The Wars of the Roses were a very turbulent time in which the crown of England changed
hands between the House of York and the House of Lancaster.
The dynastic struggle between the two sides of the Plantagenet family led to hundreds
being killed in battles over the decades.
However one man who can be considered to have been partially a victor in the conflict was
Edward IV.
He managed to dethrone Henry VI following heavy defeats to the Lancastrian forces at
the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross and later Towton.
However in 1483, he died under rather mysterious circumstances and also died very suddenly.
This plunged England into more turbulence, as following his death his successor, Edward
V and his brother who were waiting for the coronation inside the Tower of London mysteriously
went missing and disappeared.
This was known as the Princes in the Tower, with Richard III then claiming the throne
for himself.
But what is the story behind Edward IV’s death?
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Edward IV came onto the throne first in 1461, but then in 1470 he was briefly deposed by
Henry VI the man he very well kicked off the throne, and then reigned again in 1471 to
1483.
The Wars of the Roses lead to the throne shifting between Henry and Edward, and Edward had inherited
the Yorkist claim to the throne from his father Richard the Duke of York.
Edward did defeat the Lancastrians heavily at the Battle of Towton in which was referred
to as the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil with up to 20,000 people killed.
He secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of a Lancastrian knight which upset
his key ally the Earl of Warwick, also known as the Kingmaker.
Edward did face rebellion during his time on the throne, and this in particular came
from Warwick who later turned against him, and his own brother George Plantagenet, the
Duke of Clarence.
George eventually was executed for treason, being drowned in a barrel of Malmsey Wine.
Edward’s court was stated to have been one of the most splendid in the whole of Christendom,
and he spent large sums of money on symbols showing his wealth as the King of England.
Much of his reign was well documented by historians, however his death still means much of a mystery
today.
The King died around the 9th April 1483 at the Palace of Westminster, and it’s considered
that his death was unexpected and took some by surprise.
Edward IV was ill around the end of march, but despite having access to the best doctors
and care he did succumb to whatever it was that ended his life.
His death was reported and minuted on the 9th April in the Acts as it was said, ‘Lord
Audley and the Lord Berkeley now early this morning by the ascent of the King’s council
sent unto the mayor for to show and give knowledge that the King is passed out of this present
life this last night.’
Before the sudden death of Edward IV, it has also been written that Edward was not suffering
with ill health, but it was noted that the King had a strong appetite.
It was said by an advisor, ‘He was wont to show himself to those who wished to watch
him and he seized any opportunity that the occasion offered of revealing his fine stature
more protractedly and more evidently to onlookers, however in food and drink he was most immoderate,
it was his habit so I have learned, to take an emetic for the delight of gorging his stomach
once more for this reason he had grown fat in the loins, but he was a tall man, and very
fat though not to the point of deformity.’
Different sources do give different accounts of Edward, as another said how, ‘he was
of visage lovely, of body mighty, strong and clean made,’ and ‘he was of youth greatly
given to fleshly wantonness from which health of the body in great prosperity and fortune
without a special grace hardly refraineth.’
So with these we can establish that the King despite being slightly overweight around the
time he died was not suffering with an ailment for too long.
Different historians have debated Edward’s cause of death, with some believing that there
was a rumoured poisoning of the King, but others also say that it was caused by a chill
or a short illness, or by even sadness.
It was also believed that Edward IV’s death was brought on by the lifestyle he was living,
a rather debacherous one.
There have been allegations that he was poisoned, and one historian believed that he was poisoned
with arsenic or some heavy metal.
However from what we know about Edward’s death is that he first took to his bed around
Easter Sunday on the 20th March 1483, and that within 10 days he was then dead.
His passing was said to have taken the royal court by surprise, and after he passed his
body was left naked for viewing, and this showed that there was no violent end to King
Edward IV, with no trauma or injuries to his body.
There were also no noted signs of disease for example mumps, smallpox, measles and even
the bubonic plague would have left some signs on his body.
Also this ruled out other afflictions that were caused by bleeding under the skin, so
he was not killed by leukaemia or haemophilia.
