Margaret of York where they were laid out and uncovered from the chest upwards in the sight of everybody." Edward IV was successfully restored; Edward of Westminster, the son and heir of Henry VI, had died in battle, and Henry VI, who had been briefly restored, died in his cell in the Tower of London two weeks later. The two deaths brought to an end the direct line of the House of Lancaster. By this time, Isabella's health was beginning to fail; in June 1471, she drew up her will, in which she bequeathed her favourite residence of La-Motte-au-Bois to Margaret. Yet, at
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