Lieutenant of the Tower of London in 1424 during the reign of Henry VI. During the reign of Edward IV, Richard Haute (died 8 April 1487) was Lieutenant from 1471 to 1473. John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford was Constable in the reign of Henry VII, at which time Sir John Digby was his Lieutenant. According to some sources, in the reign of Henry VIII Sir Thomas Lovell (died 25 May 1524) served as Lieutenant from Michaelmas 1512; however according to other sources, he was Constable of the Tower. Among the prisoners of state in Lovell's custody was the Pretender to the Crown, Lambert Simnel.
England in the Middle Ages nine months and both the English political system and the military situation in France began to unravel. A sequence of bloody civil wars, later termed the Wars of the Roses, finally broke out in 1455, spurred on by an economic crisis and a widespread perception of poor government. Edward IV, leading a faction known as the Yorkists, removed Henry from power in 1461 but by 1469 fighting recommenced as Edward, Henry, and Edward's brother George, backed by leading nobles and powerful French supporters, vied for power. By 1471 Edward was triumphant and most of his rivals were dead. On his