Robert Baratheon vs. Edward IV

The text parallels Robert Baratheon from Game of Thrones (GoT) and English King Edward IV.

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, killed by some Yorkists in the Battle of Barnet

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Creator: Doyle, James William Edmund (1864) “Edward IV” in A Chronicle of England: B.C. 55 — A.D. 1485, London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, pp. p. 422 Retrieved on 12 November 2010. | Credit: Doyle, James William Edmund (1864) “Edward IV” in A Chronicle of England: B.C. 55 — A.D. 1485, London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, pp. p. 422 Retrieved on 12 November 2010. via Picryl.com

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We remember that Robert Baratheon was close to the Starks, Lannisters, and Arryns. Like Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones (GOT), the English King Edward IV was close to some noble families. As noble families in the Middle Ages settled their interests, competition increased or decreased (including hatred, in many cases!). But in general, there was a lot of mistrust between people because of this constant competition for land, power, influence, and marriage relations (mainly). Unfortunately, as in George R.R. Martin’s story, the power-hungry factions’ struggle became incredibly fierce after King Edward IV’s death.

King Edward IV of England had relationships with four groups of people (a case very similar to that of Robert Baratheon):

• his brothers, George and Richard: a similar case as Robert Baratheon’s brothers, Renly and Stannis).
• his mother’s family, the Nevilles: was considered one of England’s most essential and wealthy families at the time. This family included the “Kingmaker,” Richard Warwick, who was older than Edward IV by about 20 years. He is a historical figure we will talk more about (because he played a lot of games). Warwick was wealthy and influential enough to put Edward IV on the throne. There is a similarly rich and influential family in GOT, that of Lord Frey, the obnoxious senior who engineered the “Red Wedding.”
• the Woodvilles: his wife’s family (Elizabeth Woodville) resembles the Lannister family. The Woodvilles were a large family that the “Kingmaker” Warwick hated to death because, he said, they were upstarts, had infiltrated the King’s court by taking advantage of Edward and Elizabeth’s secret marriage, and had a monopoly on the court marriage market. Perhaps all these reasons mattered more or less; in fact, Warwick had hated Queen Elizabeth’s father since he had investigated him in a piracy case.
• William Hastings: finally, Hastings was Edward’s companion and most loyal friend. He started out as a boy squire for York House. He was very popular, brave, and much admired. Hastings controlled the King’s entrances, so he had a remarkable influence in the kingdom, making him very powerful. King Edward IV trusted him very much.

It is known that Edward IV made little effort to reconcile the rival factions that were shaking the peace of the kingdom, so it was not until 1483 that some important events took place:

• Warwick (‘the kingmaker’) and indirectly George, Duke of Clarence (Edward IV’s brother), murdered the Queen’s father ((Richard Woodville, Earl of Rivers) and brother (Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl of Rivers). Warwick had also taken steps to have the Queen’s mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, arrested and charged with witchcraft. But in Jacquetta’s case, he didn’t go through with it. I’ll write about this some other day.
• King Edward IV indirectly murdered Warwick and his own brother George, which sparked a storm between Edward and his mother (Cecily Neville, Duchess of York). She even threatened to tell her son that he was not a legitimate son, so the throne was not his (imagine a mother saying this about her son, the King!). I will mention this some other time, too; there are many details I would like to tell you about.
• Elizabeth Woodville, the Queen (and her extensive family), certainly didn’t care for George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, especially after the murder of her father and brother. It would therefore not be hard to imagine that the Woodvilles helped King Edward IV to convict and execute the King’s brother George, who we know today died by drowning in a barrel of wine (as he chose to do).
• And of course, Richard III, probably out of fear of the same Woodville, kidnapped, it is said, Edward IV’s boys, heirs to the throne, and locked them up in the Tower of London, from which the boys never emerged alive. Or dead. Because nothing was ever heard of them again. This situation was the basis of the legitimacy and succession crisis that resembles the events of GoT: Ned Stark starting investigating Joffrey Lannister’s legitimacy, so the snowball can no longer be stopped. Again, I will return later to tell you more about Edward’s boys. It is a story about Richard III, and many things must be said.

So, there are similarities between Robert Baratheon and the English King Edward IV. Next time, we will discuss the inspirations for another carefully constructed character by George RR Martin, who sadly left us abruptly and painfully at the end of the first season.

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