Editing Edward V (section)

==Reign==
[[File:King Edward V from NPG.jpg|thumb|A late-16th- or early-17th-century imagining of Edward<ref>{{Cite web |title=King Edward V – National Portrait Gallery |url=https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw02030/King-Edward-V |access-date=2021-12-15 |website=npg.org.uk}}</ref>]]
It was at [[Ludlow]] that the 12-year-old Edward received the news, on Monday 14 April 1483, of his father's sudden death five days before. Edward IV's will, which has not survived, nominated his trusted brother [[Richard III of England|Richard, Duke of Gloucester]], as Protector during the minority of his son. The new king left Ludlow on 24 April, with Richard leaving York a day earlier, planning to meet at [[Northampton]] and travel to London together. However, when Richard reached Northampton, Edward and his party had already travelled onward to [[Stony Stratford]], Buckinghamshire.<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=62618 'Parishes : Stony Stratford'], [[Victoria History of the Counties of England]], A History of the County of Buckingham: Volume 4 (1927), pp. 476–482. Retrieved 16 January 2012.</ref> The Earl Rivers travelled back to Northampton to meet Richard and Buckingham, who had now arrived. On the night of 29 April Richard dined with Rivers and Edward's half-brother, [[Richard Grey]], but the following morning Rivers, Grey and the king's chamberlain, [[Thomas Vaughan (died 1483)|Thomas Vaughan]], were arrested and sent north.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Croyland Abbey, Third Continuation |url=http://www.r3.org/bookcase/croyland/croy7.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728102136/http://www.r3.org/bookcase/croyland/croy7.html |archive-date=28 July 2012 |access-date=17 August 2012 |publisher=R3.org}}</ref> Despite Richard's assurances, all three were subsequently executed. [[Dominic Mancini]], an Italian who visited England in the 1480s, reports that Edward protested, but the remainder of his entourage was dismissed and Richard escorted him to London. On 19 May 1483, the new king took up residence in the [[Tower of London]]; on 16 June, his younger brother [[Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York]] joined him there.<ref name=Rhodes/>

The [[Privy Council of England|Privy Council]] had at first hoped for a speedy coronation, to avoid the need for a protectorate. This had previously happened with [[Richard II]], who had become king at the age of ten. Another precedent was [[Henry VI of England|Henry VI]], whose protectorate (which started when he inherited the crown aged 9 months) had ended with his coronation aged seven. Richard, however, repeatedly postponed the coronation.{{Sfnp|Pollard|1991}}

On 22 June, [[Ralph Shaa]] preached a sermon declaring that Edward IV had already been contracted to marry [[Lady Eleanor Talbot|Lady Eleanor Butler]] when he married Elizabeth Woodville, thereby rendering his marriage to Elizabeth invalid and their children together illegitimate.{{Sfnp|Pollard|1991}} The children of Richard's older brother [[George, Duke of Clarence]], were barred from the throne by their father's [[attainder]], and therefore, on 25 June, an assembly of Lords and Commons declared Richard to be the lawful king. This was later confirmed by the act of parliament, ''[[Titulus Regius]]''. The following day he acceded to the throne as King Richard III.