Elizabeth Woodville, The White Queen - Amazing Women In History Amazing Women In History Elizabeth Woodville, The White Queen January 22, 2014 6 32 In the 1400s Britain was embroiled in a civil war known as the Cousins War, or the Wars of the Roses. Most people remember the Kings and the many battles… but behind the scenes Elizabeth Woodville was always there, pulling strings to keep her children from harm and to bring them to greatness. With every turn she faced betrayal and danger as England’s White Queen. At around 1436 Jacquetta Woodville, wife to the Earl of Rivers, gave birth to a daughter named Elizabeth. Jacquetta was from the royal house of Burgundy and was close allies with King Henry VI and his wife Margaret of Anjou. She was a determined woman who wanted to make sure that her children had a powerful future ahead of them. When her daughter Elizabeth, the first of 14 children, was old enough she was sent to live with Lady Grey to learn how to become a lady and manage her own household. In 1452 when Elizabeth was 15 she was married to the Grey’s oldest son, John.

A year after the wedding Elizabeth gave birth to a son named Thomas, and then to her second son Richard in 1457. Despite the happy start to Sir John and Elizabeth’s marriage it would not last long. The country was at war with the Lancastrians (the reds) and the Yorks (the whites) fighting against each other for the crown. Both the Woodville family and the Greys were on the side of the Lancastrians—the reds. In the battle of St Albans in 1461 there was a white victory, where Elizabeth’s father and brother had to plead for a pardon off the new King Edward IV. But her husband Sir John had died in battle. The Yorks took away Elizabeth’s dower lands, leaving her sons with no inheritance, and Elizabeth was forced to move back to the family home in Grafton. Elizabeth Woodville’s husband, King Edward IV of England (courtesy Wikimedia Commons ) Elizabeth was determined and strong willed—she was not going down without a fight. In early 1464 Elizabeth went out with her sons and sat under an oak tree she knew the King would pass. When he did, Elizabeth stopped him and pleaded to have her lands back.

The King was enchanted by Elizabeth’s beauty, and became besotted with her. In their negotiations to regain Elizabeth’s land, Elizabeth refused to become the King’s mistress. But King Edward was passionate about Elizabeth so he proposed. Elizabeth, also in love with Edward, accepted. Edward and Elizabeth married in 1464 not long after they first met, but it was not a grand occasion. In fact, the only people in attendance were a priest, Elizabeth’s mother Jacquetta, and two ladies maids; no one else knew the marriage had taken place. It was only when Edward’s closest advisor, Lord Warwick, suggested a proposal he had made with a French Princess that it was revealed Edward was married. Elizabeth was crowned 26 May 1465 as Queen of England. The marriage was not well perceived by many. One person who hated the marriage was the King’s mother, who hated Elizabeth as she was a Lancastrian commoner and not of her choosing. Lord Warwick also despised the marriage, having been publicly embarrassed when he had sought out a marriage contract on behalf of the French princess and was was then told that the King was already married.

He also felt betrayed by the King as he thought Edward had complete loyalty to him after Lord Warwick made Edward king. Rumors started to circulate about the new Queen. Elizabeth was a direct descendant of house of Luxemburg. It was said that Melusina, a water goddess, married Elizabeth’s ancestor Count Siegfried, and that their female descendants had magic powers. The people whispered that Elizabeth had cast a spell on Edward to make him fall in love with her. Despite all the controversy, Elizabeth’s marriage to Edward was going well, and they were happy together. However, Elizabeth had borne three daughters. Although all were alive and healthy, they needed a son to be heir. So when Elizabeth became pregnant for a fourth time, she was praying for a boy. Meanwhile, Lord Warwick had resurfaced after a time away from court, trying to oust Edward by allying with the Lancastrian forces. The Lancastrians were winning, and Edward was forced to flee abroad, leaving a heavily pregnant Elizabeth in London. Elizabeth fled with her children to Westminster Abbey. It was there in sanctuary that Elizabeth gave birth to a son, who she named Edward after his father.

In 1470, Edward returned to quash the Lancastrian forces, killing Warwick in battle. The Lancastrian King and and Queen were captured and King Henry VI was murdered in the Tower of London. Elizabeth and Edward’s rule was happy from then on, until King Edward died suddenly of pneumonia in April 1483. The new King Edward was young and so his father’s brother Richard was placed as Lord Protector. Richard feared the Elizabeth’s family would seize power, so he arrested Elizabeth’s brother, Anthony, and her son Richard Grey. He then placed the new King in the Tower of London. Elizabeth, fearing for her family’s safety, sought sanctuary with her remaining children. Richard, crowning himself King Richard III, started to become paranoid that Elizabeth wanted to destroy him. He declared Elizabeth’s sons illegitimate, hiding them away in the Tower of London where they were never seen again. Richard then secured his throne by executing Elizabeth’s brother, Anthony Woodville, and her younger son Richard Grey. Elizabeth was furious when she heard of the executions. She immediately entered into an alliance with Margaret Beaufort, the mother to the only Lancastrian heir Henry Tudor.

They agreed that Elizabeth would help get Henry on the throne if Henry would marry Elizabeth’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York. In 1485, Henry Tudor invaded England and defeated Richard III in battle. He was soon crowned King Henry VII, and the infamous Tudor dynasty was born. Henry married Elizabeth’s daughter as promised, and Elizabeth was given her full title and honours back. In 1487 Elizabeth retired to life in an Abbey. Elizabeth managed to live to see the Tudor line secured through the rule of two of her descendants before her death in April 1483. Elizabeth Woodville was a key figure in British history. Every tactful move Elizabeth made affected the outcome of the Wars of the Roses. She is a pivotal person, but one who is often forgotten about. Featured image of Elizabeth Woodville courtesy Wikimedia Commons . Recommended Reading ELIZABETH WOODVILLE - HEART OF ENGLAND HEART OF ENGLAND ELIZABETH WOODVILLE Elizabeth Woodville, was born in 1437 in Northamptonshire England, an was Queen consort of England, as was the wife of King Edward IV from 1464, until his death in 1483.

At the time of her birth, her family was mid-ranked in the English aristocracy. Her second marriage, to King Edward IV, was notable, thanks to Elizabeth’s great beauty but lack of great estates. Edward was only the second king of England since the Norman Conquest to have married one of his subjects, and Elizabeth was the first such consort to be crowned queen. This marriage greatly enriched her siblings and children, but their advancement incurred the hostility of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, ‘The Kingmaker’, and his various alliances with the most senior figures in the increasingly divided royal family. Through her daughter, Elizabeth of York, she is an ancestor of every English monarch since Henry VIII and every Scottish monarch since James V of Scotland. The picture above is from her portrayal in the historical drama ‘The White Queen’. A portrait of the real lady is below… 1000+ images about Woodville on Pinterest | Mothers, Grandmothers and Philippa gregory Forward Queen of Hearts- Elizabeth Woodville (EPQ Documentary) - YouTube (For my Extended Project Qualification, I produced a documentary on the life of Elizabeth Woodville. Elizabeth was a young, gentry woman in the 15th century who ended up marrying the King Edward IV.

Her story is not well-known even though it happened against the back-drop of the War of the Roses. I came across her through reading Philippa Gregory's book "The White Queen") See more Elizabeth Woodville Facts for Kids | KidzSearch.com Elizabeth Woodville was the wife of King Edward IV of England . She was the mother of King Edward V of England . She was also the mother of Elizabeth of York , the queen consort of King Henry VII of England . [1] Elizabeth was born some time around the year 1437, at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire. Her parents were Sir Richard Woodville and his wife, Jacquetta of Luxembourg , a foreign noblewoman who had first been married to the Duke of Bedford. After her first husband died, Jacquetta fell in love with Sir Richard, who was not very rich or important even though he was a knight. Jacquetta's friends and family felt that it was an unsuitable marriage and that he was not good enough for her. They had fourteen children altogether. When Elizabeth first met Edward, she was a widow. Elizabeth and her first husband, Lord Grey, had two sons, Thomas and Richard.

