#yorkedit

ELIZABETH OF YORK, DUCHESS OF SUFFOLK - (22 April 1444 –  after January 1503) Children of York

Elizabeth was the sixth child and third daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville. Like her older brothers, Edward and Edmund, Elizabeth was born in Rouen, Normandy.

She was the younger sister of Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter, Edward IV of England and Edmund, Earl of Rutland, she was also the older sister of Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy, George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence and Richard III of England. Elizabeth’s older sister, Joan, died before Elizabeth was born, making her, Richard and Cecily’s second surviving daughter.

At the age of about thirteen/fourteen sometime before February 1458, Elizabeth was married to John de la Pole. John was the eldest son of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Alice Chaucer.

Her father-in-law had served as the principal power behind the throne for Henry VI of England from 1447 to 1450. His three years in this position saw the near-complete loss of the English possessions in northern France, towards the end of Hundred Years' War. Suffolk could not avoid taking the fall for the failure. He had been imprisoned in the Tower of London and had been attained. Consequently, John had not succeeded to his titles when his father was executed on 2 May 1450.

Her older brother Edward IV of England restored his brother-in-law to the title of Duke of Suffolk in 1463. She remained the Duchess of Suffolk until his death in 1491/1492. They were settled in Wingfield Suffolk.

From the little that is known between the couple, it is thought that Elizabeth and John had a reasonably happy marriage, with Elizabeth giving birth to eleven children between the years 1462 to 1480. Elizabeth had seven sons and four daughters.

MARGARET OF YORK, DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY -  (3 May 1446 -  23 November 1503) Children of York

Margaret was born on the 3 May 1446 in Fotheringhay Castle. She was the youngest daughter and seventh child of the Duke of York and his Wife, Cecily Neville.

At the age of eight her father made plans to marry her off to Charles the bold, her future husband, but due to threats of war the marriage betrothal was destroyed. She would marry him fourteen years later on the 3 July 1468 between 5 am to 6 am in the house of a wealthy merchant.

A good-looking woman, but (rarely for the hyperbole of her age) never described as beautiful, Margaret had fine features, and was, at almost 6 feet, very tall, a feature accentuated by her slimness, and her straight and upright bearing. Her eyes were grey, and her mouth was small; her smile allowed her to demonstrate her wry humour, her wit, and her graciousness.

In appearance, she was utterly unlike the dark and burly Duke Charles the Bold, who was shorter than her: when they met for the first time, she was forced to bend in order to receive his kiss. But her intelligence was keen, and her will strong; she made a worthy bride for the Duke in nature.

Some of Margaret’s interest included - reading (her favourite past time), riding, hunting and falconry.

She became a surrogate mother to her young step-daughter, Mary of Burgundy, who she shared a close bond with, Mary also shared a great interest in the same hobbies as Margaret.

She was very close with her younger brother, George of Clarence, whom she would write to on a daily basis. They had ‘plotted’ together a marriage proposal for him and Margaret’s step-daughter when George’s wife, Isabel, died in childbirth, but the plan was rejected by her eldest brother, Edward IV.

When George was on trial for high treason, Margaret and her mother, Cecily Neville, pleaded for the young duke’s life, but because women were not allowed to be present during a trial, their appeals for mercy were rejected.

It was said by her mother-in-law, Isabella of Portugal, whom Margaret had an excellent relationship with, that she was -

“ well pleased with the sight of this lovely lady, and pleased with her manners and virtues ”.

A capable ruler, she proved a masterful Duchess; she was a Yorkist in sympathies, but she was before that the Duchess of Burgundy. She bore no male heir to succeed to the Duchy, but she preserved it from ruin; to her actions can be ascribed the survival of the Burgundian state, and the prevention of French dominance in Europe.

It was in the wake of her husband's death that Margaret proved truly invaluable to Burgundy. She had always been regarded as a skilful and intelligent politician; now, she went beyond even that. To her stepdaughter, Mary, now Duchess of Burgundy, she gave immeasurable guidance and help: using her own experiences in the court of Edward IV, where she had largely avoided being used as a pawn and contributed to the arrangement of her own marriage, she wisely guided the Duchess in deciding her marriage; against the wave of marriage offers that flooded to the two Duchesses in Ghent, she stood firm, and advised Mary to marry Maximilian of Habsburg, the 18-year-old son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, to whom Charles the Bold had betrothed Mary, and who was ambitious and active enough, in Margaret's opinion, to defend Mary's legacy.

Mary of Burgundy and Maximilian of Habsburg named their first daughter after Margaret and the duchess also stood in as Godmother to their son, Philip the Handsome.

Margaret was however dealt a devastating blow in 1482: her much loved stepdaughter, Mary, fell from her horse whilst hunting, and broke her back. The injuries were fatal, and Mary died on 27 March.

