Cecily Neville, Duchess of York
Cecily Neville | |
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George, Duke of Clarence | |
House | Neville |
Father | Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland |
Mother | Joan Beaufort |
Cecily Neville (3 May 1415 – 31 May 1495) was an English noblewoman, the wife of
Her husband, the Duke of York, was the leading contender for the throne of England from the House of York during the period of the Wars of the Roses until his death in 1460. Their son Edward actually assumed the throne as Edward IV in 1461, after the deposition of King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster. The Duchess of York thus narrowly missed becoming queen consort of England.[1]
Family
Cecily Neville was the youngest of the 22 children of
Cecily was the aunt of
Duchess of York
In 1424, when Cecily was eight years old, she was betrothed by her father to his thirteen-year-old ward,
Their next son, the future King
Around 1454, when Richard began to resent the influence of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (a first cousin of his wife), Cecily spoke with queen consort Margaret of Anjou on his behalf. When Henry VI suffered a nervous breakdown later in the year, Richard of York established himself as a Protector.
After the outbreak of the Wars of the Roses in 1455, Cecily remained at their home, Ludlow Castle, even after Richard fled to Ireland and Continental Europe. At the same time, she surreptitiously worked for the cause of the House of York. When a parliament began to debate the fate of the Duke of York and his supporters in November 1459, Cecily travelled to London to plead for her husband. One contemporary commentator stated that she had reputedly convinced the king to promise a pardon if the duke would appear in the parliament in eight days. This effort failed, and Richard's lands were confiscated, but Cecily managed to gain an annual grant of £600 to support herself and her children.
After the Yorkist victory at the Battle of Northampton in July 1460, Cecily moved to London with her children and lived with the lawyer John Paston. She carried the royal arms before Richard in triumph in London in September. When the Duke of York and his heirs were officially recognised as Henry VI's successors in the Act of Accord, Cecily became a queen-in-waiting and even received a copy of the English chronicle from the chronicler John Hardyng.
But in the
Mother of two kings, great-aunt of a queen, and grandmother of a queen
Cecily's eldest son Edward successfully continued the fight against the Lancastrians. When Cecily moved to Baynard's Castle in London, it became the Yorkist headquarters, and after Edward defeated the Lancastrians and ascended the throne, she was honoured as the mother of the king.
During the beginning of Edward's reign, Cecily appeared beside him and maintained her influence. In 1461, she revised her coat of arms to include the
In 1469, her nephew
Edward IV was briefly overthrown by Warwick and Margaret of Anjou, and for about six months (October 1470 – April 1471),
Duchess Cecily was on good terms with Richard's wife Lady
Richard's reign was brief; he was defeated and killed on 22 August 1485 at the
Death and will
The Duchess died on 31 May 1495 and was buried in the tomb with her husband Richard and their son Edmund at the Church of St Mary and All Saints, Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire, with a papal indulgence. All subsequent English and later British monarchs, beginning with Henry VIII, are descendants of Elizabeth of York, and therefore of Cecily Neville.
"Cecill wife unto the right noble Prince Richard late Duke of Yorke" made her will on 1 April 1495. It was proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury on 27 August of the same year.[3]
Issue
Her twelve
- Anne of York (10 August 1439 – 14 January 1476), primarily wife of Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter, and secondly, Sir Thomas St. Leger
- Henry of York (10 February 1441 – 10 February 1441), died soon after birth
- Edward IV of England (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483)
- Edmund, Earl of Rutland (17 May 1443 – 30 December 1460), killed at the Battle of Wakefield
- Elizabeth of York (22 April 1444 – possibly after January 1503), wife of John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk
- Charles I, Duke of Burgundy
- William of York (7 July 1447 – died young)
- John of York (7 November 1448 – died young)
- George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence(21 October 1449 – 18 February 1478), executed by Edward IV
- Thomas of York (1450/1451 – died young)
- Richard III of England (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485), killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field[5]
- Ursula of York (22 July 1455 – died young)
Coat of arms
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Fictional portrayals
Cecily Neville as the Duchess of York is a principal character in
In 2013 and 2017, the Duchess is portrayed by
In 2016, Neville was portrayed by Judi Dench in the BBC television mini-series The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses, in the third episode; which is based on William Shakespeare's play, Richard III.
Sharon Kay Penman's historical novel The Sunne in Splendour portrays Neville relatively accurately to the historical record, as the proud matriarch of the York family and a loving but stern mother to all her children. The book heavily focuses on her disdain for Elizabeth Woodville, as well as her attempts to reconcile the various feuds between her sons.
Ancestry
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References
- ^ Spedding 2010.
- ^ Hilton 2008, p. 456.
- ^ The National Archives: PROB11/10/447.
- ISBN 9781350098787.
- ^ Sir Anthony Wagner, 'English Genealogy' (Phillimore – 1983), p. 237
- ^ a b c Pinches & Pinches 1974.
- ^ Pinches & Pinches 1974, p. 113.
- ^ a b Laynesmith 2006, p. 38.
- ^ Licence 2013.
- ISBN 978-0-297-85261-2.
- Laynesmith, J.L. (3 March 2006). "The Kings' Mother". History Today. Vol. 56, no. 3.
- Licence, A. (17 June 2013). "The White Queen: romance, sex, magic, scowling, social snobbery and battles". New Statesman. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
- ISBN 978-0-900455-25-4.
- Spedding, Alison J. (2010). "'At the King's Pleasure': The Testament of Cecily Neville". Midland History. 35 (2). S2CID 159947743.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-1-5267-0632-4.
- Laynesmith, J.L. (13 July 2017). Cecily Duchess of York. ISBN 978-1-4742-7225-4.
- Licence, A. (2014). Cecily Neville: Mother of Kings. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4456-2123-4.
- Mackley, John (1950). Throne, Mildred (ed.). "The Civil War Diary of John Mackley". Iowa Journal of History. 48 (2): 150–151.
- Richard III Society Research blog https://riiiresearch.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/the-myth-of-joan-of-york-or-joan.html (the editors include Laynesmith)
- "Royal Bastardy in Mediaeval England: Part Two". Richard III Society. Archived from the original on 26 May 1998. Retrieved 31 October 2016.
External links
- Ladies of the Bower & Lords of the Tower A Medieval Re-enactment Society based in London, featuring members of the Neville/Plantagenet family.