ABSTRACT
Edward IV gained the throne in 1461 as a medieval prince of the royal blood, with the help of a magnate ‘affinity’, but he was pre-eminently the king of transition from medieval to modern. He owed his usurpation to the support of the plebs as well as to that of the aristocracy. He proclaimed legitimism but strengthened notions of succession to the throne dependent upon consent, and so united medieval traditions of limited power with ideas that would one day lead to Stuart claims of divine hereditary right. He combined the traits of a medieval knight with those of a Renaissance prince. He excelled on the battlefield but preferred to negotiate rather than fight. He did something to revive the royal traditions of Edward III, but Renaissance intrigue was a conspicuous feature of his court. In most of these traits he was a model for his brother Richard, who added a final touch of Renaissance lack of principle to Yorkist policy. Had he lived, Richard might have gone down in history as the first modern ruler of England. By his death he paved the way for the ‘new’ monarchy of Henry VII and Henry VIII.
