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.

Quotes about Edward IV

• On the vigil of this feast [Ascension of our Lord], king Edward entered London in state for the third time, with a retinue far greater than any of his former armies, and with standards unfurled and borne before him and the nobles of his army. Upon this occasion many were struck with surprise and astonishment, seeing that there was now no enemy left for him to encounter. This prudent prince however, fully understanding the fickle disposition of the people of Kent, had come to the resolution that he would not disarm until he had visited those ravagers with condign punishment for their misdeeds at their own doors. For this purpose, he proceeded into Kent with his horse in hostile form; having done which, he returned, a most renowned conqueror and a mighty monarch; whose praises resounded far and wide throughout the land, for having achieved such great exploits with such wondrous expedition and in so short a space of time.
  • Ingulph's Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland with the Continuations by Peter of Blois and Anonymous Writers, translated by Henry T. Riley (1893), pp. 467-468

• King Edward kept the following feast of the Nativity at his palace at 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.
  • Ingulph's Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland with the Continuations by Peter of Blois and Anonymous Writers, translated by Henry T. Riley (1893), pp. 481-482

• Edward appeared to be merely a dissolute young soldier, caring only for fighting and, when fighting was done, for wine, women, and pageantry. Beneath this pleasure-loving exterior (which won him much popularity) was hidden the ruthlessness of a Renaissance despot and the strong-willed ability of a statesman.
  • A. R. Myers, England in the Late Middle Ages (1952), p. 113

• Edward IV was not perhaps quite so bad a man or so bad a king as his enemies have represented: but even those writers who have laboured hardest to rehabilitate him, have failed to discover any conspicuous merits. With great personal courage he may be freely credited; he was moreover eloquent, able, and fairly well educated. He had a definite plan of foreign policy, and although he was both lavish in expenditure and extortionate in procuring money, he was a skilful merchant. He had, or professed to have, some love of justice in the abstract, which led him to enforce the due execution of law where it did not interfere with the fortunes of his favourites or his own likes and dislikes. He was to some extent a favourer of learned men; he made some small benefactions to houses of religion and devotion, and he did not entirely root up the collegiate foundations of his predecessors of the house of Lancaster. But that is all: he was as a man vicious far beyond anything that England had seen since the days of John; and more cruel and bloodthirsty than any king she had ever known: he had too a conspicuous talent for extortion.
  • William Stubbs, The Constitutional History of England in its Origin and Development, Vol. III (1878), pp. 219-220

• Having learnt of the date [of Henry VIII's coronation], from all directions a vast multitude of persons at once hurried to London to see their monarch in the full bloom of his youth and high birth. For everybody loved him; and their affections were not half-hearted, because the king on his father's side descended from Henry VI and on his mother's from Edward IV. For just as Edward was the most warmly thought of by the English people among all the English kings, so this successor of his, Henry, was very like him in general appearance, in greatness of mind and generosity and for that reason was the more acclaimed and approved of by all.
  • Polydore Vergil, The Anglica Historia of Polydore Vergil, A.D. 1485–1537, ed. Denys Hay (1950), p. 151