The Unseen Elizabeth Woodville REGISTER STAFF
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....... s Richard III Society, Inc. Volume XXIV No. 3 Fall, 2005 The Unseen Elizabeth Woodville REGISTER STAFF EDITOR: Carole M. Rike 14819 Flowerwood Drive • Houston, TX 77062 281-488-3413 ° 504-952-4984 (cell) email: [email protected] ©2005 Richard III Society, Inc., American Branch. No part may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means — mechanical, RICARDIAN READING EDITOR: Myrna Smith electrical or photocopying, recording or information storage retrieval — 2784 Avenue G • Ingleside, TX 78362 without written permission from the Society. Articles submitted by (361) 332-9363 • email: [email protected] members remain the property of the author. The Ricardian Register is published four times per year. Subscriptions are available at $20.00 annually. ARTIST: Susan Dexter 1510 Delaware Avenue • New Castle, PA 16105-2674 In the belief that many features of the traditional accounts of the character and career of Richard III are neither supported by sufficient CROSSWORD: Charlie Jordan evidence nor reasonably tenable, the Society aims to promote in every [email protected] possible way research into the life and times of Richard III, and to secure a re-assessment of the material relating to the period, and of the role in English history of this monarch The Richard III Society is a nonprofit, educational corporation. In This Issue Dues, grants and contributions are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Elizabeth Woodville’s Families Dues are $35 annually for U.S. Addresses; $40 for international. Kathleen Spaltro . 4 Each additional family member is $5. Members of the American Sites for Elizabeth Woodville’s Families, Society are also members of the English Society. Members also receive the English publications. All Society publications and items Noeline Bridge . 7 for sale may be purchased either direct at the U.K. Member’s price, or Welcome to New Members . 8 via the American Branch when available. Papers may be borrowed Tewkesbury Revisited, from the English Librarian, but books are not sent overseas. When a Dave Lutweiler . 9 U.S. Member visits the U.K., all meetings, expeditions and other Flights of Fancy . activities are open, including the AGM, where U.S. Members are Joan Szechtman . 14 welcome to cast a vote. 2006 Ricardian Tour . 15 Advertise in The Ricardian Register Ricardian Reading, Your ad in the Register will reach an audience of demonstrated mail Myrna Smith . 16 buyers and prime prospects for books on the late medieval era, as well Dem Bones, as for gift items and other merchandise relating to this period. They are also prospects for lodging, tours and other services related to travel Victoria Moorehead . 21 in England or on the continent. Classified advertising rates for Right, Trusty & Well Beloved one-time insertions: Full Page: $150; Half Page: $75; Quarter Page: Callie Kendall . 22 $40. Ricardian Puzzle, Charlie Jordan . 26 Send copy with your remittance payable to Richard III Society, 4702 Dryades Street, New Orleans, LA 70115-5532. E-mail inquiries or Chapter Contacts. 28 digital files to [email protected]. Membership Application . 28 Copy Deadlines: Spring March 15 Summer June 15 Fall September 15 Winter December 15 Society Internet address: http://www.r3.org [email protected] Changes of address and dues payments to: Pamela J. Butler 11000 Anaheim Ave. NE • Albuquerque, NM 87122-3102 Address changes may be made on-line at http://www.r3.org/form/address.htm. Fall, 2005 Page 2 Ricardian Register EXECUTIVE BOARD Editorial License CHAIRMAN: Bonnie Battaglia 5191 Hanks Exchange Road • Placerville, CA 95667 (530) 622-6470 • email: [email protected] Carole Rike VICE CHAIRMAN: Jacqueline Bloomquist 1829 Corleone Dr. • Sparks, NV 89434 (775) 355-1704 • email: [email protected] As many of you are aware, our homes and businesses were decimated by the levee break in New Orleans on SECRETARY: Laura V. Blanchard August 29th. We are currently camping out in Houston, 2041 Christian St. • Philadelphia, PA 19146 • (215) 985-1445 FAX (215) 985-1446 • email: [email protected] trying to get our lives back together and look forward to returning to New Orleans when possible. TREASURER: Maria Torres 3216 Fillmore Avenue • Brooklyn, NY 11234 Through many more years than I can now recall, I email: [email protected] have produced this newsletter, sometimes late — but MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN: Pamela J. Butler never this late. And never under such extraordinary 11000 Anaheim Ave. NE • Albuquerque, NM 87122-3102 pressure. Recent events have decimated our lives in a (505) 856-6186 (Leave Message) • email: [email protected] manner that we are still struggling to understand and IMMEDIATE PAST CHAIRMAN: Dr. Sharon D. Michalove accept. 