Then Lord Grey was killed in battle, fighting on the opposite side to King Edward. Because she was a widow who already had children, and because her family had supported King Edward's enemies, she was thought to be an unsuitable wife for the king. Elizabeth and Edward were married in secret, because the king did not want to quarrel with his great friend the Earl of Warwick , who wanted Edward to marry a princess. At the time of their marriage, Edward was 22 and Elizabeth a few years older. When the Earl of Warwick discovered that the young king had married Elizabeth without his permission, he was furious. Although he was forced to accept the marriage, he became angry at the way Elizabeth's family grew powerful as a result of her becoming queen. A few years later, he turned against Edward and tried to put his rival, King Henry VI of England , back on the throne. While Edward was fighting to get his throne back, Elizabeth went to Westminster Abbey to find sanctuary; this meant that, because the abbey was a holy place, she could not be captured by her enemies as long as she remained there. While there, she gave birth to her first son, who was named Edward after his father.

After a while, her husband returned and rescued her and her children, defeating the Earl of Warwick in battle and killing him. Elizabeth and Edward had ten children altogether. Their eldest son, Edward, should have become king when his father died. However, King Edward died suddenly, and his own younger brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester , snatched the throne. Richard hated the Woodville family, and killed Elizabeth's brother Anthony, who had been the guardian of her son Edward. Both Edward and Elizabeth's younger son, Richard, were placed in the Tower of London (which was then a royal palace). After a few months, they disappeared, and it was thought that King Richard had killed them. This rumour made the new king unpopular with many of his people, and two years later, Henry Tudor took the throne from him in battle and became King Henry VII of England . Henry VII married Elizabeth's eldest daughter, who was also called Elizabeth. Elizabeth Woodville herself died a few years later at Bermondsey Abbey. References ↑ David Baldwin, Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower. Stroud, 2002.

[[Category:People from Northamptonshir Elizabeth Woodville | The White Queen Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia The White Queen Wiki Elizabeth Woodville was Queen consort of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483. Historical Backround Edit At the time of her birth, her family was mid-ranked in the English aristocracy. Her first marriage was to a minor supporter of the House of Lancaster, Sir John Grey of Groby; he died at the Second Battle of St Albans, leaving Elizabeth a widowed mother of two sons. Her second marriage, to Edward IV, was a cause célèbre of the day, thanks to Elizabeth's great beauty and lack of great estates. Edward was the second King of England, since the Norman Conquest married one of his subjects, with Elizabeth being the first consort to be crowned Queen. Her marriage enriched her siblings and children but their advancement incurred the hostility of Richard Neville, The Earl of Warwick and his various alliances, with the most senior figures in the increasingly-divided royal family.This hostility turned into open discord between King Edward and Warwick, leading to a battle of wills that finally resulted in Warwick switching allegiance to the Lancastrian cause.

Elizabeth remained politically influential even after her elder son, briefly proclaimed King Edward V of England, was deposed by her brother-in-law, Richard III, and she would play an important role in securing Henry VII's accession to the throne in 1485, which ended the Wars of the Roses. However, after 1485 she was forced to yield pre-eminence to Henry's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, and her influence on events in these years, and her eventual departure from court into retirement, remains obscure. Woodville's children included the Princes in the Tower and Elizabeth of York; by the latter she was maternal grandmother of Henry VIII and great-grandmother of King Edward VI, Queen Mary I and Queen Elizabeth I and the great-great-grandmother of Mary,Queen of the Scots. Through her daughter, Elizabeth of York, she is the ancestor of every English monarch since Henry VIII and every Scottish monarch since James V of Scotland. The White Queen Season 1 Edit In Episode 1,year 1463, a lust between the Lancastrian commoner Elizabeth Woodville and the Yorkist King Edward IV , turns into a secret wedding and a new Queen of England.

In Episode 2,the pregnant Elizabeth is crowned queen and welcomed by Edward's brothers Richard and George though Warwick advice's his daughters to not disguise their disapproval and Duchess Cecily ,the kings mother, refuses to attend the coronation. Warwick is especially aggrieved that the king is neglecting a peace treaty with France and entertaining the Duke of Burgundy,a relation of Elizabeth and enemy to the French King. As it becomes clear that Warwick intends to make himself powerful Edward gives key posts at court to Baron Rivers and his sons,which also enrages Margaret Beaufort ,whose young son Henry Tudor has had to forfeit a title to the Rivers family.When Elizabeth gives birth to a daughter,rather than a male heir,Warwick is delighted and organizes a rebellion,incarcerating Edward,Elizabeth and Jacquetta , Elizabeth's mother, killing Rivers and his sons, putting George forward as his new protege. Elizabeth swears vengeance in blood. In Episode 3, Margaret Beaufort is pleased to learn that Warwick,whose daughter Isabel is George's reluctant bride,is holding a parliament in York to have George declared the rightful monarch. However the parliament opposes Warwick's idea and Edward,Elizabeth and Jacquetta are all released.

Edward,to his wife's annoyance,suggests alliances with Warwick to prevent further factions and even Elizabeth's surviving brother Anthony to acquiesce. However Edward has another revolt on his hands,supposedly led by Henry's wife Margaret of Anjou but in reality staged by Warwick and George. In Episode 4,Warwick goes ahead,routing Edward and forcing Elizabeth and her children to seek sanctuary in Westminster abbey.Jacquetta is put on trial for witchcraft - in the light of Isabel's miscarriage - but acquits herself by threatening Warwick with her great friendship with Margaret of Anjou. Henry Tudor is taken into Yorkist custody,incensing his mother,but escapes whilst Elizabeth gives birth to a son by Edward. In Episode 6,Having witnessed the murder of Henry VI,the pregnant Elizabeth is again shocked when she discovers her husband having sex with courtier Jane Shore. Her isolation is increased as Jacquetta falls dangerously ill and, aware of George's dislike of her, she appoints Anthony as her sons' guardian. In Episode 7, George becomes convinced that Elizabeth, like her late mother, is a sorceress who caused Isabel to miscarry and who has bewitched her husband.

Her two sons also stand in his way to the throne. When Isabel dies he accuses Elizabeth of poisoning her but his public outcries and dealings with Louis lead to his being accused of treason and he is arrested. Despite pleas for mercy from his mother and Elizabeth, Edward has George drowned in a barrel of wine. In Episode 8, Elizabeth is concerned when Edward allows Henry Tudor home from exile but he reasons that he prefers to keep his enemies close to him. Soon afterwards Edward suddenly dies of pneumonia, appointing Richard as the regent for his young son Edward. Anne, however, encourages her husband to crown himself king as the country's enemies may take advantage of a boy king. Richard takes the boy and places him in the Tower of London, causing Elizabeth, now powerless, to again go into sanctuary with her children. Richard has Anthony Rivers and Elizabeth's son Richard Grey killed and demands her younger son, though she sends him to Flanders and gives over a changeling boy.Margaret believes that an alliance with Elizabeth, leading to Henry marrying Elizabeth's daughter, would secure her son's claim to the throne.

