He survived the reign of Richard III in which several of his relatives were executed in a power struggle after the death of his brother-in-law Edward IV.

He is consistently referred to as Lord Scales in Spanish and Breton records, but he never officially held the baronial title.

During the reign of his sister's husband, young Edward Woodville was among those who allegedly encouraged the king's licentious lifestyle as "promoters and companions of his vices", in the words of the Italian courtier Dominic Mancini.

Francis II, Duke of Brittany had appealed to Edward IV for support against the French, who were threatening invasion.

[4] The following year, he was commissioned to prepare an expeditionary force to be sent to France, but the king's sudden death halted this project.

They convinced the royal council to appoint Edward Woodville as admiral of a fleet, supposedly to deal with French privateers commanded by Philippe de Crèvecoeur, who were attacking English ships in the Channel.

[6] He seems to have left London to take command of the fleet shortly after Richard initiated his coup by arresting Edward's brother Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, at Stony Stratford.

Richard quickly moved to place his supporters in control of key posts in Edward's power base in the Isle of Wight and Porchester.

Woodville was at Southampton, having just confiscated a large sum in gold coins (allegedly belonging to the king) from a merchant ship, when he was made aware of the situation.

[4] He fought at the siege of Loja, where he helped to defeat the Moorish forces by leading an attack to scale the city walls.

According to the chronicler Andrés Bernáldes he replied, "Our Lord, who reared this fabric, has only opened a window to discern more readily what lies within".

[10] In the following year, back in England, he played an important role in defeating the rebellion of Lambert Simnel, when he was placed in command of the light cavalry, sent north to make first contact with the rebels.

Supposedly there was one survivor, a boy called Diccon Clarke, who returned to the Isle of Wight to tell the tale.

In 1988 a monument was erected by Breton nationalists at the site of the battle, which commemorates the English forces, but erroneously refers to their leader as "Talbot Earl of Scales".

[12] Sir Edward's biographer Christopher Wilkins calls him "a true hero whose significance in the politics of the period is often overlooked", describing him as an "essentially Medieval" figure, whose actions in Spain, England and France helped form, sometimes contrary to his intentions, modern nation-states.