alternatehistory.com

After turning away from this for some time I am happily returning to it this time hoping to move to a more natural conclusion rather than the previous abandonmnets - I have made some changes based on earlier feedback and hope you all enjoy. The POD is obvious Edward IV does not die in 1483 but recovers from his illness and continues to rule. Comments, thoughts and suggestions welcome as always.

A history of the 'Most IIustrious House of York'
Part One: The Early York's
By Professor The Hon Norman Wydeville, Queen Elizabeth College, Oxford.

Reviews:
"A gallop through the first Yorkist monarch's. War, marriage, divorce, religious change and national rebirth is all in Prof Wydeville's new work on his distant ancestors." (three stars: The Daily Mail)
"A rather sycophantic approach to Edwards IV, V and VI - not surprising from the younger son of a peer so disantly related to Edward IV's Queen and employed by the college named for her. The book takes a rather uncritical view of Edward IV's frequent foreign policy set backs and betrayals, ignores Edward V's blunders and Edward VI's wilful, petulant destruction of so much of England's cultural heritage." ( The Catholic Voice)
"Can't wait for Part Two. We all know the story of Edward IV - the brave soldier who rescued England from civil war and married a penniless widow for love and his grandson Edward VI who challenged the church for supremacy.
"The advantage of this scholarly study is the inclusion of the often overlooked Edward V and his wife Anne of Brittany and the king's struggle to regain an English presence on the continent, his defiant defence of his wife's inheritance and the Pope who helped the French thwart him."( Anne de Breton College Literary Review).

Extract:
Edward IV was a man of huge ambition who wiped his rivals from the political map and laid the foundations of an enduring dynasty who would lead England back to the centre of European politics.
Critics might say the marital and political alliances formed by Edward and his heir, the future Edward V, pushed England into costly conflicts and gained the nation little but it did ensure the longevity of the dynasty.
Edward IV was a man of huge appetites who avoided conflict unless pushed into it, was perceived as dishonourable at his willingness to accept foreign pensions instead of pursuing foreign rivals, but domestically he restored some semblance of political control and order.

A strong personal awareness of the power and prestige of the monarch didn't prevent his hasty and improbable marriage to the commoner widow Elizabeth Wydeville, Lady Grey, but it was a marriage that stood the test of time and he never appears to have regretted his hasty decision, though his adultery is well recorded.

His extravagant building projects, which left a significant mark on the landscape, are still visible at Windsor Castle, the York Memorial Chapel at Fotheringhay and at the great Palaces of Sheen, Greenwich and Eltham but the costs meant an empty treasury for his heir.

In contrast, Edward V dreamt of England's glory but spent the first decade of his reign excercising a stern governance of his realm, in the second part of his reign he led his nation to war with old enemies but gained little, betrayed by his allies and forced to a compromised peace.

The two men shared a love of the arts and court life was lived in splendour but unlike his father, Edward V was a faithful husband.
Together these two men laid the foundations of modern England.

Principal 15th and 16th Century Sources:
The Croyland Chronicle: was written at the Benedictine Abbey of Croyland, in Lincolnshire, England, off and on from 655 to 1486.
The part that covers the years 1459-1486 was written in around April 1486 by someone described as being a doctor of canon law and member of Edward IV's council. Others conclude the work was written by a monk of Croyland who has edited a secular source.
Croyland has been heavily used for descriptions of the early Yorkist Court and the politics of Edward's reign until the 1480s - is is highly unfortunate the chronicle wasn't continued by the monks of Croyland.
Anglica Historia by Polydore Vergil.
Polydore Vergil was a kinsman of Cardinal Hadrian Castellensis. Polydore was born at Urbino, is said to have been educated at and was probably in the service of Guido Ubaldo, Duke of Urbino, before 1498, as in the dedication of his first work, Liber Proverbiorum (April 1498), he styles himself this prince's client. Polydore's second book, De Inventoribus Rerum, is dedicated to Guido's tutor, Ludovicus Odaxius, from Urbino, in August 1499.
After a period as chamberlain to Pope Alexander VI he came to England in 1501 as deputy collector of Peter's pence for the cardinal. He probably attracted the attention of the Archbishop of York Lionel Woodville (uncle to the King) at about this time who was along with the King was angling to be made a Cardinal (which he was in 1503).
It is likely, given payments to Vergil in the Privy Purse expenses of Edward V, that he was asked by the King to produce his historia in about 1504/5 much of the work was not completed till after the King's death and wasn't published (dedicated to Edward VI) until the early 1530s.
Vergil's work is comprehensive but has attracted criticism as he has been regarded as a paid historian of the the Yorkist Kings by some detractors - his coverage of the reigns of Edward V and Edward VI was contemperaneous which again makes it unusual and useful.
 
The Yorkist Court: (Third continuation of the Croyland Chronicle 1483)
"King Edward kept the following feast of the Nativity at his palace of Westminster, frequently appearing clad in a great variety of most costly garments, of quite a different cut to those which had been usually seen hitherto in our kingdom. The sleeves of the robes were very full and hanging, greatly resembling a monk's frock, and so lined within with most costly furs, and rolled over the shoulders, as to give that prince a new and distinguished air to beholders, he being a person of most elegant appearance, and remarkable beyond all others for the attractions of his person.
You might have seen, in those days, the royal court presenting no other appearance than such as fully befits a most mighty kingdom, filled with riches and with people of almost all nations, and (a point in which it excelled all others) boasting of those most sweet and beautiful children, the issue of his marriage, which has been previously mentioned, with queen Elizabeth. For they had ten children, of whom, however, at this time, in consequence of the decease of three, there were but seven surviving. Of these two were boys, Edward, prince of Wales, and Richard, duke of York and Norfolk, but had not yet attained the years of puberty. Their five daughters, most beauteous maidens, were called, naming them in the order of their respective ages, the first, Elizabeth, the second, Cecily, the third, Anne, the fourth, Catherine, and the fifth, Dorothy. (error the fifth was named Bridget)
Although solemn embassies had been despatched and promises made, on the faith and words of princes, respecting the marriage of each of these daughters, and the same had been, in former years, agreed upon under letters of covenant concluded in the most approved form, still, it was not believed at this time that any one of the alliances above-mentioned would take place; to such mutability was everything subject, in consequence of the vacillating conduct of France, Scotland, Burgundy, and Spain, in regard to England.
This spirited prince now saw, and most anxiously regretted, that he was thus at last deluded by king Louis; who had not only withdrawn the promised tribute, but had declined the alliance which had been solemnly agreed upon between the Dauphin and the king's eldest daughter; encouraged the Scots to break the truce, and to show contempt for the match with our princess Cecily; and taking part with the burghers of Ghent, used his utmost endeavours to molest the party of the duke of Austria, the king's ally; as well as, with this singular craftiness, both by sea and by land, in order that he might annihilate the power of this kingdom."
Vergil on the reign of Edward IV:
" Edward was tall and lofty of stature, so that he towered above everybody else. He had an honest face, happy eyes, a steadfast heart, a great mind, and a memory that retained whatever he had absorbed. He was circumspect in his actions, ready amidst dangers, harsh and fearsome towards his enemies, liberal towards his friends and guests, and very fortunate in fighting his wars. He indulged his lust, to which he was prone by nature, and it was for this reason as well as his kindness (which was very innate in him) that he existed on more familiar terms with the common run of humanity than the honor of his majesty dictated."
Top