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Edward V
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==Early life== Edward was born on 2 November 1470 at Cheyneygates, the medieval house of the [[Abbot of Westminster]], adjoining [[Westminster Abbey]]. His mother, [[Elizabeth Woodville]], had sought [[sanctuary]] there from [[House of Lancaster|Lancastrian supporters]] who had deposed his father, the [[Yorkist]] king Edward IV, during the course of the [[Wars of the Roses]]. Edward was created [[Prince of Wales]] in June 1471,<ref name="weir"/> following his father's restoration to the throne, and in 1473 was established at [[Ludlow Castle]] on the [[Welsh Marches]] as nominal president of a newly created [[Council of Wales and the Marches]]. In 1479, his father conferred the [[earldom of Pembroke]] on him; it became merged into the crown on his succession.<ref>{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Pembroke, Earls of|volume=21|page=79}}</ref> Prince Edward was placed under the supervision of the queen's brother [[Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers]], a noted scholar. In a letter to Rivers, Edward IV set down precise conditions for the upbringing of his son and the management of the prince's household.<ref>Letter from Edward IV to Earl Rivers and the Bishop of Rochester (1473), in [https://books.google.com/books?id=cks8AAAAIAAJ ''Readings in English Social History'' (Cambridge University Press, 1921)], pp. 205β8.</ref> He was to "arise every morning at a convenient hour, according to his age". His day would begin with [[matins]] and then [[Mass in the Catholic Church|Mass]], which he was to receive uninterrupted. After breakfast, the business of educating the prince began with "virtuous learning". Dinner was served from ten in the morning, and then he was to be read "noble stories ... of virtue, honour, cunning, wisdom, and of deeds of worship" but "of nothing that should move or stir him to vice". Perhaps aware of his own vices, the king was keen to safeguard his son's morals, and instructed Rivers to ensure that no one in the prince's household was a habitual "swearer, brawler, backbiter, common hazarder, adulterer, [or user of] words of [[wikt:ribaldry|ribaldry]]". After further study, in the afternoon the prince was to engage in sporting activities suitable for his class, before evensong. Supper was served from four, and curtains were to be drawn at eight. Following this, the prince's attendants were to "enforce themselves to make him merry and joyous towards his bed". They would then watch over him as he slept. [[Dominic Mancini]] reported of the young Edward V: {{Blockquote|In word and deed he gave so many proofs of his liberal education, of polite nay rather scholarly, attainments far beyond his age; ... his special knowledge of literature ... enabled him to discourse elegantly, to understand fully, and to declaim most excellently from any work whether in verse or prose that came into his hands, unless it were from the more abstruse authors. He had such dignity in his whole person, and in his face such charm, that however much they might gaze, he never wearied the eyes of beholders.<ref>Dominic Mancini, ''The Usurpation of Richard III'' (1483), in [https://books.google.com/books?id=jRsLUVOCqbkC A. R. Myers (ed.), ''English Historical Documents 1327β1485'' (Routledge, 1996)], pp. 330β3.</ref>}} As with several of his other children, Edward IV planned a prestigious European marriage for his eldest son, and in 1480 concluded an alliance with [[Francis II, Duke of Brittany]], whereby Prince Edward was betrothed to the duke's four-year-old daughter and heiress to the duchy, [[Anne of Brittany|Anne]]. The two were to be married upon their majority, with their eldest son inheriting England and their second son Brittany.
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