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

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

Geoffrey of Monmouth was elected to the see of St Asaph in Wales on 24 February 1151.  It is assumed that he was born between 1100 and 1110, and died between  25 December 1154 and 24 December 1155.

He is mainly known as a writer of the Historia Regum Britanniae (The history of the kings of Britain), which includes stories of Arthur, Merlin and kings Leir and Coel.

Geoffrey will always remind me of my classes in medieval Latin at university, where we studied his story of King Arthur.  Though I had disliked Latin at school and only did the course because it was a prerequisite for graduation, here I discovered that studying a ‘dead’ language could actually be fun.

Reference:

J. C. Crick, ‘Monmouth, Geoffrey of (d. 1154/5)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

Dorothea Preis

Death of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, aged 56.  He was the youngest son of Henry IV, brother of Henry V and Lord Protector to his young nephew Henry VI, who was only nine months when he succeeded his father.  Humphrey is buried at St Albans Cathedral.

(Photograph of the Chantry of Humphrey of Gloucester in St Albans Cathedral © Dorothea Preis)

Richard Duke of Gloucester (later Richard III) obtains permission to found and endow two collegiate chapels at St Mary and St Akelda’s Church, Middleham, and at St Mary’s Church, Barnard Castle.

The college at Middleham was to have six priests, the one at Barnard Castle twelve.  The priests were to offer prayers for the souls of Richard himself, King Edward IV and his Queen Elizabeth, his brothers and sisters and his father, wife and son.

While the college at Barnard Castle never materialized due to Richard’s death at Bosworth, the college at Middleham was established and continued until 1856.

(Photograph of St Mary and St Alkelda, Middleham, by D Preis)

Execution of George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III.  He had been convicted of treason by Parliament.  There is a rumour that he was drowned in a butt of Malmsey wine.  He was buried at Tewkesbury Cathedral.

More Information:

Elizabeth Ashworth, ‘George, Duke of Clarence’, Elizabeth Ashworth – author (18 Feb 2013).  URL:  http://elizabethashworth.com/2013/02/18/george-duke-of-clarence/  [accessed 6 Feb 2015]

St Michael’s Bridge and ford (© D Preis)

Second Battle of St Albans – a Lancastrian victory

The second Battle of St Albans was fought on 17 February 1461 between the Lancastrian forces under Margaret of Anjou (Henry VI’s queen) and the Yorkist forces under Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (‘The Kingmaker”).  It was won by the Lancastrian forces.  Henry VI was reunited with his wife and son.  The Yorkists, however, won the Battle of Towton on 29 March 1461 and with it the crown for Edwrad IV.

The photo shows St Michael’s Bridge and ford.  Part of the Lancastrian forces led by Sir Andrew Trollope entered St Albans via this ford.  The present bridge was only built in 1765, but it is considered to be the oldest still existing bridge in Hertfordshire.

The second Battle of St Albans was fought over a larger area than the first Battle of St Albans on 22 May 1455, which was concentrated on the streets in the town centre.

The website St Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society has a map showing the area covered by both battles.

A short description of the various battles of the Wars of the Roses can be found on the website of the Richard III Society.

Dorothea Preis

Elizabeth of York as queen, holding the white rose of the House of York

Birth of Elizabeth of York – king’s daughter, king’s wife

Birth of Elizabeth of York on 11 February 1466 at Westminster.  She was the eldest child of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.

After Edward’s invasion of France in 1475, in the Treaty of Picquigny, she was supposed to marry to Dauphin Charles.  This marriage never took place.  After her father’s death on 9 April 1483, she went with her mother and siblings into sanctuary at Westminster. On Christmas Day 1483, Henry Tudor took an oath in Rennes Cathedral to marry her, if he managed to become king.

She left sanctuary with her mother and siblings on 1 April 1484. Richard III undertook to find suitable husbands for her and her sisters.  This came to nothing and on 22 August 1485 Richard lost his life and throne at the Battle of Bosworth.  The victorious Henry Tudor was in no rush to marry her.  Parliament reminded him on 10 December 1485, and the wedding finally took place on 18 January 1486. Her coronation was nearly two years later on 25 November 1487.

Elizabeth and Henry had eight children, of which four survived infancy.  She died on her 37th birthday, 11 February 1503, at Richmond Palace, after giving birth to her youngest daughter Katherine on 2 February 1503, probably from post-partum infection.  She is buried next to her husband, who died in 1509, in a magnificent marble tomb in Westminster Abbey.

References:

Rosemary Horrox, ‘Elizabeth (1466–1503)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.  [last accessed online 1 Feb. 2020]

Richard Cavendish, ‘The Death of Elizabeth of York’, History Today, Volume 53, Issue 2 (2003).  URL:  http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/death-elizabeth-york  [last accessed 1 Feb. 2020]

P.W. Hammond, ‘The Coronation of Elizabeth of York’, The Ricardian, Vol VI, No 83 (December 1983), pp. 270-272

Dorothea Preis

Birth of Henry Plantagenet at Hatfield

Birth of Henry Plantagenet at Hatfield on 10 February 1441.  He was the eldest son of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville. He died as a baby.

At the time of his birth, his parents had already two daughters, Joan (1438), who had also died in infancy, and Anne (10 August 1439).  Their next son, Edward, was born on 28 April 1442. He was to accede the throne as Edward IV on 4 March 1461.

Unfortunately it is not sure whether he was born at Hatfield in Hertfordshire or Hatfield Chase in Yorkshire. Hatfield in Hertfordshire belonged to the Bishops of Ely, which is why it also called Bishops Hatfield.  Their manor might have offered suitable accommodation on the way to London. The Great North Road connecting London and York ran through Hatfield.

Hatfield Chase was a royal hunting ground and one of the Duke of York’s family residences. [1]  There are several sources linking Henry to this Hatfield. [2]

References:

1.  Michael K Jones, Bosworth 1485:  Psychology of a Battle. Tempus, 2003, p.81

2. For instance:  Jones, ibid.

S Whaley, The History and Antiquities of Thorne, with Some Account of the Drainage of Hatfield Chase (1829). p.24

Hatfield Town Council, ‘Parish History‘

You can find a list of the children of Richard, Duke of York, and Cecily Neville here.

Dorothea Preis