This was not the end of the problems for Margaret and Maximilian. In 1488, Maximilian was taken prisoner in Bruges by the citizens, and was freed only upon making far-reaching concessions. The next year, he was summoned back to Austria by his father, the Emperor; Burgundy was left to be governed by Margaret together with the Burgundian Estates, both of whom also undertook the guardianship of the young Duke Philip, although Maximilian continued to take a distant interest in the country, and a greater interest in his children.

By this time, Margaret had already suffered more personal tragedies. Her brother, the Duke of Clarence, had been executed by Edward IV in 1478; Edward himself had died of illness in 1483 and finally, her younger brother Richard, who took the throne as Richard III was in 1485 killed at the Battle of Bosworth by the leader of the House of Lancaster, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, a cousin and nephew of Henry VI, who went on to become Henry VII, and to marry the daughter of Edward IV, Elizabeth of York. With the death of Richard, the House of York ceased to rule in England. Margaret consequently was a staunch supporter of anyone willing to challenge Tudor, and backed both Lambert Simnel and Perkin Warbeck, even going so far as to acknowledge Warbeck as her nephew, the younger son of Edward IV, the Duke of York. Warbeck was probably an imposter, and would be locked up in the Tower of London and subsequently executed by Henry VII. Henry in fact found Margaret undoubtedly problematic, but there was little he could do, since she was protected by her stepson-in-law Maximilian. 

ANNE OF YORK, DUCHESS OF EXETER - (10 August 1439 -  14 January 1476) Children of York

Anne was born on the 10 August 1439 in Fotheringhay Castle. She was the second child of the Duke of York and his wife, Cecily Neville. She became their eldest living child after the death of Anne’s older sister, Joan.

Anne was married twice, divorcing her first husband to marry her second husband, Thomas St. Leger.

Anne married her first husband, Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, in 1447 when she was eight years old.

During the Wars of the Roses, Anne’s husband took the side of the house of Lancaster, which meant that he would be fighting against his own wife’s family, the house of York.

Henry Holland was made commander and presided over the Lancastrian victories at the Battle of Wakefield and the second battle of St. Albans. He was also the commander of the Lancastrian defeat at the Battle of Towton - the bloodiest battle in English history.

After the defeat he fled to Scotland and soon joined Margaret of Anjou in her exile to France.

On 4th of March Anne’s younger brother, Edward IV, became King of England. One of the first things Edward did was attain Exeter of all of his lands and gave them to his sister, the remainder of Exeter’s possession went to the estranged couple’s daughter, Anne Holland.

Anne and Exeter separated in 1464 and finally divorced 1472. During the restoration period, when Henry VI was placed - shortly - back on the throne, Anne remained loyal to her brother, Edward, and to what seemed to be her only meddle in politics she worked hard to convince her younger brother, George, to abandon the Lancastrian cause and join Edward.

It is not to say if Anne’s words played any affect on George’s decision to break with Warwick and unite with Edward, but her argument surly did had some affect on her brother, which meant that Anne played a part in restoring Edward back on his throne.

Anne Holland, the daughter from her first marriage would go on to marry Thomas Grey, the eldest son of Edward’s queen Elizabeth Woodville by her first marriage, at Greenwich Palace, but Little Anne would die a few years later leaving no issue (children).

 Two years after her divorce from Exeter, Anne soon married her second husband around the year 1474 for love. Thomas was a loyal follower to his brother-in-law, Edward IV.

Anne died on 14th January, after giving birth to her only daughter with Thomas St. Leger, Anne St. Leger. Due to Edward IV giving the lands and properties of her first husband to his sister and any heirs of her body, it meant that any child that Anne would bare in the future, if she remarried, would be entitled to inherit the lands as well. This meant that Anne St. Leger by special decree became the heiress to her mother’s first husband’s estates after her mother’s death

Anne was buried on the 1st February 1476 in the St. Leger chantry, which formed the northern transept of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, which was founded in 1481 by her husband “with two priests singing forevermore”. It was later named Rutland Chantry after Anne’s son-in-law.

A monumental brass in memory of Anne of York and her husband Sir Thomas St Leger survives on the east wall of the St Leger Chantry inscribed as follows:

“Wythin thys Chappell lyethe beryed Anne Duchess of Exetur suster unto the noble kyng Edward the forte. And also the body of syr Thomas Sellynger knyght her husband which hathe funde within thys College a Chauntre with too prestys sy’gyng for ev’more. On whose soule god have mercy. The wych Anne duchess dyed in the yere of oure lorde M Thowsande CCCCl xxv”

Deadly Premonition Aesthetics— Francis York Morgan