ABSTRACT

In fact, the immediate cause of disaster lay with the kings and their advisers. Henry VI, Edward IV in his first reign, and Richard III all acted in ways which seriously disturbed the society of the late Middle Ages, and which the political structures of that era could not correct. Their weaknesses were different from each other, but all contributed by their actions to a collapse of the system, though the difficulties of Edward IV in his first reign stemmed as much from the excessive expectations of Warwick and Clarence as from Edward’s own failings.