Queen consort Illuminated miniature depicting the marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, Anciennes Chroniques d'Angleterre by Jean de Wavrin, 15th century Elizabeth as queen, with Edward and their oldest son. Elizabeth Woodville's two sons from this first marriage were Thomas Grey (later Marquess of Dorset) and Richard Grey.Įlizabeth Woodville was called "the most beautiful woman in the Island of Britain" with "heavy-lidded eyes like those of a dragon". This would become a source of irony, since Elizabeth's future husband Edward IV was the Yorkist claimant to the throne. He was killed at the Second Battle of St Albans in 1461, fighting for the Lancastrian cause. In about 1452, Elizabeth Woodville married John Grey of Groby, the heir to the Barony Ferrers of Groby. When the marriage became public knowledge, the couple was heavily fined, but was pardoned on 24 October 1437: it has been conjectured that the pardon coincided with the birth of Elizabeth, the couple's firstborn child. As Jacquetta had pledged, upon the death of her first husband, that she would not remarry without first obtaining royal permission, and as royal permission to marry Woodville was out of the question, the pair married secretly. Elizabeth's mother, in contrast, was the eldest daughter of Peter I of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, Conversano and Brienne, and as the widow of John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, uncle of King Henry VI of England, was before her second marriage one of the highest ranking women in England. The Woodvilles, though an old and respectable family, were gentry rather than noble, a landed and wealthy family that had previously produced commissioners of the peace, sheriffs, and MPs, rather than peers of the realm. She was the firstborn child of a socially unequal marriage between Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg, which briefly scandalised the English court. Early life and first marriage Įlizabeth Woodville was born in about 1437 (no record of her birth survives), at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire. Elizabeth was forced to yield pre-eminence to Henry VII's mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort her influence on events in these years, and her eventual departure from court into retirement, remain obscure. Through her daughter, Elizabeth Woodville was a grandmother of the future Henry VIII. Henry married Elizabeth's eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, which ended the Wars of the Roses and established the Tudor dynasty. Elizabeth subsequently played an important role in securing the accession of Henry VII in 1485. Edward and his younger brother Richard both disappeared soon afterwards, and are presumed to have been murdered. This hostility turned into open discord between King Edward and Warwick, leading to a battle of wills that finally resulted in Warwick switching allegiance to the Lancastrian cause, and to the execution of Elizabeth's father, Richard Woodville, and her brother, John, by Warwick in 1469.Īfter the death of her husband in 1483, Elizabeth remained politically influential even after her son, briefly proclaimed King Edward V of England, was deposed by her brother-in-law, Richard III. Her marriage greatly enriched her siblings and children, but their advancement incurred the hostility of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, "The Kingmaker", and his various alliances with the most senior figures in the increasingly divided royal family. Edward was the first king of England since the Norman Conquest to marry one of his subjects, and Elizabeth was the first such consort to be crowned queen. Elizabeth was known for her beauty but came from minor nobility with no great estates, and the marriage took place in secret. He died at the Second Battle of St Albans, leaving Elizabeth a widowed mother of two sons.Įlizabeth's second marriage to Edward IV became a cause célèbre. Elizabeth's first marriage was to a minor supporter of the House of Lancaster, John Grey of Groby. Her mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, had previously been an aunt-by-marriage to King Henry VI, and was the daughter of Peter I, Count of Saint-Pol. She was a key figure in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic civil war between the Lancastrian and the Yorkist factions between 14.Īt the time of her birth, Elizabeth's family was of middle rank in the English social hierarchy. 1437 – 8 June 1492), later known as Dame Elizabeth Grey, was Queen of England from her marriage to King Edward IV on until Edward was deposed on 3 October 1470, and again from Edward's resumption of the throne on 11 April 1471 until his death on 9 April 1483. Elizabeth Woodville (also spelt Wydville, Wydeville, or Widvile c.
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