March 29 1461 – Edward IV of England Takes the Crown at the Battle of Towton
*Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons The Wars of the Roses, a three-decade series of conflicts between the Houses of York and Lancaster for control of the English throne, featured some of the most contentious combat ever seen on the British Isles. Just a few years into the struggle, at the Battle of Towton in central England, Edward of York removed King Henry VI and shifted the course of the monarchy by winning the bloodiest battle in British history. In the mid-14th century, King Edward III — father of 13 children — created five royal “dukedoms,” portions of the English kingdom he would leave behind to his five surviving sons upon his death. When he died in 1377, the role of monarch passed on to his grandson Richard II. Twenty-two years later, after Richard abdicated under pressure, the Duke of Lancaster, Henry IV, took over as king despite the fact Edmund Mortimer had originally been named heir. In 1403, Mortimer’s relatives launched an assault on the throne to put his heir, also named Edmund Mortimer, in his rightful place. Henry IV pushed the attack aside without much trouble, taking custody of Mortimer the Younger, his brother and his sisters. A decade later, when Henry V took over for his father, he made Mortimer the Younger a high-ranking knight. In 1415, Mortimer the Younger was revealed to be part of the Southampton plot against the king, who forced him into exile in Ireland.