Tag: David Baldwin

On This Day in History – 8 June – Death of Elizabeth Woodville

~ Helene Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Elizabeth Woodville c.1471.
Elizabeth Woodville c.1471.

Event– Death of Elizabeth Woodville

Year– 1492

Location– Bermondsey Abbey, England

Elizabeth Woodville died on 8 June 1492 at Bermondsey Abbey aged 55, where she had been rusticated on the orders of her son-in-law, Henry VII. She was suspected of having been involved in the plotting of Lambert Simnel in 1487 to seize the throne in the name of the Earl of Warwick and was sent to Bermondsey. It seems unlikely that she would work to topple her daughter and grandson, but it seems equally unlikely that she would willing retire from public life, from what we know of her.

Elizabeth was buried with her husband, Edward IV, in St George’s Chapel at Windsor on 12 June 1492 where her daughters, excepting Elizabeth and Cecily, attended her funeral. She specified a simple ceremony in her will, though some thought this not fitting for a Queen of England.

Further Reading–

  • David Baldwin, Elizabeth Woodville (2002)
  • J.L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens (2004)
  • Amy Licence, Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville: a True Romance (2016)
  • David MacGibbon, Elizabeth Woodville (2013)
  • Arlene Okerlund, Elizabeth: England’s Slandered Queen (2006)

On This Day in History – 1 May – Marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville

~ Helene Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Romanticised image of the first meeting of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.
Romanticised image of the first meeting of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.

Event– Marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville

Year– 1464

Location– Grafton House, England

Although the date of the wedding isn’t certain, it is generally accepted that Edward IV married Elizabeth Woodville on May Day 1464, at the bride’s home of Grafton Regis, with only a few witnesses, including the bride’s mother, in attendance.

It is said that Elizabeth first met Edward when she went to petition him for the return of her dead husband’s lands. It was said that Edward tried to force himself onto Elizabeth so she threatened to take her own life with a dagger. Edward became so enamoured of her that he married her. Elizabeth bought no dowry or international connections, which would be expected of a Queen of England.

The marriage was significant because it was first time that an English king married a commoner without having a foreign wife first. Not only that, but Edward IV was the first Yorkist king, but the Woodville family supported the Lancastrian side in the Wars of the Roses, and Elizabeth’s first husband, John Grey, had died fighting for the Lancastrians. It was the marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville that gave rise to the idea that a commoner could marry a King – this was the idea from which the likes of Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour managed to rise up from ladies-in-waiting to Queens.

Elizabeth and Edward’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married the future Henry VII, and their two eldest sons, Edward and Richard, became the ill-fated Princes in the Tower.

Further Reading–

  • David Baldwin, Elizabeth Woodville (2002)
  • J.L. Laynesmith, The Last Medieval Queens (2004)
  • Amy Licence, Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville: a True Romance (2016)
  • Charles Ross, Edward IV (1974)

Book Review – ‘The Women of the Cousins’ War: the Duchess, the Queen and the King’s Mother’ by Philippa Gregory

~ Helene Harrison ~ Leave a comment

Philippa Gregory
Philippa Gregory

Philippa Gregory, David Baldwin and Michael Jones, The Women of the Cousins’ War: the Duchess, the Queen and the King’s Mother (London: Simon and Schuster Ltd, 2011), Hardback, ISBN 978-0-85720-177-5

Title: Although the book is called The Women of the Cousins’ War, the book only examines a few of them – Elizabeth Woodville, Margaret Beaufort and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. It doesn’t look at Margaret of Anjou or Anne Neville in a lot of detail. Nevertheless, a good study of those it does examine in detail.

Preface: The preface discusses several important questions, like why write about these women? What’s so important about them? It also goes a lot wider, looking at what history is, and what fiction is, and how they can go together. There is also a sub-section on women’s place in history. The introduction is a little long, almost as long as a chapter. Continue reading “Book Review – ‘The Women of the Cousins’ War: the Duchess, the Queen and the King’s Mother’ by Philippa Gregory” →