Hello and welcome to another Oak Academy history lesson.

Thanks for joining me today.

My name is Mrs. Knox and I'm on hand here to guide you through everything that you'll need to be successful in the lesson.

So let's get started.

Our lesson today is part of the unit of work on the Wars of the Roses.

We've been asking what the Wars of the Roses can tell us about 15th century England.

Today's lesson will focus on the stable second reign of Edward IV, and by the end of the lesson, you'll be able to explain why Edward IV's second reign was much more stable than his first.

Now, there are some useful words and phrases that we'll use in the lesson today.

Let's have a quick look at those now.

The first word that we'll use is the word nobility.

The nobility is belonging to the class of rich landowners such as lords.

We'll also use the word commoner.

A commoner is an ordinary person, not part of the royal family or the nobility.

We'll also come across the term the Council of the North, which was an organisation set up to improve control in the north.

We'll also use the term Welsh Marches, which was an area along the border between England and Wales.

And finally, we'll use the word pension, which in this context was money granted as a favour or a reward.

Now, there'll be three parts to today's lesson, and we're going to begin now with part one, which is about the reasons for increased stability.

Edward IV's second reign from 1471 until his death in 1483 was much more stable than his first, mainly because the greatest threats to his position had all been defeated during his unstable first reign.

For instance, the deaths of Henry VI and Henry's son, Prince Edward, meant that the Lancastrians could no longer attempt to rebel against his rule.

Similarly, the Earl of Warwick was also dead, so the chances of an uprising by his enemies were further reduced.

Furthermore, Margaret of Anjou remained under arrest and was eventually sent to live at the French royal court.

Let's have a quick check of your understanding so far.

I'd like you to answer this question.

When was Edward IV's second reign? Was it A, 1465 to 1479, B, 1471 to 1483, or C, 1475 to 1487? Press pause now and when you're ready to hear the answer, press play.

Well done if you remembered that Edward IV's second reign lasted from 1471 until 1483.

The experience of Edward's first reign had taught him the importance of keeping the English nobility on his side, and therefore, in his second reign, he attempted to restore the support of those who had fought against him.

He did this by allowing his former enemies back into the royal court.

He also tried to bring the more distant parts of his kingdom under control by creating regional councils.

Finally, he tried to increase the wealth and the prosperity of the country by increasing royal income, particularly through the profits from the wool trade.

All of these measures helped to maintain the support of the English nobility and allowed England to recover from the instability of the Wars of the Roses.

Here's another quick check of your understanding.

I'd like you to answer this true or false question.

Edward IV's second reign came after a period of peace in England.

Is that true or false? Press pause now and when you've got your answer, press play.

You should have said that the correct answer is false.

Edward's second reign did not come after a period of peace in England.

Why not? Was it because of A, Edward became king for a second time after achieving victory in the Wars of the Roses, or B, that Henry became king for a second time after achieving victory in the English Civil War? Press pause now and when you're ready for the answer, press play.

That's right.

You should have said that Edward IV became king for a second time after achieving victory in the Wars of the Roses.

Let's put everything we've learnt this section now into practise by attempting to answer these questions.

Your answers only need to be one or two words long.

Press pause whilst you complete the questions and then press play for the answers.

Welcome back.

Let's have a look at the answers.

For A, the question was Edward IV learnt an important lesson from his first reign about keeping who on side? The answer was the nobility.

For question B, Edward invited those who had fought against him to return to what royal organisation? The answer was the court.

For question C, what did Edward use to keep control of remote parts of the kingdom? The answer was regional councils.

And for D, what did Edward work hard to improve so that England could be more prosperous? The answer is the economy.

Well done if you got all the questions correct.

It's time to move on now to the second section of the lesson today.

In this section, we'll look at law and order under Edward IV.

Rather than punish those who had fought on the side of Henry VI, Edward IV hoped to win their support.

Here's a question for you to think about.

Why would Edward choose to pardon rather than to punish the Lancastrians who had fought against him? Well, the reason is that he knew that his position as king would be stronger if he had the support of the Yorkists and the Lancastrians.

He therefore tried to include Lancastrians within the government by issuing pardons if they accepted him as their king.

