Cecily, Princess of York

There’s no denying the Woodville women were a fine-looking lot. Elizabeth Woodville was said to have used her beauty and maybe some feminine sorcery, to ensnare the king, Edward IV into an illicit marriage.

Richard Neville alias Warwick the Kingmaker was not happy. He was busy at the time negotiating a marriage for Edward with either Anne of France or Bona of Savoy in an attempt to strengthen ties with Louis XI of France, and any way what about Eleanor Talbot (Butler/Boteler) with whom there was supposedly a ‘contract of marriage’ or Elizabeth Lucy (Waite) his long standing mistress who also possessed a pre-contract. Ah well, these things happen.

Edward and Elizabeth’s union produced five daughters who survived to adulthood and two sons, the unfortunate Princes murdered in the Tower of London. The whole family is portrayed in stained-glass in the Royal Window in the northwest transept of Canterbury Cathedral. The original 1483-84 version was damaged during the 1640s, and the one on view today is a modern replica. The image of Cecily, kneeling between her sisters Elizabeth and Anne is now held by the Burrell Collection in Glasgow.

Cecily was born on March 20, 1469 at the Palace of Westminster, the third of Edward and Elizabeth’s children. Before her second birthday Cecily was with her pregnant mother and sisters as they sought sanctuary in Westminster Abbey. In due course she would be stripped of her royal status and declared a bastard.

But as the crown bounced back and forth between the warring royal cousins, daughters were an important commodity during the turbulent times of the fifteenth century and Sir Thomas More pretty much summed up her life when he described Cecily as ‘not so fortunate as fair.’

By the time she was just five years old, Cecily had been betrothed to first James III’s son and heir and then to the Scottish king’s brother Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany. Neither of these betrothals came to fruition and in 1485 she was briefly married to Ralph Scrope of Upsall, a marriage arranged by her uncle Richard, who had by then declared himself king.

But later that same year the exiled Henry Tudor returned, seized the crown and married Cecily’s elder sister Elizabeth, so it was goodbye Ralph. The marriage was promptly annulled and Cecily was lined up for another dynastically advantageous marriage – and this is where the St John family link comes in.

During the winter of 1487/88 Cecily married John Welles, 1^st Viscount Welles KG. John was the son of Margaret Beauchamp and her third husband Leo (Lionel) Welles, 6^th Baron Welles. John was half-brother to Margaret Beaufort (and also to her St John half siblings) and therefore the King’s uncle of the half blood. John had received his returning uncle when he landed at Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire on August 7, 1485, and was knighted that same day. He went on to fight alongside Henry at the Battle of Bosworth, so his credentials were pretty sound.

Was this marriage a happy one? To be honest I don’t think happiness was a big consideration for a woman in Cecily’s position. Cecily was 18 at the time of her marriage and John approximately twenty years her senior. The couple had two daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, both of whom died young.

Cecily made frequent appearances at court, as befitted the daughter of one king and the sister-in-law of another and one who had a dodgy claim to the throne, it has to be said. In 1486 she carried her baby nephew Arthur to his christening and the following year she was one of the attendants at her sister’s coronation as Queen Consort.

But then in 1499 John Welles died and following a short period of widowhood Cecily decided when she married again it would be to a man of her own choosing. The date of her marriage to Thomas Kyme is not accurately recorded, but is believed to have taken place between May 1502 and January 1504 and without Royal License and boy was Henry displeased when he found out. He promptly banished her from court and confiscated her land.

Margaret Beaufort, the King’s Mother, championed Cecily’s case and allowed the couple the use of her home, Collyweston Palace. The marriage was a short one. Cecily, Princess of York died on August 24, 1507. Yet despite her high status, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about Cecily’s life and death.

Some sources claim that Cecily went on to have two children with Thomas Kyme, but as their existence was not ‘discovered’ until the 17^th century, this seems unlikely. Thomas Kyme (or Kymbe or perhaps Keme) is described as a Lincolnshire gentleman, but an estate on the Isle of Wight also figures in their story. In fact, there is a legend that Cecily died at East Standen on the Isle of Wight and was buried at Quarr Abbey. However, there is evidence that she most likely died at a property in Hatfield owned by Margaret Beaufort where she had been staying for several weeks before her death. Margaret’s household accounts indicate that she paid most of Cecily’s funeral expenses at “the friars,” – could this be King’s Langley, a Dominican priory in Hertfordshire with a family connection and where Edmund of Langley, Duke of York was buried in 1402?

