Sarah J. Hodder - The Queens Sisters: The Lives of the Sisters of Elizabeth Woodville

The lives of the sisters of Elizabeth Woodville

First published by Chronos Books, 2020

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Sarah J. Hodder 2018

ISBN: 978 1 78904 363 1

978 1 78904 364 8 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019939821

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Thanks are due to Christine at St Johns Church, Hillingdon, who was so helpful with details of the Lestrange Brass and the manor of Colham. Also, to Craig Irving of Arundel Castle Archives for his assistance with details of the Fitzalan tomb. I am indebted to Amy Licence for her encouragement in the early stages of the book and for reminding me that you are never too old to write! And lastly thanks to my family for allowing me to drag them around castles and manor houses and putting up with my passion for all things historical.

The Woodville family have, in the most part, received a lot of criticism since Elizabeth, their eldest daughter, became the first commoner to take a giant leap up the social ladder to become Queen of England. The tale of the widower Elizabeth, waiting under an oak tree to speak with the passing Edward IV, only to have him fall in love with her is up there with the best of romances.

But the royal marriage was hugely unpopular from the start and the anti-Woodville propaganda began almost immediately. Described as upstarts and ruthless social climbers, Edwards new and very large extended family were seen to be taking advantage of their new proximity to the king. Even before Elizabeths coronation, advantageous matches to desirable heirs and heiresses were beginning to be arranged for Elizabeths siblings, some of which greatly offended the nobility of the realm. In truth Edward IV who would certainly have had to agree, if not suggest these matches, was quite sensibly attempting to keep himself and his crown secure by making as many alliances as possible. This was a time when marriages were very much made to forge allegiances, and by marrying his wifes siblings into important families, Edward achieved a loyal band of supporters which would have been of vital importance during these turbulent times. However, one marriage in particular the union of the twenty-year-old John Woodville to Katherine Neville, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, who was well into her 60s did little to help dissuade the bad feeling amongst the nobility towards the Woodville family. The marriage was scathingly described by the chronicler, William Worcester, as a maritagium diabolicum

Over the centuries that followed, the Woodville clan have been discussed as if they were a single entity, giving the impression that each one of them had designs on climbing the social ladder in search of riches and power. But to judge them as a collective is unjust and unreasonable.

Elizabeths siblings would, by way of normal human behaviour, have had differing thoughts and emotions about their sisters sudden rise to queenship and about their own arranged marriages that stemmed from this rise into royal circles. For the Woodville men it would have been a huge opportunity to advance themselves, and for John Woodville, married to someone he may have been completely incompatible with, it would have been much easier, as it was much more acceptable, in fact even expected, for men to take mistresses. But for Elizabeths sisters, as was expected of all women of the period, their role in society was to obtain a good marriage, to look after their husband and to take care of his every need as well as run the household, the estate and of course the most important role of all, motherhood. By reason of probability, we can assume that some of Elizabeths sisters fared better than others in their new lives but were they, as history suggests, all cut from the same cloth? In truth, like any large family, the Woodvilles were a group of individuals, each with their own personality, thoughts and opinions. Indeed, some of her siblings were still children at the time Elizabeth became queen. For the six-year-old Katherine Woodville and ten-year-old Jane Woodville for instance, it must all have seemed like a huge adventure and it is highly unlikely that they were plotting and planning their way to the upper echelons of society at such a young age.

With the popularity of Elizabeth, The White Queen in modern fiction, the story of the Woodvilles has reached new audiences. Elizabeths life has been well-documented and alongside her the fortunes of her parents and male siblings. This brief history concentrates on the females of the family.

Precisely because they were female, they do not feature heavily in the documentary evidence left to us today and sadly their voices, thoughts and emotions are forever lost to us. The earliest historians were men and they wrote about men, if women did feature it was often the briefest of mentions. However, by looking at the few documentary pieces of evidence that do exist concerning these women, the men they married, the families they married into and the places they may have lived, we can piece together a small part of their stories, against a backdrop of the events at the time. With a little imagination we can bring them to life again and gain a tiny glimpse into their worlds. The women of the family, who had much less power than their male counterparts, were likely just normal women of their time, whose sister happened to marry into the royal family, a decision over which they would have had no control, but which irrevocably shaped the course of their lives.

Now win who may, ye lusty folk of youth, this garland fresh, of flowers red and white, purple and blue, and colours full uncouth, And I shall crown him king of all delight!

May Day 1464 as dawn breaks a young woman rises from her bed. Taking care not to disturb the rest of the household, she leaves the house and proceeds to a nearby hermitage. Accompanied only by her mother, she arrives at this pre-arranged destination to find her husband-to-be waiting for her. A short marriage ceremony follows, presided over by a priest and witnessed by her mother and at most two other witnesses, all who have been sworn to secrecy. No pomp, no ceremony, just a dawn meeting of lovers. As the sun rose, and the month of May began, a union was forged that would remain unbreakable for the next nineteen years. And on that early May morning, the young woman changed the fortune and destiny of her family forever. For that woman was Elizabeth Woodville, daughter of Richard Woodville, a lowly knight, and his wife Jacquetta of Luxembourg. And her new husband was Edward IV, King of England.

It was not until September of that year that the marriage was announced publicly. Whether Elizabeths siblings became aware of their new brother-in-law before then is unknown maybe the secret was shared with some of her elder or closest siblings? After months of meeting in secret and what must have been an anxious time for Elizabeth, Edward finally announced their union at the council of Reading. He was unable to consider a foreign bride, he declared, as he was already married to the Lady Elizabeth. The announcement was met with shock and disbelief by most of the council. The Earl of Warwick, the Kingmaker who had played a huge role in Edwards journey to the throne, had been in the process of negotiating a French bride for Edward and was furious that he had not been involved in this decision. This could arguably be the point where their relationship started to deteriorate. The Woodvilles were only minor gentry and Edward had been expected to marry a foreign bride, who would have bought with her huge benefits including a large dowry and sealed an alliance with a European power. Elizabeths marriage bought no benefit to the crown or country and not only was she of questionable class, she was also a widow with two young sons.