In Episode 9, Elizabeth, fearing for the boys' safety, accepts an offer of help to rescue them by Margaret, whose son Henry is now betrothed to Elizabeth's daughter Lizzie . However the attempt fails and, learning that the boys are dead, Elizabeth believes that she was double-crossed by Margaret in her ambition to see Henry crowned king. In fact Margaret and her kinsman Buckingham lead a rebellion against Richard but it fails, due to a torrential rain-storm magically evoked by Elizabeth. Richard visits Elizabeth and expresses feelings for Lizzie but she tells her mother that she has no wish to be used as a political pawn. In the final Episode 10, Queen Anne's health is deteriorating and the death of her sickly son Edward and the knowledge that her husband loves Lizzie do not help her situation. She ends her feud with Elizabeth ,assuring her that she was not responsible for the deaths of the two boys and soon afterwards, following an eclipse, she dies.

Elizabeth and her daughters are released from sanctuary and return to the court where Lizzie reciprocates Richard's feelings for her.Henry Tudor effects his rebellion - with Stanley now amongst his supporters - and at the Battle of Bosworth Field kills Richard, releasing his mother from her house arrest. Margaret thanks God that her son is declared king, a fact she had always known would happen, whilst Elizabeth, formerly a queen is now a queen mother, her daughter the White Princess. Elizabeth Woodville facts, information, pictures | Encyclopedia.com articles about Elizabeth Woodville COPYRIGHT 2004 The Gale Group Inc. Elizabeth Woodville English Queen Consort Elizabeth Woodville (c. 1437-1492) remains a controversial figure. The wife of King Edward IV, Woodville was cast in a negative light by many both during her time and throughout history. Woodville was mother to many royal children, including the romanticized “Princes in the Tower.” Recent scholarship has re-examined her place in history, however, and cast her in a more favorable light.

Daughter of Minor Nobility The first child of Sir Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Elizabeth Woodville was born in about 1437 at Grafton in Northamptonshire, England. Through her mother, she was a descendent of such distinguished luminaries as Charlemagne. Her mother was the widow of John, Duke of Bedford, younger brother of the ruling monarch, Henry V; despite some scandal when the couple married, as Richard Woodville was not of the same level of nobility, the couple enjoyed royal favor. Elizabeth Woodville, along with her younger brothers Anthony and John and younger sister Margaret, spent her earliest years primarily on her family's estate at Grafton. Thomas More claimed that Woodville had served as a maid to Margaret of Anjou, Queen Consort of Henry VI, as a child but some evidence suggests that this is unlikely. More probable is that some time after her seventh birthday, she went to live with another noble family—probably Sir Edward Grey and his wife Elizabeth—in Leicestershire. At the time, noble parents commonly sent their children to live in other households as a way of developing both personal independence and necessary social or marital contacts.

In 1448, Woodville's father became Baron Rivers, a significant elevation in his status. Some time in the early 1450s, Woodville married Sir John Grey, the son of Sir Edward Grey and his wife. Writing in Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower, David Baldwin argued that “it is, perhaps, unlikely that Elizabeth was married at thirteen and a mother at fourteen; but … this may be another instance of a family's desire to seal an agreement as quickly as possible taking precedence over the well-being of the bride.” Regardless of the exact date of the marriage, it is known that Woodville had two sons by Grey: Thomas, who became the Marquess of Dorset, and Richard. The young family probably lived at one of the Grey family manors in Warwickshire, but very little is known about this time in her history. Became Queen Consort Sir John Grey died on behalf of the Lancastrians in the Second Battle of St. Albans during the War of the Roses in 1461.

On behalf of the Yorkists, Woodville's mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, met with longtime friend Margaret of Anjou, the Queen Consort of deposed ruler Henry VI and head of the Lancastrian armies, to discuss whether the Lancastrian army would move on London. In Elizabeth Wydeville: The Slandered Queen, Arlene Okerlund stated: “As a result of the feminine parley between Margaret and Jacquetta, Margaret limited Lancastrian entry into London to a symbolic force …. That fateful decision destroyed her cause and allowed the troops of Edward, Earl of March to enter the city just days later. Soon, Edward was crowned King Edward IV. The newly-widowed Elizabeth Woodville returned to her family home at Grafton, perhaps then meeting Edward IV for the first time. The new monarch soon pardoned the Woodville family for their participation on the Lancastrian side of the War of the Roses. In April 1464, Woodville married King Edward IV of England.

It remains unclear how the attachment was formed or when the King decided to marry her; a rather colorful legend suggests that Woodville, knowing that Edward IV was hunting in a nearby forest, waited for him with her sons beneath a tree known as the Queen's Oak to ask his assistance with a property agreement she was negotiating. Taken with her beauty and unwillingness to submit to his advances, the King then returned to secretly marry her a few weeks later at her family home in Grafton. Little evidence supports this series of events, but it does seem clear that the engagement and marriage happened quickly and without the knowledge of Edward IV's advisers. Many in Edward VI's court expected him to form a marriage alliance with a member of an important European ruling family, or at least marry a daughter of a prominent Yorkist family. Baldwin summarized the objections to Woodville by noting that “the new Queen's father was a former Lancastrian who had only been ennobled comparatively recently while she herself was some five years the King's senior, a widow with two young sons.” However, Woodville was young, beautiful, and had proven herself capable of bearing healthy sons, an important consideration for a monarch.

Her connections to the Lancastrians showed Edward IV was attempting to heal the wounds of the War of the Roses. Any arguments Edward IV's councilors could make were, however, moot as the marriage had already taken place. Elizabeth Woodville was crowned Queen Consort on May 26, 1465. In early 1466, Woodville gave birth to her first child by Edward IV, Elizabeth. The need for a male heir tinged all royal marriages, but Edward IV remained dedicated to his bride despite the birth of two more royal daughters, Mary in 1467 and Cecily in 1469. (Despite his dedication to his wife, Edward IV often had relationships with other women and sired numerous illegitimate children over the years.) During these early years on the throne, Elizabeth and her Woodville relations developed a negative reputation; many thought that their new influence over Edward IV led to unfairly advantageous marriages and that, generally, the family aimed at building its own power above all other aims. However, Woodville supported Cambridge's Queens' College as well as Eton College, showing that she had at least some domestic aims.

Years of Rebellion General dissatisfaction with the King grew as well, as some of his subjects believed that little progress had been made since the removal of Henry VI from the throne despite increased taxes. In 1469, the Earl of Warwick, Richard Neville—a relative of Edward IV's who had helped raise him to the monarchy during the War of the Roses— conspired with Edward IV's younger brother George, Duke of Clarence, to undermine Edward IV's power. Edward IV marshaled an army, and Elizabeth Woodville went to Norwich, where she remained for several months. During this time, the conspirators raised an army to battle the King's forces, and successfully captured the King, whom they held captive. Shortly after this coup, Elizabeth Woodville's father and brother were executed; Baldwin argued that “their deaths and the allegations that Jacquetta had used sorcery to make Edward marry her daughter, were really private acts of vengeance designed to remove the barrier which developed between [Warwick] and his royal master.” However, Warwick soon discovered that the majority of the nobility were not willing to accept his pretense of ruling the country through Edward IV, and released the King.

Edward IV attempted to reconcile with his rebellious subjects, but the following year they again attempted a coup, this time unsuccessfully. Warwick fled to France, and managed to strike a deal with Margaret d'Anjou. In the summer of 1470, Elizabeth Woodville and her children moved into the Tower of London for protection while Edward IV attempted to raise an army to oust the coming invasion from France. However, the opposition's military advantages forced Edward IV to flee the country. Woodville gathered her family and sought sanctuary at Westminster Abbey. Because the traditions of chivalry usually protected royal women, Okerlund noted that this decision “to join the motley crew in sanctuary at Westminster Abbey indicated not only the extraordinary mayhem in the nation, but her profound distrust of Warwick.” There, she gave birth to a son, Edward, on November 2, 1470. She remained in sanctuary until April 1471, when Edward IV returned to London to depose Henry VI from the latter's brief restoration. Returned to Queenship Young Edward became Prince of Wales, the official title of the heir to England's throne, in June 1471.

