House of Lancaster to members of the family and their supporters. The family provided England with three kings: Henry IV, who ruled from 1399 to 1413, Henry V (1413–1422), and Henry VI (1422–1461 and 1470–1471). The House became extinct in the male line upon the murder in the Tower of London of Henry VI, following the battlefield execution of his son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, by supporters of the House of York in 1471. Lancastrian cognatic descentfrom John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster's daughter Phillipacontinued in the royal houses of Spain and Portugal while the Lancastrian political cause was maintained
Wars of the Roses again won complete victories at Barnet (14 April 1471), where Warwick was killed, and Tewkesbury (4 May 1471) where the Lancastrian heir, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales was killed, or perhaps executed after the battle. Queen Margaret was escorted to London as a prisoner and Henry was murdered in the Tower of London several days later, ending the direct Lancastrian line of succession. A period of comparative peace followed, ending with the unexpected death of King Edward in 1483. His surviving brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, first moved to prevent the unpopular Woodville family of Edward's widow from participating