You’d really think there would be more concrete evidence about the lives of these women. I suppose that’s why such characters are much loved by historical novelists as they can invent the unknown bits.

So, there we have it – Cecily, Princess of York and another connection to the fascinating St John family from Lydiard Park.

The Royal Window – Canterbury Cathedral published courtesy of Casey and Sonja

Cecily, Princess of York

Margaret Beaufort’s tomb in Westminster Abbey

Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV’s Queen.

Lady Margaret Beauchamp published courtesy of Duncan and Mandy Ball

 

Margaret Neville, Countess of Oxford

Well, it’s all over – the hype, the excitement, the criticisms – as last Sunday evening saw the conclusion of The White Queen.

I’m still not quite sure what I thought about it all. I feared for everyone’s eyesight as they all stared into the eclipse of the sun, a portent of Henry’s imminent success, or was it Richard’s impending doom, but it all turned out alright in the end. And while Princess Pushy Pants and Lady Margaret tested the ground for their future rocky relationship, series producers whetted the viewers’ appetite for another round of royal doings!

Princess Elizabeth – future bride of Henry VII

By and large, I enjoyed it; although I’m none the wiser as to the fate of those young boys in the tower. So the writers and producers took a few liberties, but it was historical fiction when all is said and done.

So now we come to the last Neville sister, Margaret and I’m wondering what happened to her husband John de Vere in The White Queen production. Did I blink and miss any reference to him, or did he get lost in the Barnet melee, which saw the demise of Warwick?

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick

Margaret Neville was born in 1442 and unlike her sisters would apparently avoid the perilous marriage stakes until she was in her mid 20s. Her husband was loyal Lancastrian John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford, who had already done time in the tower for his part in a red rose conspiracy. By the summer of 1469 he had been pardoned by Edward IV and upon his release from the tower, took off with his brother in law Warwick to stir up Robin of Redesdale’s northern rebellion.

Although it didn’t go quite according to plan and Oxford and Warwick had to escape to France, they were soon back. By October 1470 Henry VI was restored to the throne with Oxford taking a leading role in the ceremony at St. Paul’s. In 1471 Oxford and his men prevented Edward from landing off the Norfolk coast and in April of the same year Oxford commanded the right wing of the Lancastrian army at Barnet.

However, with a victorious Edward back in charge, Oxford takes refuge in Scotland and it is now we have the first real evidence of what life must have been like for Margaret.

He writes to ask her:-

‘Also ye shall send me in all haste all the ready money ye can make; and as many of my men as can come well horsed, and that they come in divers parcels.’

The Keep at Castle Hedingham – photo David Phillips

Presumably Margaret was still living at the family seat of Castle Hedingham in Essex with her only child George, but financial security would soon be a thing of the past. By April 1472 Margaret was living in St Martin’s sanctuary. Her status as the wife of a traitor rendered her vulnerable.

Meanwhile fearless de Vere continued his fight for the Lancastrian cause. He masterminded attacks on Calais, funded by a spot of piracy, and captured St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall. Following his eventual surrender in 1474 he spent the next ten years a prisoner at Hammes Castle.

For more than fourteen years Margaret lived a life of penury. It was said she relied upon the charity of others and what ‘she could earn by her needle.’ King Edward pardoned her but it was not until 1481 that he granted her £100 a year ‘on account of her poverty.’

In 1484 John was removed from the prison in Calais but while he was being transferred to England he managed to escape his gaolers. He quickly joined Henry Tudor and played a significant role in the contender’s victory.

Henry and Jasper Tudor

Margaret and her husband were reinstated at Castle Hedingham but sadly their son had died sometime during his father’s imprisonment.

Margaret died in 1506. She was well into her 60s, a respectable age for a woman who had experienced the vicissitudes of the long years of war.

Castle Hedingham courtesy of www.balloonride.org.uk

She was buried before the altar of the Lady Chapel of Colne Priory in Essex where her husband John joined her seven years later. Originally alabaster effigies of the couple lie side by said, she with her feet on a winged boar, he with his on a stag. These effigies were destroyed in the mid 18th century, but a drawing made in 1653 survives, the only known representation of Margaret.