Elizabeth Woodville was named the head of the council responsible for the heir's upbringing to the age of 14, and further given the supervisory power over the Prince's daily routine. The following year, Woodville accompanied her son on travels throughout the country. In 1473, Woodville relocated to Ludlow Castle with Prince Edward. There, she gave birth to her second son, Richard, in August 1473. Two years later, the next royal daughter, Anne, was born. Woodville and Edward IV dedicated themselves to arranging suitable matches for their children; Princess Elizabeth, the royal couple's eldest daughter, went on to marry the future Henry VII. Life continued fairly quietly for Woodville for the next several years, excepting two more births: in 1479, she gave birth to Catherine, and the following year to the final royal daughter, Bridget. In the early 1480s, Edward IV's health began to decline; in April 1483, he died. Edward V soon set out for London from Ludlow Castle.

However, supporters of an opposing claimant to the throne, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, took the 12-year-old Edward V into custody en route. Deeming himself the Protector of the young King, Gloucester accompanied the boy to London. There, Gloucester imprisoned both Edward V and his younger brother Richard in the Tower, claiming that Edward IV's marriage to Woodville had been illegitimate and that he, Richard, was thus the true heir to the throne. That July, Gloucester was crowned as King Richard III. The ultimate fate of the “Princes in the Tower” remains unknown to this day, although it seems likely that the boys were executed. Richard III died at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 and was succeeded by Henry VII. Death and Legacy In February 1487, Henry VII forced Woodville to retire to Bermondsey Abbey on arguably spurious charges. She was permitted to have visitors, but little broke the presumably dull routine of her life; the only recorded event during her years at the Abbey was a formal meeting with a group of French ambassadors in November 1489.

In the early 1490s, Woodville's health began to decline and she died on June 8, 1492. She was buried quietly in St. George's Chapel alongside her husband; Okerlund commented that “the funeral procession … could not have contrasted more starkly with the elaborate processions of her queenly days.” Woodville's greatest legacy was perhaps the great number of her female descendants who became queens. Her daughter married Henry VII and was the mother of not only Henry VIII, but also Margaret, later wife of the King of Scotland, and Mary, later wife of the King of France; Woodville's great-granddaughters included Queen Mary I and the enormously significant Queen Elizabeth I; her great-great-granddaughters included Mary, Queen of Scots and Lady Jane Grey, who ruled England for nine days in July 1553. While some of her contemporaries respected and even admired Woodville, over the centuries following her death she has generally been regarded distinctly unfavorably. Historians have argued that she connived and intrigued to advance her family's claims to power, and some have made her into an outright villain.

Her life and character have been reconsidered by some modern historians and a more favorable picture of her is emerging. Regardless, her contributions to the future of England's history is irrefutable. Books The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright The Columbia University Press Elizabeth Woodville, 1437–92, queen consort of Edward IV of England. She was the daughter of Richard Woodville (later the 1st Earl Rivers ). Her first husband, Sir John Grey, was killed fighting on the Lancastrian side at the battle of St. Albans (1461) in the Wars of the Roses. By him she had two sons, Thomas, 1st marquess of Dorset, and Richard. Edward IV married her in secret in 1464, partly because the powerful Richard Neville, earl of Warwick , had other marriage plans for him and partly because of Elizabeth's Lancastrian connections. The marriage was soon made public, however, and Elizabeth's large family received numerous royal favors.

At the death (1483) of Edward IV, Richard, duke of Gloucester (later Richard III ), seized custody of the young Edward V , Elizabeth's eldest son by the late king, and destroyed the power of the Woodvilles (Elizabeth's brother the 2d Earl Rivers and son Richard Grey were executed). The queen mother again took sanctuary in Westminster and soon surrendered her second son by Edward, Richard, duke of York, to Gloucester. He then placed both boys in the Tower of London and declared them illegitimate, asserting that Elizabeth's marriage to Edward was voided by a precontract of marriage on Edward's part. (The boys were subsequently murdered.) After Henry VII seized the throne from Richard, he married (1486) Elizabeth's eldest daughter, who was also named Elizabeth. Cite this article The Oxford Companion to British History © The Oxford Companion to British History 2002, originally published by Oxford University Press 2002. Elizabeth Woodville (c.1437–92), queen of Edward IV. Elizabeth was a widow with two children when she married Edward IV secretly at Grafton Regis (Northants) on 1 May 1464.

She was the daughter of Earl Rivers and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. Almost certainly a love match, the unconventional and unwise marriage to a woman whom contemporaries considered beneath the king's dignity caused political tension, and later allowed Richard III to claim that their children were illegitimate. Her reputation has suffered from the hostile propaganda of her enemies, especially Richard III, who accused her of witchcraft. Yet the Croyland chronicler, the best-informed contemporary, described her as benevolent. In truth she was far more sinned against than sinning, by both her unfaithful husband and ambitious brother-in-law. After the disappearance of her son Edward V in 1483, she endeavoured, ineptly, to play one side against the other. After Bosworth, although her daughter Elizabeth became queen, she was excluded from court and induced to retire to Bermondsey abbey. In her prosperity she was the second founder of Queens' College, Cambridge, where her portrait hangs.

Anthony James Pollard Elizabeth Woodville, The White Queen | British Biography Elizabeth Woodville, The White Queen Elizabeth Woodville Family Elizabeth Woodville was one of 13 children born to Richard Woodville (later named Baron Rivers) and Jaquetta of Luxembourg, widow of Henry V's brother John, Duke of Bedford. So, though the Woodville family certainly had connections Elizabeth was not considered nobility, a fact which would come to be quite significant later in her life. We do not know the exact date of her birth; all we can say for certain is that it was around 1437 and that she was born in Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire. First Marriage In 1452 Elizabeth married Sir John Grey of Groby. Together they had two sons. Sir John was a supporter of the Lancastrian cause, and died fighting at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461 against the Yorkist leader, Edward, Duke of York. With the tide of the Wars of the Roses turning to the Yorkist cause, Woodville was an outcast. Her husband's lands were seized by the crown, and she was forced to live with her parents at Grafton.

Marriage to Edward IV But fate took a hand. Edward was hunting near Grafton, and Elizabeth took a chance arrange a 'chance' meeting, putting herself and her children on Edward's path, and using the opportunity to plead for the return of her husband's estates. Whether Elizabeth set out to attract Edward, a notoriously rapacious womanizer, is an open question, but attract him she did. It may have helped that she was described as a famous beauty. In 1464 the pair were married, and Elizabeth was crowned as queen on 26 May 1465. They would eventually have 10 children, including 7 girls, 5 of whom lived to adulthood. Was the Marriage Legitimate? Before Edward and Elizabeth married he had been previously betrothed to another lady. If someone today married one person while engaged to another it might put a few noses out of joint but that's about all. However, things were quite different in the 15th century. An engagement had almost the same legally binding status as a marriage. In a technical sense, an officially engaged person was already married. So if Edward was already legally married through his engagement, then the marriage to Elizabeth was null and void.

