#dower

Wow, my first question ever! Thank you :)

Well, I need to tag @richmond-rex who's far more a Henry VII-Elizabeth of York expert than me, but I'll give my answer.

Elizabeth of York's finances were more than most of her predecessors a sensitive subject. Her marriage wasn't conventional as she was badly needed to legitimize her husband. Hence her treatment was to be even more sensitive than the treatment of a classic queen, usually of foreign origin. Perkin Warbeck and his entourage knew this, as he wrote in his manifesto alongside many grievances alleged mistreatment of his sisters, including Elizabeth.

Henry VII had a vested interest in having a queen capable of maintaining her rank because she was the bridge between him and the followers of Edward IV, who won't tolerate any perceived or actual mistreatment of their late ruler's daughter. Henry had a bumpy road in ensuring Elizabeth's funding as he inherited empty coffers from Richard III. Elizabeth Wydeville's early (or forced?) retirement in 1487 might have been a way to ensure her daughter's finances.

We don't have the greatest sources for late medieval times regarding finance, but we know that Elizabeth's holdings were significant. She did enjoy the traditional estates of English queens (around 10 000 marks), followed by numerous help and loans from her husband that weren't repaid. He also bought her numerous gifts (horses, jewellery, etc...). Elizabeth of York wasn't poor but she wasn't massively endowed either. We aren't sure whether there were moments of financial shortage for Elizabeth considering finance medieval bookkeeping mostly records spending way more than income. There could have been moments when her finances were strained and it's true that Elizabeth died in 1502, right when Tudor finances started to skyrocket. I do not know where you saw that EoY had less gifts from her husband compared to her predecessor. If you have a source, I'm interested! Otherwise, it's normal in medieval times to make small loans as people often didn't have cash immediately on hand and there could be short time of deficit. What we have about her finances and her patronage shows that she wasn't badly treated. As this issue is political, another proof is the reaction of the political community. Former Yorkists didn't complain about her treatment and didn't see her as mistreated, which is proof of good financial treatment. Her probable good relationship with her husband is another proof considering they wouldn't be so devoted toward each other if there were money issues. Recall that dysfunctional royal marriages impact their financial matters and vice-versa, from Isabel of France to Catherine of Aragon. I do not know how Elizabeth would compare to other queens, but she wasn't underfunded for her English predecessors and successors. She had more wealth than her mother, and slightly less advantages than Margaret of Anjou (who had tax franchises but was in a completely different situation) but more cash.

So my conclusion is that she wasn't financially mistreated and could maintain her rank. The idea that she was stems from Henry VII's rapacious reputation and accusations made by failed pretenders to separate Yorkist loyalists from Tudor rule.

He's see everything wrong with the world in my eyes.

The disbelief spills out and he breathes silent curses to the open air.

He can't hide the pain anymore he's too old for fairytales.

He knew that beloved darling couldn't be rescued forever.

It's was only an illusion anyway, that was his greatest secret.

As he stands to hold me back and follow his path.

A gift or a curse is just a matter of perception.

Dowries in Westeros appear to be paid by the head of the House. In most cases (of the comparatively few we have, at least) that would mean the father of the bride: Lyonel Corbray’s new wife came with an immense (and dynastically pleasing) dowry courtesy of her “wealthy Gulltown merchant” father, Argilac the Arrogant offered Aegon Targaryen “all the lands east of the Gods Eye from the Trident to the Blackwater Rush” as the dowry of his daughter Argella, and when Littlefinger is talking about the Harry-Sansa match he brokered, he boasts that the dower he offered for “Alayne” was even larger than the one Lord Lyonel collected. However, fathers are not always the ones responsible for the dower in Westerosi marital bargaining. “Fat Walda” Frey happily commented to Catelyn that “[m]y lord grandfather offered Roose his bride’s weight in silver as a dowry” and so she was chosen (doubtless because Papa Merrett had nothing to give himself). Jaime promises Edmure that if Roslin gives birth to a daughter, he’ll “see her well dowered”, since she would be a ward of Casterly Rock (and would in any event, at least if Aunt Genna got her way, be married to a Lannister-Frey to bolster their flimsy Riverrun inheritance). Historically, Yandel writes that Daeron II “paid the dowry that Aegon had promised to the Archon of Tyrosh, thereby seeing his half brother Daemon Blackfyre wed to Rohanne of Tyrosh as Aegon had desired”, although Daeron was only Daemon’s elder, legitimate half-brother.