Elizabeth Woodville

 Elizabeth Woodville (c. 1437 – 1492) was queen of England as the spouse of King Edward IV from 1464 until his death in 1483, and future grandmother of Henry VIII.

Elizabeth Woodville was born about 1437, at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire. She was the first child of a scandalous socially unequal marriage between Sir Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxembourg. The Woodvilles, though an old and respectable family, were gentry rather than noble while Elizabeth's mother, in contrast, was the widow of the Duke of Bedford, uncle of King Henry VI of England. However, the scandal soon passed and the family grew to be respected in the realm.

Elizabeth Woodville was describe by her contemporaries as “the most beautiful woman in the Island of Britain”with  "heavy-lidded eyes like those of a dragon”, making her a worthy catch despite her questionable heritage. In about 1452, Elizabeth Woodville married Sir John Grey of Groby. She bore him two sons – Thomas and John – before he was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461, fighting for the Lancastrians – ironic considering Elizabeth’s next husband was the Yorkist claimant to the throne.

In 1464, the widowed Elizabeth was secretly married to King Edward IV of England. He had had many mistresses and was not known for his loyalty or chastity. The marriage was so secret the exact date is unknown, but is estimated around May 1464. Only Elizabeth’s mother and two ladies attended the service. At the time of their marriage, Edward had been on the throne just a little over three years following his overwhelming victory over the Lancastrians, at the Battle of Towton which usurped King Henry VI. Elizabeth Woodville was crowned queen on 26 May 1465.

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In the early years of his reign, Edward IV's governance of England was dependent upon a small circle of supporters, most notably his cousin, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick. At around the time of Edward IV's secret marriage, Warwick was negotiating an alliance with France in an effort to thwart a similar arrangement being made by his sworn enemy Margaret of Anjou, wife of the deposed Henry VI. The plan had been that Edward IV should marry a French princess to secure the alliance. Thus, his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, who was both a commoner and from a family of Lancastrian supporters, caused outrage and embarrassment. Warwick was particularly offended and his relationship with his cousin never recovered. The Privy Council were similarly disenchanted with the King’s choice of wife, bluntly telling him that "he must know that she was no wife for a prince such as himself".

On becoming queen, Elizabeth married her relatives into the most notably English families. Three of her sisters married the sons of earls while another sister, Catherine, married the queen's 11-year-old ward Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who later joined Edward IV's brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in opposition to the Woodvilles after the death of Edward IV. Another marriage which caused scandal at court owing to a striking age difference was that between Elizabeth's 20-year-old brother John and Katherine, Duchess of Norfolk who was in her sixties. Thus, scandal continued to plague Elizabeth and Edward throughout their reign.

When Elizabeth Woodville's relatives, especially her brother Anthony, began to challenge Warwick's pre-eminence at court, Warwick conspired with his son-in-law – the king’s younger brother, George. They accused Elizabeth’s mother of witchcraft, but she was quickly acquitted. After two failed rebellions, Warwick and George fled to France where they formed an uneasy alliance with the Lancastrian Queen Margaret of Anjou. They briefly restored her husband Henry VI to the throne in 1470 but Edward IV defeated Warwick in battle and reclaimed his throne the following year – promptly killing Henry VI and removing the threat of a further uprising.

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During her husband’s temporary exile, Elizabeth sought sanctuary in Westminster Abbey, where she gave birth to a son, Edward (later King Edward V of England). Her marriage to Edward IV produced a total of ten children, five daughters survived alongside another son, Richard, Duke of York, who would later join his brother as one of the Princes in the Tower. Elizabeth demonstrated a deep devotion during her reign, as was expected of a medieval queen consort. She made pilgrimages, obtaining a papal indulgence for those who knelt and said the Angelus three times per day, and founding the chapel of St. Erasmus in Westminster Abbey.

In April 1483, Edward IV died suddenly, probably from pneumonia, and Elizabeth became queen dowager. Her young son, Edward V, became king, with his paternal uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, acting as Lord Protector. Anticipating that the Woodvilles would attempt to monopolise power, Gloucester quickly moved to take control of the young king and had the king's uncle Earl Rivers and half-brother (Elizabeth’s son from her first marriage) Richard Grey arrested. The young king was transferred to the Tower of London to await the coronation and Elizabeth – along with her other children – again sought sanctuary. Lord Hastings, the late king's leading supporter in London, initially endorsed Gloucester's actions, but Gloucester then accused him of conspiring with Elizabeth Woodville against him and had him executed. It remains unknown whether he was guilty of conspiring with Elizabeth but regardless, Richard accused Elizabeth of plotting to "murder and utterly destroy" him.

