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Thomas of York, the fourth surviving son of Richard, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville, was born in 1451, and grew up in the shadow of the war of the roses. When he was but nine years old, he was sent alongside his older brother George and his younger brother Richard, to Burgundy, whilst his father and brother Edmund were slain at Sandal Castle. He and his brothers returned to England, following their oldest brother Edward's victories at Mortimer Cross and Towton, where Edward was proclaimed King Edward IV. Thomas was created Duke of Bedford, Earl of Kendall and Earl of Carlisle following his brother's victories. Raised at court, whilst his brother Richard was raised in Middleham, Thomas soon came to find himself missing the simplicity of his childhood homes of Ludlow and Fotheringhay, indeed, most of his time was spent learning the ways of a Duke, learning French, Latin, and a variety of other subjects deemed appropriate, furthermore, as his brother, the King's squire, he was privy to certain aspects of government that others were not, though as a youngt boy these often shot over his head. He was there when his brother married Elizabeth Woodville. The fallout of that decision, was something that would leave a deep impact on him. His relationship with his brother, the King was one of awe and admiration, whilst his relationship with his other two brothers was somewhat more distant, though, more with clarence than with gloucester-with whom the year age gap between them, served to make them more relatable to one another when they saw one another-. He was aged eighteen in 1469, when he was given livery of his estates, and allowed to take hold of his lands, doing away with the men his brother had placed there. With him was one Rob Aspell, a man who had served his brother Edmund, and was someone Thomas would come to rely on, in the future. He was in Bedford, when word came of his brother Clarence's dash across the channel with Warwick, to marry Isabel Neville.