As the King also was noted to have been in good standing, it’s also unlikely that he
died from a disease such as cancer that led to him wasting away, or undiagnosed diabetes.
Also it’s interesting that a stroke or heart attack did not kill Edward as the timescale
of his illness denotes that there was not a sudden event that killed the king, neither
was there a long drawn out suffering that went on for months.
Polydore Vergil shares how Edward, ‘fell sick of an unknown disease,’ and another
states how he died due to a mix of sadness and a cold he caught whilst out fishing.
An English Chronicler wrote how, ‘whether it was with the melancholy and anger he took
with the French King, or were it by any superfluous surfeit to which he was much given, he suddenly
fell sick and was with a greivous malady taken, yes so previously taken that his vital spirits
began to fail and wax feeble.’
But none of this points towards a certain cause of death, and that is what an issue
is around King Edward IV.
So much of his story and the Wars of the Roses is recorded, but his final days were not,
which further points to his death being a surprise.
It’s believed that as Edward’s health began to fail, that he became subject to a
number of different potions and ailments, that his doctors used.
This include emetics which made him go to the toilet and also vomit, which then furthermore
allowed Edward to feel empty in his stomach, and he then it’s believed ate more and consumed
more because of this.
He would consume a large amount of food at royal banquets, and then throw up, and then
go back to eat again, all of which is very dangerous.
He was known for this before he fell fatally ill, but the cause of death remains a mystery.
As mentioned poison was believed to have been a possible cause, but this is most likely
a theory that arose because of no obvious cause of death and at the time this was attributed
to deaths, especially of high profile members of society who had no signs before their shocking
death.
It’s also been suggested that Edward died from malaria or pneumonia, however these diseases
and symptoms of them had been around for centuries and although treatments were not great, they
could easily have been described.
We have accounts of other royals and Kings who passed away of illnesses decades and centuries
before Edward, but this leads us to a contemporary account from Edward’s time that listed his
cause of death as apoplexy, which was brought on by excess and consuming food and drink
to an excess.
It was referred to as a sudden death that started with a lack of consciousness, in which
the victim died after losing consciousness.
It’s what today would be classed as a stroke, or the rupturing of an internal organ.
It’s believed that Edward’s lifestyle mixed with apoplexy could have been what killed
him.
It’s clear that his health had been damaged by years of his debacherous lifestyle, eating
and drinking to excess, and as he gained a lot of weight its believed that this would
have led to his downfall.
Edward IV died at the age of 40 which was modest for a person living in the 15th century,
but for a King it was still rather young.
Following his death, his funeral cortege left passing Westminster Abbey, Syon Abbey and
it came to Windsor Castle on the 19th April.
The chapel of St George he had commissioned to be built had not yet been finished, but
the quire aisles had been roofed with timber, and the stalls were in place.
Edward was brought to St Geroge’s Chapel to be buried, and the service was held and
he was buried in a tomb in the North Quire Aisle, and it was an elaborate burial complete
with his jewelled sword and cap and his armour.
These stayed until they were taken during the English Civil War.
His tomb has been opened since this, as on the 13th March 1789, renovations were taking
place at the chapel and it was accidentally opened.
A chamber contained the led coffin of Edward IV, where his remains along with his Queen
Elizabeth Woodville were inside.
It was noted that Edward’s remains showed him to be around 6 feet 3 inches tall, which
was huge for a 15th century man, and this made him one of history’s tallest monarchs.
So with regards to what killed Edward IV, we are none the wiser.
There are many different proposals put forward, but what it was led him to live the last 10
days of his life bed bound, and also in a significant degree of discomfort and pain.
Some historians even debate the date of his death, saying he died sooner but he did die
from an unknown illness.
It’s not believed that he was murdered by poisoning, but more that his debacherous lifestyle
of over-eating and drinking, followed by the purging medication he was given could have
caused a significant rupture or injury to his internal organs that caused his downfall.
Edward IV is remembered for being one of the key players of the Wars of the Roses, and
certainly one of the winners as he managed to instil a period of dominance for the House
of York.
This would only be ended when Henry Tudor defeated Richard III on the battlefield, and
began one of History’s most infamous eras, the Tudor Period.
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