WI: Edward IV and Edmund, Earl of Rutland switch fates?

RedKing

RedKing

What if Edward IV and Edmund, Earl of Rutland switched fates? Here Edmund manages to reach Sanctuary before Lord Clifford can kill him, and later manages to regroup with main Yorkist force. Meanwhile Edward IV dies during the Battle of St Mortimer’s Cross, which ends in a Lancastrian victory.

What would the effects of this be? Who would Edmund marry, and what happens to the Yorkist cause with two major defeats in quick succession? Could Warwick and Edmund stage a comeback?
 

Merrow

What do you mean by sanctuary, a safe location or a church? If the latter then that kind of sanctuary wasn't exactly foolproof - as Henry Holland found out.
 
RedKing

RedKing

Merrow said:
What do you mean by sanctuary, a safe location or a church? If the latter then that kind of sanctuary wasn't exactly foolproof - as Henry Holland found out.
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The latter, sanctuary was when a person went into hiding at a Monastery/Church/Cathedral. I agree that it's not entirely fool proof, but it does work sometimes, and so might work for Edmund here.
 

Merrow

RedKing said:
The latter, sanctuary was when a person went into hiding at a Monastery/Church/Cathedral. I agree that it's not entirely fool proof, but it does work sometimes, and so might work for Edmund here.
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What would be interesting would be if he was merely captured and not killed. Because while Henry Holland/Exter was taken from Westminster twice, neither time was he killed - but imprisoned. Post Wakefield (1486) the Stafford brothers were taken from sanctuary in Culham but they were put on trial before the Kings Bench and the elder was executed after a ruling that sanctuary did not apply to treason. The fact that there had to be a later ruling on this implies that at the time of Wakefield some 26 years earlier you could not drag someone from a church and just kill them. He might have had to be kept alive?
 
RedKing

RedKing

Merrow said:
What would be interesting would be if he was merely captured and not killed. Because while Henry Holland/Exter was taken from Westminster twice, neither time was he killed - but imprisoned. Post Wakefield (1486) the Stafford brothers were taken from sanctuary in Culham but they were put on trial before the Kings Bench and the elder was executed after a ruling that sanctuary did not apply to treason. The fact that there had to be a later ruling on this implies that at the time of Wakefield some 26 years earlier you could not drag someone from a church and just kill them. He might have had to be kept alive?
Click to expand...
That would certainly be interesting, it would also give the Lancastrians some leverage against Warwick, which would cause him a headache.
 
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