The Kingmaker’s Sisters: Six Powerful Women in the War of the Roses by David Baldwin

Eleanor Neville, Lady Stanley

This week’s episode of The White Queen placed the scheming Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, centre stage with his daughters at his mercy, waiting to hear their fate.

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick

Viewers were introduced to Queen Margaret of Anjou and her dull looking son Edward, Prince of Wales who had barely a word of dialogue in this episode.

As the two Queens jostled for the throne, Margaret wields all the power while pregnant Elizabeth Woodville seeks refuge in Westminster Abbey. Jacquette reminds her daughter that women have other weapons at their disposal, by which she means witchcraft, a hobby that would see her end up arrested and quizzed by the loathsome Warwick. In a strange twist of fate it is only Jacquette’s previous friendship with Queen Margaret that saves her.

Queen Margaret of Anjou and son Edward, Prince of Wales

Family and friends were crucial during these turbulent times and no one understood this better than Eleanor Neville, Lady Stanley. Eleanor was named after her father’s sister Eleanor, Countess of Northumberland and was one of six siblings born during the 1430s; brothers Thomas, John and George were all born by 1432 followed by Eleanor, Alice, and Katherine.

By 1457 Eleanor was married to Thomas, Lord Stanley who has gone down in history as being a professional fence sitter, adroitly skipping between opposing sides during the War of the Roses. Eleanor was known to be a feisty, forceful personality, a fitting helpmate for her duplicitous husband.

His career began in 1454 when he was Esquire of the Body to the Lancastrian King Henry VI. By 1471 he was Steward of the Household of Yorkist Edward IV. In 1483 he was made Constable of England under Richard III by which time he was married to his second wife Margaret Beaufort and therefore stepfather to Henry Tudor.

Margaret Beaufort embraces her son Henry Tudor and her brother in law Jasper

Third sister Eleanor was certainly astute enough herself to keep ahead of the game. During a time when little domestic written material remains, two of Eleanor’s letters have survived. In one case Eleanor has been asked to intercede in a dispute over land and in the other non payment of an annuity, suggesting that not only could she be trusted with delicate negotiations, but that she had influence as well.

The couple produced at least thirteen children, several of whom were pretty colourful characters themselves. James, Bishop of Ely, could be said to be unsuited to a priestly lifestyle, and appears to have never actually lived at the Cathedral. Meanwhile brother Edward, 1st Lord Monteagle was described as ‘a devil raiser and alchemist’ in WE Hampton’s 1979 book Memorial of the Wars of the Roses.

Pregnant Queen Elizabeth in hiding

In his will Thomas Stanley ordered seven effigies to be made of various family members, including Eleanor, and placed in Burscough Priory and that he should be buried there with his first wife. However Eleanor had died at the family’s Derby House in St Paul’s Wharf, London in around 1472 and was buried in St James’s Church, Garlickhithe. There is no evidence to suggest that her body was re-interred at Burscough. The effigies were damaged during the Dissolution of the Monastries and today the remaining figures can no longer be accurately identified.

 

Joan Neville, Countess of Arundel

During the 15th century the Church banned sex on every Sunday during Lent, and for pretty much half the rest of the year as well. But you seriously have to wonder how much notice anyone took of this papal ruling, especially if you’re watching The White Queen (BBC1 Sunday).

Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville tear each other’s clothes off every time they see one another and in yesterday’s episode even pious Margaret Beaufort returned to the marital bed, although she only did it for king and country.

Amanda Hale as Margaret Beaufort

The ‘no sex please, we’re British’ had little impact upon the number of births either, with high born women suffering more than their peasant, breast feeding sisters. Aristocratic ladies handed their new borns to a wet nurse and were pretty soon pregnant again.

White Queen, Elizabeth had a total of twelve children by two husbands while her mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Countess Rivers had fourteen, and these were just the babies who survived long enough to make an entry in the history books.

Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and the infamous Kingmaker, was himself one of ten children, although his own progeny appeared to number just two long suffering daughters.

Isabelle Warwick.

It was his daughter Isabelle viewers witnessed give birth at sea during a storm conjured up by witchcraft and Elizabeth Woodville, her mother and Elizabeth’s sweet faced daughter. Isabelle, the wife of Edward’s traitorous brother George went on to have at least two children that survived to adulthood. Her daughter was Margaret, Countess of Salisbury.