Edward IV had gained Warwick's lands after Warwick's death at the Battle of Barnet, and so he was able to reward those who had been loyal to him by splitting the land between his two brothers, Richard, the Duke of Gloucester, and George, the Duke of Clarence.

Edward's plan for his second reign was to rely on a small number of powerful nobles to help to keep law and order in his kingdom.

He tended to put the most trust in his own family and his wife Elizabeth's family, the Woodvilles.

This meant that the Woodvilles were very powerful and had the added benefit of helping Elizabeth gain acceptance at court.

Many had thought she was an unsuitable wife for the king due to her commoner status.

However, Elizabeth was able to surround herself with the support of her family at court.

She had 12 siblings and many of her brothers and sisters married well, and over time, the power of the Woodville family led to the acceptance of Elizabeth as queen consort.

This was aided by the fact Elizabeth fulfilled the key role of the wife of a king by giving birth to 10 children, which ensured that Edward had multiple heirs to his kingdom.

Time to check your understanding.

I'd like you to answer this true or false question.

The court of Edward IV did not accept Elizabeth as their queen consort.

Is that true or false? Press pause now and then press play when you're ready to hear the answer.

You should have said that the answer is false.

Why is the answer false? Is it because A, she was accepted as she had the support of her influential extended family, the Woodvilles, and she had produced heirs; or B, she was accepted as they did not mind that she was a commoner, not a member of the royal family.

Press pause now and then press play to hear the answer.

Well done if you said the correct justification was A.

She was accepted as she had the support of her influential extended family, the Woodvilles, and she produced heirs.

Outside of managing the politics of the royal court, Edward IV was also keen to keep the northern counties of England under control.

The northern counties were known for their lawlessness because the north was far away from London, and so rebellions against the king were more common there.

The border between England and Scotland was also considered dangerous, as the Scots could launch attacks from there.

To combat this, Edward created the Council of the North and put his youngest brother, the powerful Richard of Gloucester, in charge to keep the area under direct Yorkist supervision.

Richard had supported Edward during his first reign and was a powerful figure in the north, as he had inherited significant amounts of land and wealth.

He had the support of former Lancastrians because he had married Anne Neville, the widow of the Lancastrian heir, Edward Prince of Wales, and Warwick's daughter.

Time now for another check of your understanding.

I'd like you to have a discussion about this question.

Why did Edward IV make a wise choice in selecting his brother, Richard of Gloucester, to run the Council of the North? Press pause whilst you have the discussion and then press play to see what you might have discussed.

Welcome back.

Your discussion may have included some of the following points.

Richard of Gloucester was a wise choice to run the Council of the North because Richard had supported Edward IV's first reign and therefore was someone he could trust; he was married to Anne Neville, the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, and the widow of Henry VI's son, Edward, so this gave him the support of the House of Lancaster; and finally, he was a powerful nobleman who had inherited significant amounts of land and wealth, so his authority would help him to keep control.

Wales was another area that was prone to rebellion, particularly the Welsh Marches.

Many Lancastrian supporters were from Wales and the area had powerful nobles known as the marcher lords.

Edward decided that his son, also called Edward, should govern Wales, which brought the area under control by limiting the power of the marcher lords.

As he was still a child, a loyal Yorkist council, mainly made up of members of the Woodville family, were appointed to rule in Edward's name until he was old enough to control the area himself.

Edward IV's actions show that this time he knew he needed to keep the ability on side, particularly in the rebellious parts of his kingdom.

He was successful in doing this, which contributed to his stable second reign.

It's time now to put everything you've learnt in this section into practise.

I'd like you to explain in one paragraph how Edward IV improved law and order in England.

In your answer, try to include as many of the following words as you can: Council of the North, pardons, nobility, Woodvilles, Welsh Marches, and Richard of Gloucester.

Press pause whilst you write your paragraph and then press play to see what you might have written.

Okay, welcome back.

Let's have a look at a possible answer.

Edward IV improved law and order by persuading members of the nobility who had fought against him to support him.

He did this by including Lancastrians within the government and by issuing pardons if they accepted him as their king.

He also gave power to the Woodvilles and to his brother, Richard of Gloucester, who he put in charge of the Council of the North.

This helped prevent rebellions in the northern part of Edward's kingdom.

Edward also brought the Welsh Marches under control by having his son and a loyal Yorkist council govern the area.

