Double Trouble: Elizabeth Woodville
- Elizabeth Down
- Jan 19, 2018
- 3 min read
Double trouble: Woodville x2
A Quick Look at Two 15th Century Queens
Two women of two different generations of the same family changed English history in the 15th Century. Both called Elizabeth Woodville, they played both sides of the Wars of the Roses to put themselves into the top position- Queen of England, and their descendants on the English throne for centuries.
The first Elizabeth Woodville (1437-1492) was a widow whose first marriage was to a Lancastrian who died in the second battle of St. Albans. It was therefore quite ironic that she married Edward VI, a York King who ascended to the throne after victory at the battle of Towton. This was a major problem at the time- she was previously married to a man fighting for the House of Lancaster, and she was a ‘commoner’. In fact, at the time no other King had married a subject and then officially made her Queen. Elizabeth was active politically and many of her family members were given titles, which angered factions at court that disliked the marriage and/or the Yorkist King. Despite the controversy, the marriage was successful and they went on to have ten children together. However, Edward died in 1483 leaving Elizabeth a widow once again but now with the added bonus of being the Dowager Queen.
Her 12-year-old son became Edward V. Her new status left her open to attacks from her brother-in-law and the new King’s guardian, Richard Duke of Gloucester- soon to become Richard III. Richard accused her of plotting against the King, imprisoned the new King in the Tower of London (supposedly for his own protection) and had her brother and son (from her first marriage) executed. He then used an act of Parliament called the Titulus Regius to declare that any children from Elizabeth and Edward’s marriage were illegitimate because the late king had already promised to marry another woman before he met Elizabeth. Richard became King and Edward V remained imprisoned in the Tower of London along with his younger brother Richard. It is therefore not surprising that Elizabeth chose to ally herself and her family with the Lancaster claim to the throne- Henry Tudor.
Elizabeth retired quietly to Bermondsey abbey in her last years and died in 1483 with her children finally secured in the most powerful positions in the country.
The eldest of her children with Edward was a daughter, also called Elizabeth. The second Elizabeth (1466-1503), commonly known as Elizabeth of York, was just as important as her mother, if not more so- she married Henry Tudor, the self-proclaimed Lancaster heir to the throne, first of the Tudor monarchs, Henry VII; He became King after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
Elizabeth’s marriage to Henry united the houses of York and Lancaster and ended the war over the throne. Or at least, that’s what the Tudor propaganda said. In reality, Henry faced many Yorkist threats to his crown, the most famous of which were figure headed by Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck. Ironically, these pretenders to the throne claimed to be the ‘Princes in the tower’ (Edward V and Richard, Duke of York), Elizabeth’s brothers.
Elizabeth had great influence over her family and therefore influence over the politics of the day. Her death in 1503 had a profound effect on her son, Henry VIII.
Both Elizabeths lived through one of the most tumultuous periods of British history and changed it in their own ways, setting up their own Royal dynasty that would last for centuries.
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