King of England (1461-1483), son of Richard, Duke of York, and successor to the Lancastrian Henry VI., whom he defeated at Towton; throughout his reign the country was torn by the Wars of the Roses, in which victory rested with the Yorkists at Hedgeley Moor, Hexham, Barnet, and Tewkesbury; in this reign little social progress was made, but a great step towards it was made by the introduction of printing by Caxton (1442-1483)