Why was Warwick called 'Kingmaker'?

Answer 1

Richard Neville, jure uxoris 16th Earl of Warwick and suo jure 6th Earl of Salisbury (22 November 1428 - 14 April 1471), known as Warwick the Kingmaker, was an English nobleman, administrator and military commander. The son of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, Warwick was the wealthiest and most powerful English peer of his age, with political connections that went beyond the country's borders. One of the main protagonists of the Wars of the Roses, he was instrumental to the deposition of two kings, a fact that would later earn him his epithet of 'Kingmaker'. Through fortunes of marriage and inheritance Warwick emerged in the 1450s at the centre of English politics. A territorial dispute with the duke of Somerset led him into collaboration with Richard, Duke of York, and opposition to King Henry VI. From this conflict he gained the valuable post as captain of Calais, a position that would benefit him greatly in the years to come. The political conflict later turned into full-scale rebellion, and both York and Salisbury fell in battle. York's son, however, later triumphed with Warwick's assistance, and was crowned King Edward IV. Edward initially based his reign on Warwick's support, but the two later fell out over foreign policy and the king's choice of partner in marriage. After a failed plot to put Edward's brother, George, duke of Clarence, on the throne, Warwick eventually ended up restoring Henry VI. The triumph was short-lived; on 14 April 1471 he was defeated by Edward at the Battle of Barnet, and killed. Richard Neville had no sons. The eldest of his two daughters, Isabel, married George, duke of Clarence. His youngest daughter Anne - after a short-lived marriage to King Henry's son Edward - married King Edward's younger brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who would later become Richard III of England. Warwick's historical legacy has been a matter of much dispute; historical opinion has alternated between seeing him as self-centred and rash, and regarding him as a victim of the whims of an ungrateful king. It is generally agreed, however, that in his own time he enjoyed great popularity in all layers of society, and that he was skilled at appealing to popular sentiments for political support. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Neville,_Earl_of_Warwick