Finally today, let's go on to the last section of today's lesson.

In this section, we'll be looking at the economy under Edward IV.

Edward IV was also able to improve the English economy and royal finances during his second reign.

Edward was reluctant to increase taxes, as this would've made him unpopular with the nobility.

However, he did raise money in order to go to war with France in 1475.

Luckily for Edward, the invasion was successful and resulted in the Treaty of Picquigny, which forced the king of France, Louis XI, to pay England 10,000 pounds per year in return for withdrawing his soldiers.

This agreement was known as the French pension and helped to improve the royal finances.

Here's a quick check of your understanding.

How much money did Edward IV get as part of the French pension? Was it A, 10,000 pounds per year, B, 1,000 pounds per year, or C, 100 pounds per year? Press pause now and then press play while you're ready to hear the answer.

Well done if you remembered that the French pension gave Edward IV 10,000 pounds per year.

Edward also successfully made agreements with France and Burgundy, which made it easier for English merchants to trade.

This allowed the wool and the wine industries to expand.

The result was that Edward was able to gain more money from taxes on these goods.

Wool was particularly beneficial to the economy, as the export of wool had declined during Henry VI's reign, leading to crown debts.

However, the method of collecting tax on wool was changed during Edward's rule, which led to more money being collected.

The stronger economy during this period was an important reason why Edward was able to maintain the support of the English nobility and allowed the country to enjoy a period of prosperity and peace.

Time to check your understanding once more.

The export of which two products helped boost English trade during the reign of Edward IV? Was it A, cotton, B, wine, or C, wool? Press pause whilst you think of the two correct answers and then press play.

Well done if you said that one of the products was wine and the other product was wool.

Both of these helped to boost English trade during the reign of Edward IV.

Finally today, I'd like you to put your knowledge into practise.

I'd like you to complete the table to provide an example of each way in which Edward IV's second reign meant that England became more stable.

Press pause now whilst you complete the table and then press play to go through the answers.

Let's see how you got on.

One feature of Edward IV's second reign which made his reign more stable was he had more control over the north.

An example of this is he set up the Council of the North with Richard of Gloucester in charge.

Secondly, he had stronger crown finances.

France, for example, was forced to pay 10,000 pounds pension.

Thirdly, the Welsh Marches were brought under control.

His son, Edward, and a loyal Yorkist council governed the area.

Fourthly, he increased trade opportunities.

For example, there were agreements with France and Burgundy which increased the trade of wool.

And finally, a fifth way that Edward IV's second reign was more stable is that he maintained the support of the nobility.

For example, the Lancasters were pardoned and included in court.

Well done if you managed to get examples for all five features of Edward's second reign.

Secondly, I'd like you now to explain why Edward IV's second reign was more stable than his first.

I'd like you to write one paragraph for your answer.

To help you, you can use your completed table from the previous practise task.

Press pause now whilst you complete the answer and then press play.

Let's have a look how you got on.

Your answer could have included the following: Edward IV's second reign was more stable than his first because he was able to keep control of law and order in England.

For example, he won the support of the nobility by pardoning the Lancasters and including them in court.

Furthermore, areas prone to rebellion, such as the north and the Welsh Marches, were kept under control by loyal supporters like his brother, Richard of Gloucester, and his son, Edward.

Another reason for improved stability was stronger crown finances as a result of the 10,000 pounds French pension.

Additionally, agreements with France and Burgundy increased the trade of wool, strengthening the English economy.

An improved economy also guaranteed support from the nobility, in turn, furthering stability.

I hope you got on well with your paragraph.

Now we've reached the end of today's lesson.

Let's have a summary of everything that we've covered today.

Edward IV's second reign was more peaceful and stable than his first, in part due to the death of Henry VI.

He brought the nobility under control and Elizabeth Woodville was accepted as queen consort.

Edward created the Council of the North to rule the more lawless parts of his kingdom in the north and had his son, Edward, govern the Welsh Marches to reduce the likelihood of rebellion there.

The economy was stronger due to wool exports and trade agreements and royal finances improved as a result of the French pension.

Thank you for all of your hard work in the lesson today.

I hope that you feel that you've met your learning objectives.

I look forward to you joining me in a future lesson on the Wars of the Roses, where we will continue to consider what the Wars of the Roses tell us about 15th century England.