Woodville Family

The Children Who Predeceased Edward IV

When Edward IV died in April 1483, he was survived by two sons and five daughters. His eldest daughter, Elizabeth, would become Henry VII’s queen, his sons would disappear during Richard III’s reign, his daughters Cecily, Anne, and Katherine would marry, and his youngest daughter, Bridget, would become a nun. But what of the often-forgotten […]

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A Woodville Goes Book Shopping: The Romance of Alexander

I’ve been busy this week working on my nonfiction book about the Woodville family (perhaps you might have noticed a Woodville tinge to my posts here and on Facebook lately?). Anyway, I thought you’d enjoy seeing some images (available on Wikicommons) from the Romance of Alexander, Bodleian Library MS. Bodl. 264. The book is a life

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When Was Elizabeth Woodville Born?

Nearly every biography of Elizabeth Woodville gives her birth date as being some time in 1437, the same year her parents, Jacquetta, Duchess of Bedford and her husband Sir Richard Woodville, were pardoned for their secret marriage. But where does the 1437 birthdate come from? From only one source–this portrait. The portrait in question is

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Was Elizabeth Woodville one of Margaret of Anjou’s Ladies?

It’s stated as fact in the Wikipedia article on Margaret of Anjou, and elsewhere, that Elizabeth Woodville served as a lady-in-waiting to Margaret of Anjou. Fact or fiction? Unfortunately, the answer is uncertain. The assertion that Elizabeth was one of Margaret’s ladies comes from Tudor sources. Sir Thomas More in his History of King Richard

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Elizabeth Woodville’s Purported "Journal."

A very silly nonfiction book featuring Lady Jane Grey (among other things, it has her waltzing, playing the pianoforte, and being made to wear “hunting outfits . . . similar to those of jockeys”) put me in mind of this equally silly “journal” of Elizabeth Woodville. This is not my invention, but was presented in

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The Last Will and Testament of Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers

Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, brother of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, was executed on orders of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, soon to be Richard III, at Pontefract Castle on June 25, 1483, having made his will at Sheriff Hutton Castle on June 23, 1483. The will is printed in Excerpta Historica, or, Illustrations of English History (Samuel

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Did the Woodvilles Raid the Treasury?

Of all the stories that have circulated about the Woodville family, surely one of the most damning, and one of the most beloved by the Woodvilles’ modern-day detractors, is the story that Elizabeth Woodville, her son Thomas Grey, Marquess of Dorset, and her brother Edward helped themselves to the royal treasury after Edward IV died.

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