Dates
Act of Parliament
Parliament of England
Citation	39 Hen. 6
Territorial extent	England
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Text of statute as originally enacted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,^[1] three weeks after Richard of York had entered the Council Chamber and laid his hand on the empty throne. Under the Act, King Henry VI of England was to retain the crown for life but York and his heirs were to succeed him, excluding Henry's son, Edward of Westminster. Henry was forced to agree to the Act.

Far from ending the Wars of the Roses, it split the kingdom further, as it was unacceptable to the queen, Margaret of Anjou, who saw her son disinherited, while retaining a large body of Lancastrian supporters. In the immediate aftermath, the Lancastrians defeated and killed York in December 1460 (even though the Act had made it high treason to kill him), but they were in turn defeated in spring 1461 by York's son Edward, who then became king.^[2]

In the same parliament (on 31 October), York was made Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall and Lord Protector of England.^[3]

Notes

Monarchs	Henry VI Edward IV Edward V Richard III Henry VII
Lancaster Tudor	Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter James Butler, 5th Earl of Ormond John Courtenay, 15th Earl of Devon John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond John Beaumont, 1st Viscount Beaumont Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick³ James Tuchet, 5th Baron Audley John Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford Thomas Ros, 9th Baron Ros John Neville, Baron Neville² John Neville, 1st Marquess of Montagu³ Thomas Neville, Bastard of Fauconberg³ Andrew Trollope Owen Tudor Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford⁵ Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke⁵ Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England⁴ Lady Margaret Beaufort Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham⁴ George Talbot, 4th Earl of Shrewsbury Thomas Stanley, 1st Earl of Derby George Stanley, 9th Baron Strange William Stanley Edward Woodville, Lord Scales
York	Anne Neville, Queen of England Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence¹ Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury William Neville, Earl of Kent Thomas Neville John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke Humphrey Stafford, 1st Earl of Devon Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond William Hastings, 1st Baron Hastings William Stanley Margaret, Duchess of Burgundy

Battles

See also

¹ Briefly joined the Lancastrians. ² Briefly joined the Yorkists. ³ Defected from the Yorkist to the Lancastrian cause. ⁴ Initially a Yorkist who later supported the Tudor claim. ⁵ Initially a Lancastrian who later supported the Tudor claim.