, thus Henry couldn't have used her claim (also invalidating Henry VIII's).

Henry's claim was also descended through Margret Beaufort, granddaughter of John Beaufort, an illegitimate child of John of Gaunt by Katherine Swynford, before through their marriage.

So IF Edward was a bastard, then Henry's claim derives from two lines of bastardry. Despite winning the crown by battle, he would have had no legitimate to claim to keep it.
Well, it's never about legitimacy from the start. After all, rulers of France, castille, Scotland all recognized Henry Tudor as king of England by marrying Henry's sirelings.
 
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