Posts Tagged ‘Elizabeth Woodville’

1
Mar

1 MARCH 1484

   Posted by: Michael    in Events in History

Elizabeth Woodville and her daughters leave sanctuary at Westminster Abbey and are reconciled with Richard III.

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26
Feb

LATE FEBRUARY 1436

   Posted by: Michael    in Events in History

Birth of Eleanor Talbot, daughter of John Talbot, 1st earl of Shrewsbury, and Margaret Beauchamp at Blakemere, Shropshire.  She is said to have entered probably some time after March 1461 into a clandestine marriage with Edward IV, which made his subsequent, also clandestine, marriage to Elizabeth Woodville bigamous.

More on Eleanor:

John Ashdown-Hill,  Eleanor – The Secret Queen, The History Press.  ISBN 978-0752448664

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23
Nov

23 NOVEMBER 1511

   Posted by: Dorothea Preis    in Events in History

Death of Anne of York, the seventh child and fifth daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.  She shares her death date with her aunt Margaret, duchess of Burgundy, and – if Perkin Warbeck was indeed Richard of York – her brother.

Anne was born on 2 November 1475.  At not quite four years of age, she was betrothed to Philip (“the Handsome”),  the son of Mary of Burgundy (her aunt’s step-daughter) and Maximilian of Austria.  However, the plan was abandoned in 1482.  Richard III undertook to find a suitable marriage for her (and her sisters) and after Richard’s death she took part in ceremonies at Henry VII court, whose queen was her sister Elizabeth.

On 4 February 1495 she married Thomas Howard, who would eventually become the third duke of Norfolk.  He was the grandson of John Howard, an important supporter of Richard III.  John fell at the battle of Bosworth, fighting for Richard.  His son, Thomas (the father of Anne’s Thomas), had also fought for Richard, had been attainted, but managed to be restored to his title.  His son’s marriage to a sister-in-law of Henry Tudor was obviously a great achievement in his family’s rehabilitation.  Anne and Thomas had no children.

Reference: ODNB on ‘Howard, Thomas, third duke of Norfolk (1473–1554)’

The above picture shows the daughters of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville in a window in Canterbury Cathedral.  Anne is the third from left. (picture obtained through Wikimedia Commons)

Dorothea Preis

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15
Nov

15 NOVEMBER 1527

   Posted by: Dorothea Preis    in Events in History

Death of Katherine of York at Tiverton Castle, Devon.   Katherine was the 9th child and 6th daughter of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, born in 1479, probably at Eltham Palace. She was married in 1495 to Sir William Courtenay.

Though a staunch supporter of Henry VII, William was suspected of being involved in the conspiracy of the Yorkist claimant Edmund de la Pole.   He was attainted and spent the rest of Henry VII’s reign in prison.  He was released after the accession of Henry VIII in 1509 and was created earl of Devon on 10 May 1511.  However, he had not long to enjoy his new status and died a month later on 9 June 1511.

The couple had three children, including Henry Courtenay who was executed by orders of Henry VIII in 1539

After her husband’s death, Katherine took a vow of chastity and enjoyed a life of luxury and hunting, but also religious devotion.  On surviving documents she called herself ‘the excellent Princess Katherine, Countess of Devon, daughter, sister and aunt of kings’.

She was buried at St Peter’s Church, Tiverton.

Source:  ODNB on ‘Katherine, countess of Devon (1479–1527)’ by Margaret R. Westcott.

(Picture of Katherine of York obtained through Wikimedia Commons)

Dorothea Preis

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10
Nov

10 NOVEMBER 1480

   Posted by: Michael    in Events in History

Birth of Bridget of York, tenth child and seventh daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, at Eltham Palace, London.   She became a nun at Dartford Priory.  Died in 1517.

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14
Aug

14 AUGUST 1479

   Posted by: Michael    in Events in History

Birth of Catherine of York, ninth child and sixth daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, at Eltham Palace, Greenwich.  Married to William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon.  After his death on 9 May 1511 she took a voluntary vow of chastitity.  Died on 15 November 1527 at Tiverton Castle, Devon.

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22
Jun

22 JUNE 1483

   Posted by: Michael    in Events in History

Public statement outside St Paul’s Cathedral that Edward IV had been married to Eleanor Talbot when he married Elizabeth Woodville, declaring the children of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville illegitimate.  This meant that Richard was the next legitimate heir to the throne.  He was offered the crown by the Commons and became King Richard III.

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16
Jun

16 JUNE 1483

   Posted by: Michael    in Events in History

Elizabeth Woodville allows her younger son Richard to quit sanctuary at Westminster and join his brother Edward at the Tower.

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8
Jun

8 JUNE 1492

   Posted by: Michael    in Events in History

Death of Elizabeth Woodville at Bermondsey Abbey.  Her will indicates that during her last years she lived in relative poverty.  For her funeral she was accompanied by four people, one of them Edward IV’s illegitimate daughter Grace.  Her coffin was taken quietly from Bermondsey to Windsor Castle, where she arrived in the middle of the night by just a single priest and a clerk without any formalities.  She seems to have been interred virtually immediately next to Edward IV.

Bibliography: David Baldwin, Elizabeth Woodville:  Mother of the Princes in the Tower.  Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 2002.  ISBN 0 7509 3886 2, pp. 123-125

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26
May

26 MAY 1465

   Posted by: Michael    in Events in History

Coronation of Elizabeth Woodville, wife of Edward IV.

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