Act of Accord

Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Citation	39 Hen. 6
Territorial extent	England
Dates
Royal assent	25 October 1460
Commencement	7 October 1460
Text of statute as originally enacted

The Act of Accord was an act of the Parliament of England, which was passed on 25 October 1460 during a period of intense political division and partisanship at the top of government. Three weeks earlier, Richard, Duke of York had entered the Council Chamber—in the presence of several lords—and laid his hand on the empty throne, claiming the crown of England. His grounds were that he and King Henry VI were both direct descendants of Edward III, but York possessed two claims, through both the male and female lines, and Henry's was through only one. Following discussions between Royal justices, York and Parliament, the House of Lords decided that Henry was to retain the crown for life, but York and his heirs were to succeed him. This automatically removed Henry's son, Edward, Prince of Wales, from the succession. Henry agreed to the compromise, which became the Act of Accord.

Political partisanship had already erupted into civil war the year before, and far from lowering political pressure, the act split the nobility further. Although her husband had publicly supported the act, the queen, Margaret of Anjou, refused to accept the disinheritance of her son. In this, she was joined by the majority of the English nobility, who also opposed York. King Henry, still under the nominal head of the Yorkist government, was in London; Margaret, on the other hand, was in the north with her son, raising an army. This began systematically destroying York's and the Nevilles' Yorkshire estates. York led an army to challenge her but was defeated at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December. The Lancastrians, in turn, were defeated three months later at the Battle of Towton by York's son Edward, Earl of March, who was crowned King Edward IV on 28 June 1461.