The Deposition of Edward V

Abstract

Because depositions lie at the heart of that process through which England developed a limited monarchy, historians have long studied them. Nevertheless, this scholarly attention has been unequally bestowed. Edward II and Richard II are familiar figures in the depositional literature, but one seldom encounters Henry VI, and Edward V is never mentioned at all.The reasons for these differences are readily comprehensible. Edward II and Richard II had significant reigns, and in the very process of their depositions the limits of legitimate monarchical power were defined. The fall of Henry VI offers few similar opportunities: if his policies also led to revolt, they were sui generis, no more than a byproduct of his lamentable mental state and, as such, of no lasting concern to those studying the growth of the constitution.