Butler was a staunch Lancastrian and supporter of Queen consort Margaret of Anjou during the Wars of the Roses.

[1] He was created Earl of Wiltshire, in the Peerage of England, by King Henry VI on 8 July 1449, for his fidelity to the Lancastrian interest.

From March to May 1455, he served as Lord High Treasurer of England and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1459.

He died on 1 May 1461, beheaded at Newcastle by the Yorkists after the Lancastrian army was soundly defeated at the Battle of Towton.

[3] The Earl of Wiltshire was described as the most handsome man in the Kingdom and as Gregory records, at the First Battle of St Albans in 1455, Wiltshire "fought mainly with the heels, for he was frightened of losing his beauty"; prudently he had taken off his armour and hidden it in a ditch, donning a monk's habit.