On 25 June 1483, Gloucester had Elizabeth's son Richard and brother Anthony executed in Pontefract Castle, Yorkshire. An act of Parliament, the Titulus Regius (1 Ric. III), was declared, stating that Edward IV's children with Elizabeth were illegitimate on the grounds that Edward IV had a precontract with the widow Lady Eleanor Butler, which was considered a legally binding contract that rendered any other marriage contract invalid. The act also contained charges of witchcraft against Elizabeth, but gave no details and the charges had no further repercussions. As a consequence, the Lord Protector was offered the throne and became King Richard III. Edward V, who was no longer king, and his brother Richard, Duke of York, remained in the Tower of London. The boys infamously vanished after the summer of 1483 and became forever known as  “The Prince’s In The Tower” – one of London’s most intriguing unsolved mysteries.

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Elizabeth was demoted to Dame Elizabeth Grey. She allied herself with the Duke of Buckingham (a former close ally of Richard III who now sought the throne for himself) and Lady Margaret Stanley (née Beaufort). They espoused the cause of Margaret's son Henry Tudor, a great-great-great-grandson of King Edward III, the closest male heir of the Lancastrian claim to the throne. To strengthen his claim and unite the two feuding noble houses, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort agreed that the Margaret's son should marry Elizabeth’s eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who upon the death of her brothers became the heiress of the House of York. Henry Tudor agreed to this plan and in December 1483 publicly swore an oath to that effect in the cathedral in Rennes, France.

Following a failed uprising of Buckingham in Henry’s favour, Richard III's first Parliament of January 1484 stripped Elizabeth of all the lands given to her during Edward IV's reign. On 1 March 1484, Elizabeth and her daughters left sanctuary, having been publicly promised by Richard III that her daughters would not be harmed, molested, or imprisoned. He also promised to provide them with marriage portions and to marry them to "gentlemen born". The family returned to Court, apparently reconciled to Richard III. When Richard III’s wife died in March 1485, there were rumours that he would seek to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York.

If this had indeed been Richard’s intention, his plan was foiled when Henry Tudor invaded England and defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. As King, Henry VII married Elizabeth of York. He quickly had the Titulus Regius revoked and destroyed all copies. Thus, Elizabeth Woodville’s title and honours of queen dowager were restored to her. Henry VII briefly contemplated marrying his mother-in-law to the recently widowed King James III of Scotland, however James III was killed in battle in 1488.

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Elizabeth spent the last four years of her life living at Bermondsey Abbey, to which she retired on 12 February 1487. Scholars differ about why she chose this end to her life. Some believe tha she was pressed to exile herself from court by her new son-in-law, while others suggest that she had already planned a quiet retirement of religious contemplation. Another suggestion is that her retreat to Bermondsey was forced on her because she was in some way involved in the 1487 Yorkist rebellion of Lambert Simnel, or at least was seen as a potential ally of the rebels. Whatever her motivations, Elizabeth was treated with the respect due to a dowager queen (perhaps disputing the idea that she had been banished there in disgrace by Henry, from whom she received a sizable pension and frequent gifts). She was present at the birth of her granddaughter Margaret in November 1489, and at the birth of her grandson, the future Henry VIII in 1491. She was also frequently visited by her daughters, including Queen Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Woodville died at Bermondsey Abbey, on 8 June 1492. With the exception of the queen, who was awaiting the birth of her fourth child, her daughters attended the funeral at Windsor Castle. Elizabeth's will specified a simple ceremony – much to the dismay of her supporters who were angry that Henry VII had not provided her a fitting farewell”. A letter discovered in 2019, written in 1511 by Andrea Badoer, the Venetian ambassador in London, suggests that she had died of plague, which would explain the haste and lack of public ceremony. Elizabeth was laid to rest in the same chantry as her husband King Edward IV in St George's Chapel in Windsor Castle.

Elizabeth has become more famous in recent years owing to the popularity of the book and subsequent TV portrayal, The White Queen by Philippa Greggory which follows Elizabeth story from a relative commoner to Queen Consort of England. Arguably, she is the first in a long line of strong and powerful woman who would come to dominate the Tudor period for the next two centuries. Although Edward was ridiculed for marrying someone so beneath him in class, Elizabeth showed herself a worthy wife, mother, and queen and demonstrated political aptitude on several occasions – most notably in restoring the Tudor line to the throne and ultimately changing the fate of England forever – alongside another powerful female, Margaret whose story I shall tell another day. I have always been more interested in the reign of Henry VIII and his daughters (mainly because of the powerful women involved), however, recent research has made me equally interested in the preceding centuries and the equally amazing women who shaped – and were shaped – by the War of the Roses.