Warwick, Earl

Warwick, Earl of

 orig. Richard Neville

(born Nov. 22, 1428—died April 14, 1471, Barnet, Hertfordshire, Eng.) English nobleman influential in the Wars of the Roses. Son of the earl of Salisbury, he became through marriage (1449) the earl of Warwick and acquired vast estates. With his father, he helped the Yorkists win the Battle of St. Albans (1455). Appointed captain of Calais, in 1460 he crossed to England to defeat and capture Henry VI at Northampton. In 1461 he was routed by the Lancastrians, but he recovered to march on London with York's son Edward, soon crowned Edward IV. Warwick was the virtual ruler during Edward's early reign (1461–64), but tensions between the two mounted, and in 1469 Warwick engineered a revolt in northern England that forced Edward to flee to Flanders in 1470. Warwick joined the Lancastrians and restored Henry VI to the throne, earning his later nickname “the Kingmaker.” He was killed by Edward's forces at the Battle of Barnet.