To what extent did Edward VI re-establish royal authority in the years 1461-1483?
During 1461-1483, Edward VI re-established royal authority from the reign of Henry VI, through many different ways. For example, he intended to improve foreign policies, increase the crowns revenue and govern the country in a successful manner, using the over mighty subjects, the nobles. However, many of these ways to re-establish the royal authority failed, and actually led to his fall from power and the readeption of Henry VI, in 1469.
Henry VI’s readeption occurred in 1469, after Warwick’s rebellion and the capture of Edward IV. Warwick was unable to control the country without Edward’s cooperation and so fled to France. The fact that Henry took back the throne, suggests that Edward hadn’t established royal authority in an effective manner, especially because of and through the contribution of Warwick. Edward, however, did come back to the throne in 1471, increasing his authority in the country. This was mainly because Henry was murdered in the Tower of London, however, Edward’s successes in the battle of Barnet and Tewkesbury did help as he had proved himself as a warrior king, and showed he had the ability to fight for his country. In this way, he did re-establish royal authority, but to a small extent because it was more focused on getting him back on the throne and then improving the management of the kingdom.
One of Edward’s great successes was providing two legitimate heirs to the throne, Richard (Duke of York) and Edward V. This was an area in which Henry VI had previously failed as although he had provided an heir, Prince Edward of Lancaster, Henry had not been able to actually secure the throne for them because of his main weakness, his mental breakdown. In this way, Edward did provide for the country, and intend for the royal authority to be continued after his death. This failed to happen as the Princes in the tower disappeared, to rumours that Richard III had murdered them, or ordered the murder. Although this therefore meant that the royal authority was not established after Edward died, it could be suggested as not wholly because of Edward, as he had every intention for his eldest son to become heir and it could be seen as therefore Richard who blocked this authority chance.
Edward was able to improve the state of royal finances, which strengthened his position as king and also re-established royal authority, an effective way of managing the kingdom. He possessed more land than Henry had ever done which brought in about £30,000 a year during Edward’s reign. Edward also appointed special commissioners to investigate the collection of customs revenue at the main ports and to report abuse, which increased and strengthened the customs revenue.
Evidence that Edward did successfully re-establish royal authority is that he managed to successful use regional magnates in order to rule the country. Edward designated separate regions of his kingdom to his most trusted nobles, such as Gloucester in the North, and in doing this both managed to keep his family the most powerful in the country and gave them significant reason to stay loyal to him. On top of that, it provided each region with a powerful authority to maintain control whilst remaining in overall command himself. This evidently was a successful method of rule as Edward suffered no rebellions from the public, other than that of Lancastrians. However, this was not necessarily especially wise since it provided those that offered the most significant threats to him, for example his blood relatives, with vast amounts of land and power. This was bound to cause an issue when he died since there was nobody to control the system, and his brother the Duke of Gloucester did in fact take the throne upon his death.
Edward also exerted the crown’s authority by eliminating many of the over-mighty subjects. Edward successfully neutralised Lancastrian leaders, such as Jasper Tudor, through exiling them or them being killed in battle, thus removing significant threats. Whilst Edward did fall prey to Warwick during his first reign, which eventually resulted in King Henry VI’s Readeption, Warwick was then killed in the Battle of Barnet in 1471 and on top of that, Edward has his disloyal brother Clarence executed. King Edward managed to stay in control of his subjects so they were not over-mighty towards him. However, Edward did not achieve effective law and authority as nobles still took advantage of the lack of legal checks and livery and maintenance still posed an issue.
King Edward IV established his power by being a strong, warrior King. Edward had a largely successful foreign policy, posing a significant threat to rival countries, namely France. He mounted effective invasions of both Scotland and France and in doing so also aided royal finances by securing a French pension. What’s more, he managed to achieve an alliance with Charles the Bold of Burgundy. However, in making the mistaken decision of marrying Elizabeth Woodville, Edward enraged both Warwick and Louis XI by missing out on the chance for a French marriage alliance.