Requested pardons, granted pardons: the royal pardon in England in the fifteenth century

• Grant number: 20/12778-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): May 01, 2021
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - History - Ancient and Medieval History
• Principal Investigator: Susani Silveira Lemos Franca
• Grantee: Vitória de Sant'Ana Amorim Ramos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Humanas e Sociais (FCHS). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Franca. Franca , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/14786-6 - Writings on new worlds: a history of the construction of moral values in Portuguese, AP.TEM

Abstract

In 15th century England, more precisely in 1455, amidst several other conflicts, a dynastic dispute is taking place in which the nobles and other subjects of the kingdom seek in different ways to defend or attack the two prominent royal houses, the Lancaster - headed by Henry VI (1421-1471) - and York - represented by Edward Plantagenet (1442-1483). As the clashes unfolded, those who were defeated and considered traitors, hoping to have the qualities of a virtuous king, asked for royal forgiveness and divine justice. With this in mind, we will approach the course of the conflict through two chronicles, Chronicle of the Rebellion in Lincolnshire (1470) and in the History of the Arrival of Edward IV in England and the final recovery of his kingdoms from Henry VI (1471), both developed by anonymous authors who bring to light the reasons for conflicts, resolutions and descriptions of the defeated, thus seeking to exalt the virtues of the then King Edward IV (1461-1470; 1471-1483). Given that the English sovereign should act on behalf of the commonweal, supported by the values of Christian morals, this work will seek to observe how the nobles requested royal pardon and how it was granted or denied, without losing sight of the reasons and actions that led them to revolt.