But let’s return to roguish Richard Neville and his sisters who surely deserve a series of their own, or at the very least, a novel by Philippa Gregory.

Philippa Gregory standing next to Margaret Beaufort’s tomb in Westminister Abbey http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Marriage was the only career option for the medieval woman, and even then they had very little say in the matter. Advantageous dynastic pairings were everything, which indirectly led to the whole Cousins’ War disaster.

Divorce was unheard of and the only way to escape an unhappy marriage was to discover you were related to your husband or prove you had previously been contracted to another. If you had been married under age that counted as well, although with betrothals made in childhood this might be a tricky one to argue. One get out clause was an impotent husband, but merely being violent didn’t count. Husbands were allowed to beat their wives with sticks or whips because apparently it was good for them. However, if you could prove your husband intended to kill you, then that was a valid reason for an annulment.

All that being said, Richard’s elder sister Joan seems to have fared pretty well in the marital stakes. Joan was born in 1424, the first of Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury’s large brood by his wife Alice Montacute. Fifteenth century babies were usually named for their Godparents who played a prominent role in the child’s life. Joan, however, appears to have been named for her paternal grandmother, Joan Beaufort.

Joan spent her early childhood at Middleham Castle, the Salisbury family seat In Wensleydale, Yorkshire. She may have been removed to a neighbouring nobleman’s household to learn the art of estate management, as was the medieval custom.

Joan Neville’s marital home at Arundel Castle

Her expensive marriage contract to William Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel, was bought from the Crown by her ambitious father, and she was married at around the age of 14. Her groom was nearer 21 years old, but it is not know if the couple set up home together immediately following the ceremony, especially as their eldest son was not born until 1450. Joan’s marital home was Arundel Castle in Sussex, owned by the Fitzalan family from 13th to 16th century. Joan had at least five children. Thomas, Lord Maltravers, the Arundel heir married Margaret Woodville, Elizabeth’s sister.

Joan died in 1462, shortly before her sister Katherine’s marriage to Lord Hastings. She was buried in the Fitzalan Chapel adjoining St Nicholas’s Church near Arundel Castle, where her husband eventually joined her.

William survived his wife by 25 years, during which he showed no inclination to remarry. He withdrew from national politics and tried to keep his distance from war mongering brother in law, Richard Neville.

Joan Neville, Countess of Arundel – see also TudorQueen6

The magnificent memorial to Joan and William enjoyed a makeover in 1982 when it was re sited on a slate slab in front of the altar. Husband and wife rest their feet on the Fitzalan horse and a griffin, their heads supported by angels. Joan wears a York collar depicting suns and roses and the effigies still bear traces of original colouring and gilding.

The White Queen

Are you captivated by the new BBC1 historical drama The White Queen – or are you busy looking for zips, down-pipes and Georgian windows?

Elizabeth Woodville, the White Queen, played by Rebecca Ferguson

Some reviewers have unkindly pointed out such irregularities while another, wrongly, drew attention to an age discrepancy between the royal lovers, stating that he was just 13 while she was ‘matronly.’ In fact Edward IV was 22 when he married the 27 year old widow Elizabeth.

This lavish 10 part series is based on three novels by Philippa Gregory – The White Queen, The Red Queen and The Kingmaker’s Daughter. Starring Rebecca Ferguson as the ethereal but deceptively shrewd Elizabeth Woodville, Amanda Hale, the future Henry VII’s absent mother and slightly deranged Lady Margaret Beaufort and Faye Marsay as Anne Neville, wife of Richard III.

Edward IV played by Max Irons

The male characters are easy on the eye, especially Edward IV (Max Irons.) Even the villainous ‘Kingmaker’ Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (James Fran) is none too shabby.

‘Kingmaker’ Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, played by James Fran

But this is a story about women, or so the beeb would have us believe. Amanda Hale (Lady Margaret Beaufort) has something to say about that.

Lady Margaret Beaufort, played by Amanda Hale

“You go into something that purports to be a women’s drama, with women in the leads, and then you find every script has got these really gratuitous nude scenes. Isn’t it enough that it’s about women? Do we also have to be naked?” she asked Gerard Gilbert of The Independent.