And, of course, any children born after the marriage would be illegitimate. That would mean that Edward, Prince of Wales, and Richard, Duke of York, children of Edward and Elizabeth, were bastards. This was indeed one argument later used by supporters of Richard, Duke of Gloucester (Richard III), after Edward's death. He claimed that since his brother had never legally married Elizabeth, his nephews were then illegitimate and could not inherit the throne. He put the two boys in the Tower of London, where they soon disappeared. Were the two 'Princes in the Tower' legitimate or not? The waters of controversy are muddied still further; it was persistently claimed at the time (chiefly by Edward's enemies) that the priest who performed the marriage ceremony for Edward and Elizabeth was in fact, a fraudster. In fact, it was further claimed that Edward frequently employed the same tactic of going through a sham mariage with his puppet priest just to gain a willing 'wife' to warm his bed. Today such a marriage would be the occasion of some gossip, but in the late Middle Ages it was much more than that. Elizabeth was a commoner, a widow, and five years older than Edward. She was also his subject.

To say that Edward upset the social applecart by marrying Elizabeth Woodville is an understatement of some magnitude. To be fair to the newlyweds, no matter who Edward had chosen to marry it would have upset a number of powerful people. Edward's place upon the throne was maintained through a precarious balancing act, carefully favouring important allies in exchange for their support. He essentially tried to maintain stability by patronage, granting high office to the Nevilles in the north, Humphrey Stafford in the south west, and the Earl of Pembroke in south Wales. He relied on the support of a small circle of these nobles to maintain his authority. Marriage to Elizabeth was not at all part of the scenario envisaged by the nobility. The Earl of Warwick (The Kingmaker) in particular, was outraged. He had been engaged in secret negotiations with France to marry Edward to a French princess. When Edward's marriage was revealed, Warwick was personally embarrassed and politically undermined. His relationship with Edward soured and he eventually threw in his weight with Edward's enemies. Elizabeth was enormously resented by the established nobility at court. Her popularity was not helped by her ambitious relatives.

Elizabeth had five brothers and seven unmarried sisters, not to mention her two previous children by John Grey. and one by one advantageous marriages were found for them. The Woodville family gained enormous influence and were granted large estates in Wales. Predictably, the more the Woodvilles gained influence, and the more Edward relied on his wife's family, the greater was the resentment against them, and against the queen. Did she deserve this unpopularity? Did she, as her enemies suggestd, unduly use her influence with Edward to advance her own family? Well, of course she did, but so, too, did all the other noble families at court. It probably upset the nobility more that her influence lessened their own. Edward's Death In 1483 Edward died, at the comparatively young age of 40. Critical chroniclers of the day were quick to attribute his death to a dissolute life, and they may not have been wrong. But her husband's death left Elizabeth and her two sons in trouble. Edward's authority had rested in the support of a small group of influential nobles, but in the course of gaining their support he had managed to alienate almost everyone else.

The stability of Edward's reign came tumbling down like a deck of cards in a high wind. Richard of Gloucester, Edward's younger brother, seized the Prince of Wales, and threw the queen's brother, Lord Rivers, and son, Thomas Grey, into prison. The latter were soon executed as traitors. Elizabeth took refuge in Westminster Abbey with the young Duke of York, but she was then either threatened or cajoled into handing him over to Richard. The two princes were placed in the Tower of London, and Richard made his bid for the throne. Richard based his bid on the claim that his brother Edward himself was illegitimate. This subject has been the matter of no little debate; it seems that nine months before Edward's birth his mother, Cecily Neville, and father, Richard of York, were in two different places while Richard was campaigning in France, giving rise to the rumour that his mother had taken a lover, and thus, Edward was a bastard. Based on Richard's claims, Edward's children were declared illegitimate by an acquiescent Parliament, and Richard was crowned. Elizabeth, now styled simply 'Dame Elizabeth Grey', was stripped of all her lands granted by Edward IV.

While still in sanctuary she plotted to oust Richard and put her son on the throne. After it was suspected that the ' Princes in the Tower ' were dead, she threw her support behind an alliance with Richard's enemy, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond. Henry, himself exiled in France, agreed to marry her daughter Elizabeth, now the Yorkist heir. In March 1484 Elizabeth left sanctuary and returned to court, assured by Richard that she and her daughters would be unharmed. When Richard's own wife died, it was rumoured that he was planning to marry the younger Elizabeth himself. Though such a move would have made dynastic sense, it never took place, perhaps because by now Richard was suspected of murdering the two princes in the Tower, and marriage to his own niece would not have helped his cause. Also, the nobles who had received the confiscated Woodville estates did not want to give them back, and pressured Richard to avoid the marriage! In 1485 Henry of Richmond invaded, defeated Richard at the Battle of Bosworth , was crowned as Henry VII, and promptly carried out his vow to marry Elizabeth of York. Elizabeth Woodville was named Dowager Queen.

Oddly, instead of returning to court under Henry, Elizabeth lived out the final few years of her life at Bermondsey Abbey. Historians are divided as to why she retreated from public life. Perhaps she simply wanted to live a quiet, contemplative existence, as many women of means chose to do in those days. Perhaps she was forced into exile by Henry, or decided to beat a hasty retreat after becoming embroiled in Lambert Simnel's abortive bid for the throne in 1487. Whatever the reason, Elizabeth lived the final five years of her life at Bermondsey, where she died on 8 June, 1492. She was buried in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle and lies beside her second husband, Edward IV. 1000+ images about Edward IV & Elizabeth Woodville Queen Consort on Pinterest | Grandmothers, Edward iv and Elizabeth woodville Forward RICHARD NEVILLE, Earl of Warwick, father of Richard III's wife, Anne. He was the wealthiest and most powerful English peer of his age, with political connections that went beyond the country's borders.

One of the Yorkist leaders in the Wars of the Roses, he was instrumental in the deposition of two kings, a fact which later earned him his epithet of "Kingmaker" to later generations. He made the accession of Edward IV but later did all to withdraw him from the throne. See more Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492). Biography of Queen Elizabeth Wydville. [Wars of the Roses] Strickland, Agnes. Lives of the Queens of England. London: Bell and Daldy, 1867. 154-165. QUEEN ELIZABETH WOODVILLE or WYDVILLE (1437-1492) Jacquetta of Luxemburg, the fair young widow of the old warlike Duke of Bedford , took for her second spouse his favourite knight, the brave and handsome Sir Richard Woodville , when she came to England in 1435 to claim her dower. The time of the birth of her eldest child Elizabeth, the issue of marriage kept secret for fear of parliament, probably occurred in 1436. The matter burst out with great scandal the year after.

Sir Richard was arrested and imprisoned in 1437; but as the king's mother had married in lower degree to Owen Tudor , the young king was glad to pardon the second lady in his realm, as an excuse for showing mercy to his dying queen-mother. Jacquetta's knight was therefore pardoned and sent home. They settled very happily at Grafton Castle, where they became the parents of a large family of handsome sons and beautiful daughters, among whom Elizabeth was fairest of the fair. The Duchess of Bedford kept the rank of the King's aunt. His royal mother had died miserably in 1437, as shown in her life. Duchess Jacquetta, on occasions of ceremony, was the first lady in the land until the marriage of the king.

Her daughter Elizabeth, took high rank among the maids of honour of Margaret of Anjou , and was the belle of her court, as two letters extant from Richard Duke of York and his friend the Earl of Warwick prove, recommending a Welsh hero, one of their knights-marshal, sir Hugh Johns, as a husband, they dwell on his great love inspired by her beauty and sweet manners; the letters show familiar acquaintance with Elizabeth, but they were of no avail. The court beauty had no fortune but her face, the Welsh champion none but his sword. She made a better match the same year with the heir of lord Ferrers of Groby, John Gray, rich, valiant, and years younger than the rejected Sir Hugh. Lord Ferrers was possessor of the ancient domain of Bradgate, which was afterwards to derive lustre as the birthplace of his descendant, lady Jane Grey . Elizabeth was appointed one of the fourt ladies of the bedchamber to Margaret of Anjou. John Gray held military command in the queen's army. His death left Elizabeth with two infant sons, in 1460.

