England

King Edward IV

Now Edward had his victory and now he could be crowned. The ceremony took place on 28 June in London. Parliament declared Henry a usurper and attaindered 112 of his followers. The Lancasters were not only to be destroyed, they were to be looted.

painting
Edward IV

That loot Edward used to reward his own faithful, creating many new titles. He did, however, pardon those Lancastrians who swore to abandon Henry and to acknowledge Edward as the true king. Only those who refused to come over did Edward grind down.

England now had two kings: Edward and Henry, York and Lancaster (though Edward's actual family name was Plantagenet). For his part, Edward spent the next few years trying to mend the rift of the civil war and to consolidate his power by either winning over or destroying those who had opposed him. He achieved a signal victory when, in December 1462, the Earl of Somerset yielded Dunstanburgh Castle and submitted to Edward. The King rewarded Somerset handsomely, making him his chamberlain. This was a vote of extraordinary trust, for the chamberlain had personal access to the king, even to his personal bedchamber.

On the other side, Henry was of course quite useless, and the Lancastrian cause was championed by his French wife, Margaret of Anjou. She went to England and met with King Louis XI in June, but Henry could not risk open support yet, for Edward had in his turn made alliances with Burgundy and Castile. The most he would do is give Margaret a thousand French troops and some ships. Margaret and Henry landed in Northumbria in October with their little army, but they achieved nothing. It was the failure of this invasion that convinced Somerset to abandon Henry.