So will viewers persevere with the medieval mayhem? If you’re a stickler for historical fact and costume accuracy, maybe not, but don’t give up on all the gorgeousness that is on offer. This is a rattling good tale about, what is after all, an incredibly complicated period of British history.

So, good gentlewomen, where is the St John family connection?

Lady Margaret Beaufort

New readers might care to visit my blog posts on Lady Margaret Beaufort and her mother Lady Margaret Beauchamp to save me repeating myself – but there is an additional link in this War of the Roses saga.

Kingmaker Richard Neville acquired the title Earl of Warwick through his wife Anne, the daughter of Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and his wife Isabel le Despenser. The title passed to their son Henry de Beauchamp, 1st Duke of Beauchamp, but when he died without a male heir the title went to their daughter Anne Beauchamp.

Anne traces her paternal line back six generations to Walter de Beauchamp and Isabel Mauduit, the 5x great grandparents of Margaret Beauchamp who married Oliver St John in about 1425.

Anne Neville, Countess of Warwick, played by Juliet Aubrey

This makes scheming Anne, wife of the Earl of Warwick, played by actress Juliet Aubrey 5th cousin once removed to Frances Tomelty’s nasty Margaret Beauchamp.

Lady Margaret Beauchamp played by Frances Tomelty

The White Queen continues on BBC1 Sunday 9pm.

Eleanor St John wife of Thomas Grey 2nd Marquess of Dorset

Sometimes the fleeting good gentlewoman passes almost without trace, leaving us to marvel at her wondrous ancestry and her influential husband.  If we are fortunate her progeny lead us down the centuries to engage with yet more talented and influential generations.

Only known image of the three St John sisters

But sadly not so in the case of Eleanor St John who passes through the ether with barely a disturbance, her birthday unknown, her date of death unrecorded.

It is believed that Eleanor was born circa 1480, the daughter of Oliver St John and Elizabeth Scrope, at Lydiard Tregoze, the property conveyed to her father by his mother Margaret Beauchamp.

The War of the Roses between the rival Royal houses of Lancaster and York raged on and off for thirty years between 1455 – 1485.  Eleanor was still a young child when her cousin Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 and seized the crown.  Henry promptly sealed the succession with his marriage to Elizabeth of York in 1486, aligning himself with the defeated Royal household.

Henry VII

Enter Thomas Grey, whose impressive CV would read Privy Councillor, Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, Lord Warden of the Scottish Marches, Justice of the Forest south of Trent and joint Constable of Warwick Castle to go with his title 2nd Marquess of Dorset, Lord Ferrers of Groby and Astley.

Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset

Thomas was the grandson of Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV’s Queen Consort, and her first husband Sir John Grey of Groby.  Following his stepfather’s death in 1483, Thomas’s fortunes rose and fell.  Imprisoned during the rebellion of Lambert Simnel in 1487, Thomas was made a knight of the Bath in 1494 and a knight of the garter in 1501 before ending up in the Tower of London in 1508, again under suspicion of conspiracy.

It is thought that Thomas married Eleanor in 1500.  Despite her equally close Royal connections she wasn’t even his first choice of bride as in 1483 he was contracted to marry wealthy heiress Anne St Leger, but this marriage never took place.

The marriage was a relatively short one.  The couple had no children and by 1509 Eleanor was dead and Thomas was remarrying.  His second wife was Margaret Wotton, the widow of William Medley.

Margaret Wotton

The Grey family fortunes continued to ebb and flow and in 1533 Thomas’s son Henry married Lady Frances Brandon, Henry VII’s grand daughter.  However there was no happy ending here either as Henry was beheaded in 1554 shortly after his daughter Lady Jane Grey who had reigned as Queen for just nine days.

The execution of Lady Jane Grey by Paul Delaroche

Thomas was one of the richest men in England when he died on October 10, 1530.  He was buried at the Collegiate Church of St Mary the Virgin, Astley, Warwickshire. Unfortunately the 14th century church was pretty much demolished and rebuilt by 1608. Out of nine alabaster effigies to the Grey family only three survived into the 1950s; that of Sir Edward Grey who died in 1457, Elizabeth Talbot d.c. 1483 and one believed to be Cecily Bonville, wife of Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset.

Of Eleanor there is no mention.  Unless this effigy might not be Cecily Bonville after all, but maybe that of the St John girl from Lydiard Tregoze.