The Tower was used for multiple purposes during the turbulent reigns of Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V. Richard II's coronation procession led him through the grounds and gates of the Tower, where there were great celebrations and jousting tournaments throughout his reign as king. Richard II's court was one of excess and joviality; these were the times and court of Chaucer. In 1381, the celebrations ceased during the Peasant's Revolt, when Richard II and his court fled to safety in the Tower. While the rest of London burned, a revolt broke out inside the Tower; the attempted rapes and murders led to executions on Tower Hill. Richard II's reign ended in 1399, when he was forced to abdicate his throne in favour of Henry Bolingbroke. Richard II's usurper, Henry IV, made use of the Tower as both a prison and an armory. Henry V, his son, imprisoned French nobles after his victory at Agincourt, making the Tower of London a prison to be feared throughout Europe. The Wars of the Roses were fought during the reign of Henry VI. In this period, the Tower was "a military strongpoint, refuge in distress, prison changing hands and inmates, stage-setting for historical melodrama, [and] a hive of death-cells" (Rowse 19). In 1450, the uprising of Yorkist supporters led by Jack Cade made the archbishop of Canterbury flee to the Tower for safety, as Richard II had done during the Peasants' Revolt years before. Power shifted over to Edward of York in 1459 at the battle of Towton. After his victory, a celebration was held at the Tower, where he would continue to reside. The main reasons for his decision to live in the Tower were that it was militarily equipped, his throne was unstable due to the War and needed defending, and the Tower was in close proximity to the city and his subjects (Rowse 20). Edward imprisoned Henry VI in the tower where he was put to death in the upper chamber of the Wakefield tower, as told by Shakespeare in 3 Henry VI. On 18 February 1478, Edward's brother, the Duke of Clarence, was murdered in the Tower. Richard III became king in June 1483, the culmination of his schemes and machinations. On 20 June 1483, Richard had Lord Hastings executed on Tower Hill after a brief imprisonment in the Tower. Around the time of Hastings' death, Edward IV's sons, Edward V and his younger brother, were smothered to death after being proclaimed illegitimate by Richard III. Prince Edward signed the papers of succession while locked in the Tower, urged by Richard. Controversies and conspiracies were the watchword's of Richard's reign. During his time, the Tower housed numerous prisoners and saw a string of murders and executions. Richard III was defeated by Henry VII, beginning the Tudor reign and ending the Wars of the Roses. Henry VII married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth to unite the houses of York and Lancaster, but Henry took precautions to secure his throne by imprisoning the last immediate Yorkist heir, Clarence's son the Earl of Warwick. In response to increasing pressure, Warwick was beheaded on Tower Hill before the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. -- Althea Fletcher, 2000