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[painting] Elizabeth Wydeville (Woodville), queen to Edward IV
That old chestnut - common-girl-denies-king-until-he-marries-her
During the 1460s, a story circulated widely – in England and abroad. It tells how the (famously debauched) young King Edward falls in love with a common girl, Elizabeth Wydeville. In some versions she sits alluringly under a tree as the king passes. She begs his help with a legal case she is fighting against a cruel landowner who is trying to seize her property.
The king falls hopelessly for her. But she refuses to become his mistress. In fact she holds out on him until he agrees to marry her. So in the spring of 1464 the king slips away from his companions, and rides to the village of Grafton in Northamptonshire, Elizabeth Wydeville’s home. There, on May Day, 1 May, king Edward secretly and romantically marries her.
[painting] possible portrait of Anne Boleyn, although Henry VIII destroyed all images of her
Fans of Anne Boleyn – who secretly married Henry VIII 69 years later – will note the similarities. The fact is that common-girl-denies-king-until-he-marries-her was just a common folk tale in the late medieval period.
In Anne Boleyn’s case we know - from documents that Henry VIII sent to Pope Clement in 1527 - that it was not true. Boleyn had not refused to sleep with the king until he married her (as we discover in our series Henry VIII: the king, his wife, his lover, the French). But the story persisted because it later became useful for religious reasons.
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[illustration] Warwick on the 15th Century Rous Roll, looking quite full of himself
Warwick had two kings prisoner in the Tower
Having helped Edward IV to the throne, Warwick decided he didn't like being marginalised by the Queen's Wydeville family. And he began spreading the story that the Queen's mother Jacquetta, was a witch and had used sorcery to compel Edward to marry her daughter. In the 15th century you could be imprisoned for life – or even (if you were a poor woman) burned - for witchcraft. Now, they said, they had found … well … a couple of, er, lead dolls near the family home at Grafton. And that … they said … proved, it.
Warwick captured Edward IV in his bed on his way back to London. Briefly he had two kings (like two popes!) - Henry VI and Edward IV - prisoner in London.
As historian Thomas Penn concludes, Warwick’s intention was not so much to put Henry VI back on the throne, as ‘nothing less than the total destruction of the queen’s family.’
#95 Murder in the Tower - Ep 4 What Wars? What Roses?
[cartoon] Nick Anderson
ChatGPT wrote this joke for us in 10 seconds based on this episode:
Q: Why did the Earl of Warwick want to become a weather forecaster during the Wars of the Roses?
A: Because he was always trying to predict which way the winds of political fortune would blow, but it seems he got caught in a storm of his own making!
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Murder in the Tower - a Yorkist family tradition
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