Elizabeth Woodville - The White Queen
One of the most revered characters during the later Medieval period, and pre-tudor period
is Elizabeth Woodville.
She was the Queen of England through her marriage to King Edward IV, and she was known for her
beauty, and meteoric rise to prominence after coming from minor nobility.
She was the first consort to be crowned Queen, and her marriage helped elevate her siblings,
but also attracted some controversy and hostility from others.
Elizabeth Woodville was born around 1437 in Northamtonshire, being the first child of
Sir Richard Woodville and Jacquetta of Luxumbourg.
The woodpiles were a respected family in England, and were gentry rather than noble.
In around 1452, Elizabeth Woodville married her first husband, Sir John Grey of Groby,
however he was later killed fighting in the Wars of the Roses, in particular the Second
Battle of St Albans around 9 years after they were married.
He was fighting for the Lancastrian cause, but this would later be shocking as Elizabeth’s
future husband was the Yorkist claimant to the throne, and would become a strong Yorkist
King.
She had two sons from her first marriage, but she was noted for her beauty, described
as ‘the most beautiful woman in Britain.’
Edward VI had many mistresses, and he was not known for being a faithful husband.
However he began to court Elizabeth Woodville, and the pair married in secret and there is
no evidence of the date they were married, but it’s believed to have took place at
her family home in early May 1464.
There were not many there to attend, with only Elizabeth’s mother and two ladies.
Edward himself had seized the throne 3 years earlier, after winning a number of prominent
battles in the Wars of the Roses, including the Battle of Towton, which is regarded as
the bloodiest battle to ever take place on English soil.
This battle displaced King Henry VI, and Edward seized the throne.
The marriage of the pair, led to a rather surprising ascent to the throne for Elizabeth
Woodville, as she was crowned Queen on the 26th May 1465.
The marriage caused opposition with the Earl of Warwick, as he believed he was the true
power behind the throne, being known as Warwick Kingmaker.
Warwick was embarrassed and offended by Edward’s marriage and actions getting married in secret,
when the plan was for him to marry a French Princess.
Warwick was shamed by Elizabeth’s status as she was regarded as a commoner, and from
a family of Lancastrian supporters, including her former ex-husband who was a Lancastrian
knight.
When she became Queen, many of her relatives came to court and prominence, with her sisters
marrying wealthy earls.
The Woodville’s were taking over the nobility of England, and their status was elevated.
Elizabeth’s status as a commoner however attracted still much criticism, as she was
seen sometimes as arrogant, and she was unpopular with the King’s bother George Plantagenet,
the Duke of Clarence.
He even accused her of Witchcraft.
The opposition to Elizabeth contributed to one of the most shocking switches and betrayals
in the Wars of the Roses, with George the Duke of Clarence and The Earl of Warwick conspiring
to switch sides against Edward.
The two accused Elizabeth’s mother of witchcraft and she was later acquitted, but the two left
for France and began a revolt against the English King rising up and returning before
Warwick was defeated and killed in the Battle of Barnet.
Edward was temporarily removed from power before hand for a year in 1470, but following
the Battle of Tewkesbury he returned, with Henry VI being killed inside the Tower of
London.
During the fall from power, Elizabeth hid and claimed sanctuary in Westminster Abbey
where she gave birth to a son, Edward who would later be allegedly killed inside the
Tower of London, at the hands of Richard III.
Elizabeth and Edward’s marriage produced a huge number of children, ten in total.
However tragedy struck in April 1483, as Edward IV died suddenly and Elizabeth Woodville became
Queen Dowager.
Her young son was kept under the control of Richard III and was taken to the Tower of
London to await his coronation with his brother Richard the Duke of York.
Elizabeth sought sanctuary during this time, and possibly sensed danger.
Lord Hastings, one of Edward IV’s supporters was accused of conspiring against Richard
III with Elizabeth Woodville, and was executed, but it’s clear Richard the Duke of Gloucester
at the time, feared Elizabeth’s power.
He later had Elizabeth’s son Richard Grey and brother Anthony Earl Rivers execute in
Pontefract Castle, and it was then declared that all of Edward IV’s children and Elizabeth’s
were illegitimate and barred from the throne, as Edward allegedly had a precontract of marriage
with another lady, making his marriage to Elizabeth invalid.
When Richard III seized the throne following the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower,
and this declaration, Elizabeth was known as Dame Elizabeth Grey.
She allied herself with Lady Margaret Stanley, formerly known as Beaufort, and Henry Tudor
a man with a tenuous link to King Edward III, who was the closest male heir of the Lancastrian
claim.
Elizabeth and Margaret agreed that Henry Tudor should marry Elizabeth of York, her daughter
to solidify his claim and to get a stronger claim to the throne, and to also unit the
two fueding houses of York and Lancaster.
Elizabeth was stripped of her land in Richard III’s first parliament, and she came out
of sanctuary after the King claimed she and her daughters would not be imprisoned in any
prison.
The family returned to court, and allegedly reconciled with the King, however Richard
was then defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field, by none other than Henry Tudor.
Following Henry’s rise to the throne, he married Elizabeth of York and Elizabeth Woodville
then became the Queen Dowager and had her honours restored.
However she spent the last 5 years of her life living in Bermondsey Abbey in subsequent
retirement.
It’s considered that she was forced into retirement, to live a religious life by Henry
VII, or that she could even have been linked to later Yorkist rebellions.
She was treated well in the Abbey, and was given a royal pension and gifts from Henry
VII.
There was talk of her being married to the King of Scotland, however James III of Scotland
died in battle.
She was visited regularly by her daughters at the abbey, but on the 8th June 1492 she
died.
A letter from the time was recently discovered in the national archives that talks about
Elizabeth Woodville passing away from the plague, and its assumed this was the cause
of death.
Her burial was hastily arranged its assumed to reduce the spread of the place, and because
of a fear of contagion, and she was given a simple funeral.
Only a small amount of mourners attended the ceremony, and it was said that it ‘clearly
felt that a queens funeral should have been more splendid,’ but simplicity was Elizabeth
Woodville’s wish.
Her coffin was taken to the same chantry as her husband Edward IV’s and she was laid
to rest inside St George’s Chapel inside Windsor Castle.
Elizabeth Woodville is known as the White Queen, and she was one of the most prominent
figures of the Wars of the Roses.
Today she’s seen as a great female figure of the monarchy, and as a woman who was involved
in the politics of the period.
She became the mother of the Queen of England following Elizabeth of York’s marriage to
Henry VII, and today she’s remembered as an important player in the Wars of the Roses.