309 Gregory Hall • 810 Wright St. • Urbana, IL 61801 (217) 333-4145 • email: [email protected] IfyousentmeanythingprevioustoHurricaneKa- trina, I no longer possess it and ask that you re-send COMMITTEES when possible. If I have not responded, I can honestly plead guilty-due-to-circumstances. I have those emails CHAPTERS ADVISOR: Eileen C. Prinsen kept on my office computer, but all files kept on my 16151 Longmeadow Drive • Dearborn MI 48120 home computer are now gone. (313) 271-1224 • email: [email protected] Many,manythankstoGeoffreyWheelerforre- LIBRARIAN: Audio/Visual: Yvonne Saddler sponding so quickly to my plea for cover artwork. 719 Apple Brook Lane • Poulsbo, WA 98370 (360) 697-1278 • email: [email protected] LIBRARIAN: Fiction: Ananaia O’Leary 8029 Lieber Rd. • Indianapolis, IN 46260 ‘THE UNSEEN ELIZABEETH WOODVILLE email: [email protected] Cover Photos by Geoffrey Wheeler, London LIBRARIAN: Research & Non-Fiction: Jean M. Kvam Key to cover illustration of just some of the images of 805 Crain St. • Carson City NV 89703 the Queen that were not included in the recent biogra- (775) 885-7326 • email: [email protected] phies of her by David Baldwin (Sutton, 2002) and ON-LINE MEMBER SERVICES: Pamela J. Butler Arlene Okerlund (Tempus 2005): 11000 Anaheim Ave. NE • Albuquerque, NM 87122-3102 1`. Figure (based on 15th c. original glass, in the ‘Royal’ window, (505) 856-6186 (Leave Message) • email: [email protected] Canterbury Cathedral) by Thomas Willement (1786 – RESEARCH OFFICER: Dr. Sharon D. Michalove 1871) in the choir aisle opposite her tomb, St George’s 309 Gregory Hall • 810 Wright St. • Urbana, IL 61801 Chapel, Windsor. (217) 333-4145 • email: [email protected] 2. Engraving based on the standard portrait at Queens’ SALES OFFICER: College, Cambridge. www. r3. org / sales • email: sales @r3.org 3. As ‘Queen of Clubs’, from a pack of historical playing cards SCHALLEK MEMORIAL/GRAD: Laura V. Blanchard issued by Thomas de la Rue in 1964. 2041 Christian St. • Philadelphia, PA 19146 • (215) 985-1445 4. Playing card, designed by actor Donald Burton, based on FAX (215) 985-1446 • email: [email protected] characters in the 1963–4 Royal Shakespeare Company’s VOLUNTEER CO-ORDINATOR: Peggy Allen ‘Wars of the Roses’ history plays. (He played Exeter, Susan 1421 Wisteria • Metairie, LA 70005 Engel was Elizabeth). (504) 837-0974 • email: [email protected] 5. Modern artist’s interpretation by Charles Raymond, to WEBMASTER: Laura V. Blanchard illustrate an article ‘The clever widow and the King of 2041 Christian St. • Philadelphia, PA 19146 • (215) 985-1445 England’ by Christopher Hibbert. ‘WM’ magazine 1966. FAX (215) 985-1446 • email: [email protected] 6. Stained glass figure by G. Kruger Gray (1936) in the Great Hall, Eltham Palace, London. Ricardian Register Page 3 Fall, 2005 Elizabeth Woodville’s Families (1437-1492; Queen Consort to Edward IV of England, 1464-1470, 1471-1483) © by Kathleen Spaltro All Rights Reserved. dward IV secretly married in 1464 the English great-great-grandmother in both the paternal and Ewidow Elizabeth Woodville, who thereby be- maternal lines. came the first English-born Queen Consort since the Ironically for a family so closely associated with the 11th Century. By marrying this subject, rather than a Yorkist dynasty, the Woodvilles originally fought for the foreign princess, Edward IV precipitated much envy House of Lancaster. After the deposition of Edward V and ill-will. His Queen and her Woodville relatives and the accession of Richard III, the Woodvilles would won the enmity of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, again ally themselves with Lancastrians. The father of whose consequent rebellion in 1469-71 caused Edward Elizabeth Woodville, Richard Woodville, a knight, to lose and then to regain his throne. After Edward’s married Jacquetta of Luxembourg, the widow of John, restoration, the Woodville faction feuded with his Duke of Bedford, paternal uncle of Henry VI. brother George, Duke of Clarence. Following Clar- (Woodville’s own father had served both Bedford and ence’s execution in 1477 and Edward’s early death in Henry V, while Woodville had served Bedford as cham- 1483, the Woodvilles’ conflict with Richard, Duke of berlain.) Besides serving in France and suppressing do- Gloucester (brother of Edward IV and Protector of mestic rebels, Richard Woodville fought for Henry VI England during the reign of Edward’s minor son, Ed- until after the Lancastrian defeat at Towton in 1461. ward V), escalated into the deposition of Edward V, the accession of Gloucester as Richard III, and civil war. Elizabeth Woodville’s son had briefly reigned as Edward V and then disappeared, along with his younger brother Richard, Duke of York. Her daughter, in wedding Henry VII, became the matriarch of the new Tudor dynasty. Besides Edward V; Richard, Duke of York; Elizabeth of York; and other children of Edward IV, Elizabeth Woodville hadbornetwosonsbyherfirsthusband. Her eldest child, Thomas Grey, Marquis of Dorset, fathered a line that eventually in- cluded Lady Jane Grey, Queen of England for nine days in the summer of 1553. Al- though despised as inconsequential by crit- icsofElizabethWoodvilleasQueen Consort, the Woodvilles clearly acquired and retained importance as a family that spawned a half-Woodville King and Duke of York, a half-Woodville Queen Consort, and a Queen Regnant twice-descended from Woodvilles.