Wars of the Roses the Hundred Years' War, unfolding the structural problems of feudalism, combined with the mental infirmity and weak rule of King Henry VI which revived interest in Richard of York's claim to the throne. Historians disagree on which of these factors to identify as the main reason for the wars. With the Duke of York's death, the claim transferred to his heir, Edward, who later became the first Yorkist king of England, as Edward IV. He reigned from 1461, interrupted by a Lancastrian uprising and reinstallment of Henry VI in 1470 to 1471, until his sudden death in 1483. His son
William Cary (1437–1471) had children, ancestors of the present Viscount Portman, owner of the Portman Estate in London. Cary married twice: Cary was beheaded on 6 May 1471 after the defeat of the Lancastrians at the Battle of Tewkesbury. He is believed to be represented by a monumental brass of a knight, without surviving identifying inscription, set into a slate ledger stone on the floor of the chancel of All Saints Church, Clovelly, next to a smaller brass, in similar style, of his son and heir Robert Cary (died 1540). William Cary (1437–1471) Sir William Cary (1437–1471) of Cockington and Clovelly in Devon