Rivers became very influential at the royal court after his sister Elizabeth married Edward IV. He joined the king in his temporary exile in 1470, and returned with him the next year, where he was wounded at the Battle of Barnet.
In 1473 the Edward IV appointed Rivers Governor of the Prince of Wales' household. When the king died in 1483, he accompanied the Prince, now King Edward V, on the way back to London. However, they were waylaid by the Duke of Gloucester, who imprisoned the Earl and then had him beheaded as part of his path toward becoming king (as Richard III).
Rivers was evidently quite learned. One of the first, if not the first, book printed in England was his translation from French of the Sayings of the Philosophers, printed by William Caxton in 1476. Lambeth Palace Library has an illustration showing Rivers presenting a copy of this book to Edward IV.
EarlRivers was an English title held in succession by the families of Woodville or Wydeville, Darcy and Savage.
As borne by the Woodvilles the title was not derived from the name of a place, but from an ancient family name, Redvers, or Reviers, members of this family, whose arms are quartered on the Rivers shield, having been sometime earls of Devon.
A new barony of Rivers, held by the family of Pitt and its later representative, that of Pitt-Rivers, was in existence from 1776 to 1880.
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