Rancour so deep pursued the memory of John lord Gray, that his harmless infants, Thomas and Richard, were deprived of their inheritance of Bradgate. Elizabeth herself remained mourning and destitute at Grafton the two first years of Edward IV's reign. Hearing that the young king was hunting in the neighbourhood of her mother's dower castle at Grafton, Elizabeth waited for him beneath a noble tree known in the traditions of Northamptonshire, as "the queen's oak," hold a fatherless boy in either hand; and when Edward, who must have been well acquainted with her previously at the English court, paused to listen to her, she threw herself at his feet, and pleaded for the restoration of her children's lands. Her downcast looks and mournful beauty not only gained her suit, but the heart of the conqueror. He was unwilling to make her his queen, but she left him to settle the question; knowing that he had betrayed others, her affections still clave to the memory of the husband of her youth. Her indifference increased the love of the young king. The struggle ended in his offering her marriage, which took place May 1, 1464.

The marriage gave great offence to the mother of Edward IV . This lady, who, before the fall of her husband, Richard duke of York , at Wakefield , had assumed the state of a queen, had to give place to the daughter of a knight. It was on Michaelmas day, 1464, that Edward IV finally declared to Elizabeth to be his wedded wife, at Reading palace. The queen's eldest daughter, Elizabeth , was born at Westminster palace about five months afterwards. The royal physicians, by means of their foolish studies of astrology, had assured king Edward that his expected child by his queen would prove a prince. The king, who was deep in the same kind of lore, had persuaded himself that his expected infant would wear the crown of England. One of these physicians, Dr. Dominic, obtained leave to station himself in the queen's withdrawing-room, leading to her bed-chamber, in order that he might be the first to carry the tidings of the heir to Edward IV.

Hearing the child cry, he called to one of the queen's ladies, asking, "What her grace had?" The ladies were not in the best humour, being unwilling to answer "only a girl." So one of them replied, "Whatsoever the queen's grace hath here within, sure 'tis a fool that standeth there without." Poor Dr. Dominic, being much confounded by this sharp answer, dared not enter the king's presence. Elizabeth was crowned May 16, 1465, with great solemnity, in Westminster abbey, the young duke of Clarence officiating as high-steward. Elizabeth and Warwick were on friendly terms, as he stood godfather to her eldest daughter. The baptism of this princess for a while conciliated her two grandmothers, Cicely duchess of York, and Jacquetta duchess of Bedford, who were likewise her sponsors. The christening was performend with royal pomp, and the babe received her mother's name of Elizabeth,—a proof that Edward was more inclined to pay a compliment to his wife than to his haughty mother.

As prime-minister, relative, and general of Edward IV, the earl of Warwick had, from 1460 to 1465, borne absolute sway in England; yet Edward at that time so far forgot gratitude and propriety as to offer some personal insult to Isabel, his eldest daughter, who had grown up a beauty. Warwick had certainly been in hopes that, as soon as Isabel was old enough, he would have made her his queen, a speculation for ever disappointed by the exaltation of Elizabeth; so he gave his daughter Isabel in marriage to the duke of Clarence , and England was soon after in a state of insurrection. As popular fury was especially directed against the queen's family, the Woodvilles were advised to retire for a time. The first outbreak of the muttering storm was a rebellion in 1468, in Yorkshire, under a freebooter called Robin of Redesdale, declared by some to have been a noble, outlawed for the cause of the Red rose. The murder of the queen's father and brother followed in 1469.

When the king advanced to suppress these outrages, he was seized by Warwick and his brother Montague, and kept at Warwick castle, where an experiment was tried to shake his affection to Elizabeth by the insinuation that her whole indluence over him proceeded from her mother's skill in witchcraft. The Yorkist king escaped speedily to Windsor, and was soon once more in his metropolis, which was perfectly devoted to him, and where, it appears, his queen had remained in security during these alarming events. Again England was his own; for Warwick and Clarence, in alarm at his escape, betook themselves to their fleet, and fled. Then the queen's brother, Anthony Woodville, intercepted and captured the rebel ships, but not that in which Warwick and Clarence, with their families, were embarked, which escaped with difficulty to the coast of France. The queen was placed by the king in safety in the Tower, before he marched to give battle to the insurgents. She was the mother of three girls but had not borne heirs-male to the house of York. Edward IV narrowly escaped being once more thrown into the power of Warwick, who had returned to England; but being warned by his faithful sergeant of minstrels.

Alexander Carlile, he fled half-dressed from his revolting troops in the dead of night, and embarked at Lynn with a few faithful friends. Elizabeth was thus left alone, with her mother, to bide the storm. She was resident at the Tower, where her party still held Henry VI prisoner. While danger was yet at a distance, the queen's resolutions were remarkably valiant; yet the very day that Warwick and Clarence entered London, she betook herself to her barge, and fled up the Thames to Westminster,—not to her own palace, but to a strong, gloomy building called the Sanctuary , which occupied a space at the end of St. Margaret's churchyard. Here she registered herself, her mother, her three little daughters,—Elizabeth, Mary, and Cicely, with the faithful lady Scrope, her attendant, as sanctuary-women; and in this dismal place, November 1, 1470, the long-hoped-for heir of York was born. The queen was most destitute; but Thomas Milling, abbot of Westminster, sent various conveniences from the abbey close by.

Mother Cobb, resident in the Sanctuary, charitably assisted the distressed queen, and acted as nurse to the little prince. Nor did Elizabeth, in this fearful crisis, want friends; for master Serigo, her physician, attended herself and her son; while a faithful butcher, John Gould, prevented the whole Sanctuary party from being starved into surrender. The little prince was baptized, soon after his birth, in the abbey, with no more ceremony than if he had been a poor man's son. Early in March the queen was cheered by the news that her husband had landed, and soon after, that his brother Clarence had forsaken Warwick. The metropolis opened its gates to Edward IV, who hurried to the Sanctuary to embrace his wife and new-born son. The very morning of this joyful meeting, Elizabeth, accompanied by her royal lord, left Westminster palace, but soon after retired to the Tower of London, while her husband gained the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury . The news of his success had scarcely reached her, before the Tower was threatened with storm by Falconbridge; but her valiant brother, Anthony Woodville being there, she, relying on his aid, stood the danger this time without running away.

After Edward IV had crushed rebellion by almost exterminating his opponents, he turned his attention to rewarding the friends to whom he owed his restoration, and bestowed princely gratuities on those humble friends who had aided "his Elizabeth," as he calls her, in that fearful crisis. When Edward IV fled in the preceding year from England, he landed with a few friends at Sluys, the most distressed company of creatures ever seen; for he pawned his military cloak, lined with marten fur, to pay the master of his ship, and was put on shore in his waistcoat. The lord of Grauthuse received, fed, and clothed him, lending him besides money and ships, without which he would never have been restored to his country and queen. Edward invited his benefactor to England. Lord Hastings received him, and led him to the far side of the quadrangle of Windsor castle, to three chambers. These apartments were very richly hung with cloth of gold arras; and when Grauthuse had spoken with the king in the royal suite, he presented him to the queen's grace, they then ordered the lord chamberlain Hastings to conduct him to his chamber, where supper was ready for him.

