Henry VI, Pt.3 recap

After York forces Henry VI to name him heir, Queen Margaret rejects the settlement and defeats York at Wakefield, where Clifford kills young Rutland and Margaret helps humiliate York before his death. York's sons Edward and Richard continue the claim. Following the brutal victory at Towton, Edward becomes king and Henry is captured. Edward secretly marries Elizabeth Grey while Warwick is negotiating a French marriage for him. Humiliated, Warwick joins Margaret and brings Clarence with him, briefly restoring Henry. Edward escapes, returns with Burgundian support, regains London, and captures Henry again. Clarence changes sides once more, rejoining his brothers before the decisive battles. Warwick dies at Barnet; Margaret's army loses at Tewkesbury; the Yorkist brothers kill Prince Edward. Richard murders Henry in the Tower. Edward IV appears secure with his wife and infant heir, but Richard's ambition points toward another seizure of the crown.

Previously, Henry VI's weak government lost most English territory in France while noble factions competed at home. Suffolk arranged Henry's marriage to Margaret of Anjou and gained influence through her, but court enemies destroyed the popular Protector Gloucester and Suffolk himself was later killed. Richard, Duke of York, concealed a hereditary claim stronger than Henry's and encouraged Jack Cade's failed rebellion while serving in Ireland. York then returned with an army, openly claimed the crown, and defeated the royal party at Saint Albans. Somerset and the elder Clifford were killed. Henry and Margaret fled, while York and his allies marched toward London to convert military victory into dynastic power.

York and his allies occupy Parliament and press his claim to Henry's throne. To prevent immediate bloodshed, Henry agrees to remain king for life while naming York and his descendants as heirs, disinheriting his own son. Margaret refuses the settlement and raises a northern army with Clifford and other Lancastrians. Although York has sworn not to seize the crown during Henry's life, his sons persuade him to resume the struggle after Henry's party breaks the agreement. At Wakefield, the Yorkists are overwhelmed. Clifford kills York's young son Rutland despite the tutor's pleas. Margaret and Clifford capture York, mock him with a paper crown, show him a cloth stained with Rutland's blood, and kill him. His head is sent to the gates of York. The compromise has collapsed, and the war passes to York's surviving sons Edward, George, and Richard.

Edward and Richard learn of their father and brother's deaths and join Warwick to continue the Yorkist cause. A vision of three suns appearing to merge encourages the brothers to see unity and victory in the heavens. Both sides gather for the battle of Towton. Henry withdraws from command and sits apart, grieving as he watches a father discover that he has killed his son and a son discover that he has killed his father, making the civil war's cost personal and indiscriminate. Clifford is mortally wounded, and the Lancastrian army is defeated. Margaret and Prince Edward escape toward France, while Henry flees toward Scotland. Edward is proclaimed King Edward IV. He makes George Duke of Clarence and Richard Duke of Gloucester, and Warwick accepts the role of chief supporter to the new Yorkist king.

Living quietly in the north, Henry is recognized by gamekeepers and taken into Yorkist custody. Edward meets Lady Elizabeth Grey, who petitions for restoration of her late husband's lands. He tries to make his help conditional on her yielding to him, but she refuses; impressed and attracted, he decides to marry her despite the political consequences. Richard, watching Edward's rise and marriage, privately acknowledges that his own ambition reaches toward the crown and that he will remove whatever stands in his way. In France, Warwick asks King Louis to bind Yorkist England to France through Edward's marriage to Lady Bona. Margaret pleads for Lancastrian assistance. Letters then reveal that Edward has married Elizabeth instead. Publicly humiliated, Warwick abandons Edward, allies with Margaret, and promises his daughter to Prince Edward. Clarence also joins Warwick. Louis grants support for an invasion intended to depose Edward and restore Henry.

Edward's marriage to Elizabeth and the advancement of her relatives anger his brothers and allies. Clarence defects to Warwick, who invades while Edward's forces are dispersed. Warwick captures Edward and restores Henry VI, assigning governing power to himself and Clarence. Henry welcomes release from prison, names Warwick and Clarence protectors, and recognizes promise in the young Henry Richmond. Richard and Hastings rescue Edward, who escapes abroad and returns with support from Burgundy. Claiming at first that he seeks only his dukedom, Edward gathers followers, enters London, and takes Henry prisoner again. Queen Elizabeth, who had taken sanctuary while pregnant, presents Edward with an infant son after his return. Warwick summons the Lancastrian forces for battle, while Margaret and Prince Edward sail from France. The brief Lancastrian restoration ends before Margaret can reinforce it, and the rival armies move toward the final campaigns.

At Coventry, Clarence abandons Warwick and returns to Edward and Richard. The Yorkists defeat Warwick at Barnet; Warwick and his brother Montague die after seeing their political power collapse. Margaret and Prince Edward nevertheless continue the Lancastrian cause, but their army is defeated at Tewkesbury. The captured prince refuses to submit and is stabbed by Edward, Clarence, and Richard. Margaret begs to die with him but is kept alive as a prisoner. Richard goes to the Tower, where Henry predicts the destruction Richard will cause. Richard kills him and admits that the crown, rather than loyalty to Edward, directs his course. Edward IV closes the public action in possession of the throne, Queen Elizabeth beside him and their infant son presented as the Yorkist future. Henry and Prince Edward are dead and Margaret is captive, but Richard's private ambition leaves the victorious dynasty threatened from within.

Edward defeats Warwick at Barnet, where Warwick and his brother Montague are killed. Clarence abandons Warwick and returns to his brothers before the Yorkists defeat Margaret's army at Tewkesbury. Prince Edward is captured and stabbed to death after defying the Yorkist brothers. Margaret is taken prisoner. Richard then goes to the Tower and murders the captive Henry VI, treating the last Lancastrian king as an obstacle to his own family's security and to his private ambition. Edward IV ends the play on the throne with Queen Elizabeth and their infant son, believing the civil conflict settled. Yet Richard's closing thoughts make clear that peace within the victorious house of York is unstable: Henry and his son are dead, but Richard is already looking beyond his brother's reign toward the crown for himself.