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.
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