After refreshment, the king had him brought immediately to the queen's own withdrawing-room, where she and her ladies were playing with little balls like marbles, and some of her ladies were playing with ninepins. Also king Edward danced with Elizabeth , his eldest daughter. In the morning the king came into the quadrant, the prince also, borne by his chamberlain, called master Vaughan, bade the lord Grauthuse welcome. The innocent little prince, afterwards the unfortunate Edward V, was then only eighteen months old. Then the queen ordered a grand banquet in her own apartments, at which her mother, her eldest daughter, the duchess of Exeter, the king, and the lord of Grauthuse all sat with her at one table. Elizabeth, in January, 1477, presided over the espousals of her second son, Richard duke of York, with Anne Mowbray, the infant heiress of the duchy of Norfolk. St. Stephen's chapel, Westminster, where the ceremony was performed, was splendidly hung with arras of gold on this occasion.

The queen led the little bridegroom, who was not five, and her brother, Earl Rivers , led the baby bride, scarcely three years old. They afterwards all partook of a rich banquet, laid out in the Painted-chamber. Soon after this infant marriage, all England was startled by the strange circumstances attending the death of the duke of Clarence . The queen had been cruelly injured by Clarence. Her father and her brother had been put to death in his name; her brother Anthony, the pride of English chivalry, had narrowly escaped a similar fate: moreover, her mother had been accused of sorcery by his party. She did not soothe her husband's mind when Clarence gave him provocation. In fact, on the first quarrel, his arrest, arraignment, and sentence followed. He was condemned to death, and sent to the Tower. In his dismal prison a butt of malmsey was introduced one night, where he could have access to it. The duke was found dead, with his head hanging over the butt. Gloucester was certainly absent from the scene of action, residing in the north. On St.

George's day succeeding this grotesque but horrible tragedy, the festival of the Garter was celebrated with more than usual pomp; the queen took a decided part in it, and wore the robes as chief lady of the order. Her vanity was inflated excessively by the engagement which the king of France had made for his son with her eldest daughter. In the last years of king Edward's life he gave the queen's place in his affections to the beautiful Jane Shore , a goldsmith's wife in the city, whom he had seduced from her duty. His death was hastened by the pain of mind he felt at the conduct of Louis XI , who broke the engagement he had made to marry the dauphin to the princess Elizabeth of York , but an intermittent fever was the cause. When expiring, he made his favourites, lords Stanley and Hastings, vow reconciliation with the queen and her family. He died with great professions of penitence, at the early age of forty-two, April 9, 1483. Excepting the control of the marriages of his daughters, his will gave no authority to the queen. She was left, in reality, more unprotected in her second than in her first widowhood.

The Duke of Gloucester had been very little at court since the restoration. He was now absent in the north, and caused Edward V to be proclaimed at York, writing letters of condolence so full of kindness and submission, that Elizabeth thought she should have a most complying friend in him. Astounding tidings were brought to the queen at midnight, May 3, that the duke of Gloucester had intercepted the young king with an armed force on his progress to London, had seized his person, and arrested her brother, Earl Rivers , and her son, lord Richard Gray. In that moment of agony she, however, remembered, that while she could keep her second son in safety the life of the young king was secure. With the duke of York and her daughters she left Westminster palace for the Sanctuary ; and she, and all her children and company, were registered as Sanctuary persons. Dorset, the queen's eldest son, directly he heard of the arrest of his brother, weakly forsook his trust as constable of the Tower, and came into sanctuary to his mother. The archbishop of York brought her a cheering message, sent him by lord Hastings in the night.

"Ah!" replied Elizabeth, "it is he that goeth about to destroy us." — "Madam," said the archbishop, "be of good comfort; if they crown any other king than your eldest son, whom they have with them, we will on the morrow crown his brother, whom you have with you here. And here is the great seal, which in like wise as your noble husband gave it to me, so I deliver it to you for the use of your son." And therewith he handed to the queen the great seal, and departed from her in the dawning of the day. With the exception of the two beautiful and womanly maidens, Elizabeth and Cicely, the royal family were young children. The queen took with her into sanctuary Elizabeth , seventeen years old at this time, afterwards married to Henry VII . Cicely was in her fifteenth year. These princesses had been the companions of their mother in 1470, when she had formerly sought sanctuary. Richard duke of York, born at Shrewsbury in 1472, was at this time eleven years old. Katherine, born at Eltham about August 1479, then between three and four years old.

Bridget, born at Eltham 1480, Nov. 20th, then only in her third year; she was afterwards professed a nun at Dartford. Gloucester's chief object was to get possession of the duke of York, then safe with the queen. As the archbishop of Canterbury was fearful lest force should be used, he went, with a deputation of temporal peers, to persuade Elizabeth to surrender her son, urging "that the young king required the company of his brother, being melancholy without a playfellow." To this Elizabeth replied, "Troweth the protector—ah! pray God he may prove a protector!—that the king doth lack a playfellow? Can none be found to play with the king but only his brother, which hath no wish to play because of sickness?

as though princes, so young as they be, could not play without their peers—or children could not play without their kindred, with whom (for the most part) they agree worse than with strangers!" According to the natural weakness of her character, she nevertheless yielded to importunity, and taking young Richard by the hand, said, "I here deliver him, and his brother's life with him, and of you I shall require them before God and man. Farewell! mine own sweet son. God send you good keeping! God knoweth when we shall kiss together again!" And therewith she kissed and blessed him, then turned her back and went, leaving the poor innocent child weeping as fast as herself. When the archbishop and the lords had received the young duke, they led him to his uncle, who received him in his arms with these words: "Now welcome, my lord, with all my very heart!" He then took him honourably through the city to the young king, then at Ely house, and the same evening to the Tower out of which they were never seen alive, though preparations went on night and day in the abbey for the coronation of Edward V.

It is possible that Hasting's death had some influence in the imprudent surrender of young York. If Elizabeth had any secret joy in the illegal execution of her brother's rival and enemy, very soon she had to lament a similar fate for that dear brother, and for her son, lord Richard Gray, who were beheaded by sir Richard Radcliffe, June 24th, when the northern army, commanded by that general, commenced its march to London. When the massacre of every friend to the rights of his brother's children was completed, and the approach of 9000 dreaded northern borderers intimidated the Londoners, the false protector entirely took off the mask. Buckingham induced Edward IV's confessor, Dr. Shaw, who was brother to Gloucester's partizan, the lord mayor, to preach a sermon against Edward V's title, on pretence that Edward IV's betrothment with lady Eleanor Butler had never been dissolved by the church. Shaw likewise urged the immediate recognition of the duke of Gloucester as sovereign, putting aside the children of Clarence on pretence of his attainder by parliament.

Faint acclamations of "Long life Richard III" were raised by hired partizans, but the London citizens angrily and sullenly dispersed. Ratcliffe 's forces approached Bishopsgate on the 26th, and Richard III was proclaimed king. The unhappy queen Elizabeth Woodville and her daughters witnessed the proclamation of the usurper from the abbot's house in the abbey. Richard then made his state visit to the Tower and city. Elizabeth and her daughters must perforce have been witnesses of his coronation, July 6, 1483. Soon after, the usurper, his wife, and son, now called Edward prince of Wales, made a grand progress to Warwick castle. The unfortunate sons of Elizabeth meantime were closely imprisoned under the care of sir Robert Brakenbury, one of Richard III's northern commanders, who had been given the lieutenancy, under the notion that he would obey implicitly the usurper's orders. Accordingly, Richard sent one of this gentlemen of the bedchamber, John Greene, ordering him to kill Edward IV's sons forthwith.

Brakenbury returned for answer "he would die first." A midnight consultation took place between Richard III and his master of the horse, Sir James Tyrell , who left Warwick castle August 2, with commands to Brakenbury from king Richard that he was to surrender the keys of the Tower to sir James Tyrell for one night. On his ride from Warwickshire the master of the horse was attended by two retainers, one his squire, Miles Forrest, a northern champion of immense strength, the other his horsebreaker, John Dighton, a big, broad, square knave. Sir James had requested his own brother, Tom Tyrell, a brave gentleman, to aid him, but met with positive refusal, by which, if he lost the usurper's favour, he gained from his country the appellation of "honest Tom Tyrell." The three murderers reached the Tower of London after dark, August 3.

Sir James Tyrell demanded the Tower keys; and in the very dead of the night when sleep weighs heaviest on young eyelids, one of the Tower wardens who waited on the hapless princes, Will Slaughter by name, guided the assassins through the secret passages, which still may be traced, from the lieutenant's house to the portcullis gateway. There is a little dismal bedchamber hidden in the space between that tower and the Wakefield tower, approached with winding stone stairs, and which has leads on the top and an ugly recess in the walls, reaching to the ground and even beneath it. The leads communicated by a door to the Wakefield tower leaded roof, and thence to the water-stairs by a bricked-up doorway, still plainly to be seen. No spot could be more convenient for secret murder. Tradition has pertinaciously clung to it and called this fatal prison lodging the Bloody tower. Sir James Tyrell did not enter the chamber where the poor victims were sleeping, but his strong ruffians crept silently in, and oppressing the princes with their great strength and weight, stifled them with the bed-clothes and pillows.

When the murders were completed Forrest and Dighton laid out the royal corpses on the bed, and invited sir James Tyrell to view their work. Tyrell ordered them to thrust them down the hole in the leads, which they did, and threw heavy stones upon them. Edward IV had lately strengthened that part of the Tower, little thinking the use to be made of it, as a poet born in his time makes him say— "I made the Tower strong; I wist not why— Knew not for whom." When Tyrell returned the keys to the lieutenant Brakenbury, the latter found his young prisoners had vanished. The murderous trio rode back to Warwick castle to report their doings to the head assassing. Richard III approved of everything his unscrupulous favorite and master of horse had done, excepting the disposal of his nephews' corpses. He insisted that they should be raised from that niche and buried in consecrated ground with burial service. The averseness of sir Robert Brakenbury to have aught to do with the murders, threw great difficulty in the way of the usurper's commands, prompted by the first twinge of conscience.

It is from the confession of sir James Tyrell, put to death twenty years after for conspiring with the de la Poles, that these particulars are gathered, but he could not say where the poor children were ultimately buried: all he heard was that Richard III's orders had been issued to the priest of the Tower, who had in the dead of night taken the bodies whither no one knew, as the old man died two or three days after. The secret was not guessed for two centuries; but when in 1674 King Charles II altered the White tower into a record office, under the flight of stairs leading up to the beautiful Norman chapel, was discovered a chest containing the bones of two children of the age of the murdered heirs of York. The orders of the usurper being fulfilled to the letter, the ground was consecrated as pertaining to the sacred place above; and deeply secret the interment was. Charles II had the poor remains of the heirs of York buried among their ancestors in Westminster abbey, where our young readers may remark the monument and inscription near Henry VII's chapel.

We must now return to the life of their unfortunate mother, Elizabeth Woodville, who being in sanctuary, early heard when and where her sons were murdered, which, says sir Thomas More , struck to her heart like the sharp dart of death: she swooned, and fell to the ground, where she lay long insensible. After she was revived and came to her memory again, with pitiful cries she filled the whole mansion. Her breast she beat, her fair hair she tore, and calling by name her sweet babes, accounted herself mad when she delivered her younger son out of sanctuary, for his uncle to put him to death. She kneeled down and cried to God to take vengeance; and when Richard unexpectedly lost his only son, for whose advancement he had steeped his soul in crime, Englishmen declared that the agonized mother's prayer had been heard. The wretched queen's health sank under the anguish inflicted by these murders, which had been preceded by the illegal execution of her son, lord Richard Gray, and of her brother, at Pontefract. She was visited in sanctuary by a priest-physician, Dr.

Lewis, who likewise attended Margaret Beaufort , mother to Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond , then an exile in Bretagne. The plan of uniting the princess Elizabeth with this last scion of the house of Lancaster, was first suggested to the desolate queen by Dr. Lewis. She eagerly embraced the proposition. The duke of Buckingham, having been disgusted by Richard, his partner in crime, rose in arms; but after the utter failure of his insurrection, Elizabeth was reduced to despair, and finally was forced to leave sanctuary, and surrender herself and daughters into the hands of the usurper, in March. She was then closely confined, with her daughters, in obscure apartments in the palace of Westminster. From thence she wrote to her son Dorset at Paris to put an end immediately to the treaty of marriage between Richmond and the princess Elizabeth. The friends who had projected the marriage were greatly incensed; but these steps were the evident result of the personal restraing the queen was then enduring.

The successful termination of the expedition undertaken by the earl of Richmond, to obtain his promised bride and the crown of England, at once avenged the widowed queen and her family on the usurper, and restored her to liberty after the battle of Bosworth . Instead of the despotic control of Richard III's swuire Nesfield, the queen, restored to royal rank, joyfully welcomed her eldest daughter, who was brought to her at Westminster from Sheriff-Hutton, remaining with her till the January following the battle of Bosworth, when she saw her united in marriage to Henry of Richmond, the acknowledged king of England. One of Henry VII 's first acts was to invest the mother of his queen with the privileges befitting the widow of an English sovereign. Unfortunately Elizabeth had not been dowered on the lands anciently appropriated to the queens of England, but on those of the duchy of Lancaster. However, a month after the marriage of her daughter to Henry VII she received possession of some of the dower-palaces, among which Farnham, of 102l. per annum, was by her son-in-law added to help her income.

The Parliamentary Act, whereby she was deprived of her dower in the preceding reign, was ordered by the judges to be burnt. Much is said of her ill-treatment by Henry VII. However, at the very time she is declared to be in disgrace for patronizing the impostor who personated the young earl of Warwick, she was chosen by the king, in preference to his own beloved mother, as sponsor to his dearly-prized heir, prince Arthur. The last time the queen-dowager appeared in public was in a situation of the highest dignity. At the close of the year 1489 she received the French ambassador in great state; the next year Henry VII presented her with an annuity of 400l. Soon after she retired to the royal apartments at Bermondsey abbey. Elizabeth Woodville expired the Friday before Whitsuntide, 1492. Her will shows that she died destitute of personal property; but no wonder, for the great possessions of the house of York were chiefly in the grasp of the old avaricious duchess Cicely of York, who survived her hated daughter-in-law several years.

Edward IV had endowed his proud mother as if she were a queen-dowager; while his wife was dowered on property to which he possessed no real title. On Whit Sunday the queen dowager's corpse was conveyed by water to Windsor, and thence privately, as she requested, through the little part, conducted unto the castle. Her three daughters, the lady Anne, the lady Katharine, and the lady Bridget [the nun-princess] from Dartford, came by way of the Thames, with many ladies. And her son lord Dorset, who kneeled at the head of the hearse, paid the cost of the funeral. In St. George's chapel, north aisle, is the tomb of Edward IV. On a flat stone at the foot of this monument are engraven, in old English characters, the words— King Edward and his Queen, Elizabeth Widville. Excerpted from: Strickland, Agnes. Lives of the Queens of England. London: Bell and Daldy, 1867. 154-165. Other Local Resources:

Question: Elizabeth Woodville was the wife of which English monarch?
Answer: King Edward IV