Jacquetta of Luxembourg

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Jacquetta of Luxembourg
John of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Bedford
Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers
Issue
HouseLuxembourg
FatherPeter I, Count of Saint-Pol
MotherMargaret of Baux

Jacquetta of Luxembourg (1415 or 1416 – 30 May 1472) was a prominent, though often overlooked, figure in the

queen consort of England. Jacquetta bore Woodville 14 children and stood trial on charges of witchcraft
, of which she was exonerated.

Family and ancestry

Jacquetta was the eldest daughter of

Peter of Luxembourg, Count of Saint-Pol, was also the hereditary Count of Brienne
from 1397 until his death in 1433.

Arms of Jacquetta of Luxembourg

First marriage

On 22 April 1433 at age 17, Jacquetta married

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, himself the third son of King Edward III. The marriage was childless, and the Duke died on 15 September 1435 at Rouen.[3] As was customary at the time, Jacquetta retained the title of her first husband after her second marriage and was always known as the Duchess of Bedford, this being a higher title than that of countess. Jacquetta inherited one-third of the Duke's main estates as her widow's share.[4]

Second marriage

On Jacquetta's journey to England, she was escorted by Sir Richard Woodville, who was commissioned by Henry VI of England. During the journey, Jacquetta and Richard fell in love and married in secret (before 23 March 1437), without seeking the king's permission. Jacquetta had been granted dower lands following her first husband's death on condition that she not remarry without a royal licence. On learning of the marriage, Henry VI refused to see them, but was mollified by the payment of a fine of £1000.[5] The marriage was long and very fruitful: Jacquetta and Richard had fourteen children, including the future Queen consort Elizabeth Woodville. She lost her first-born son Lewis to a fever when he was 12 years old.

By the mid-1440s, the Woodvilles were in a powerful position. Jacquetta was related to both King Henry and

Charles du Maine while Jacquetta was the widow of Henry VI's uncle. She outranked all ladies at court with the exception of the queen. As a personal favourite, she also enjoyed special privileges and influence at court. Margaret influenced Henry to create her husband Baron Rivers in 1448, and he was a prominent partisan of the House of Lancaster as the Wars of the Roses began.[6]

Wars of the Roses

Following

George and Richard
, who were being displaced in the king's favour by the former Lancastrians.

In 1469, Warwick openly broke with Edward IV and temporarily deposed him. Earl Rivers and his son John were captured and executed by Warwick on 12 August at Kenilworth.[8] Jacquetta survived her husband by three years and died in 1472, at about 56 years of age.

Witchcraft accusations

Shortly after Jacquetta's husband's execution by

Richard III, in the act known as Titulus Regius,[10] revived the allegations of witchcraft against the dead Jacquetta when he claimed that she and Elizabeth had procured Elizabeth's marriage to Edward IV through witchcraft; however, Richard never offered any proof to support his assertions.[11]

Issue

Jacquetta and Richard had:

  1. Edward IV of England
    .
  2. Lewis Woodville (c. 1438), died in childhood.
  3. Anne Woodville (1438/9 – 30 July 1489), married first William Bourchier, Viscount Bourchier, second George Grey, 2nd Earl of Kent.
  4. Elizabeth Scales, 8th Baroness Scales
    , second Mary Fitzlewis; not married to Gwenllian Stradling, the mother of Margaret.
  5. Catherine Neville
    , Dowager Duchess of Norfolk.
  6. Jacquetta Woodville (1445–1509), married John le Strange, 8th
    Baron Strange of Knockin
    .
  7. Lionel Woodville, Bishop of Salisbury (c. 1446 – June 1484).
  8. Eleanor Woodville (d. c. 1512), married Sir Anthony Grey, son of Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent.
  9. Margaret Woodville (c. 1450 – 1490/1), married
    Thomas Fitzalan, 17th Earl of Arundel
    .
  10. Martha Woodville (d. c. 1500), married Sir John Bromley of Baddington.
  11. Richard Woodville, 3rd Earl Rivers (1453 – March 1491).
  12. Edward Woodville, Lord Scales (1454/8 – 28 July 1488).
  13. Mary Woodville (c. 1456 – 1481), married William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
  14. Catherine Woodville (c. 1458 – 18 May 1497), married first Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, second Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford, and third Sir Richard Wingfield.[12]
Two of Jacquetta's children are depicted here: Anthony and Elizabeth.

The Visitation of Buckinghamshire of 1566 mentions the marriage of William Dormer of Wycombe (only later of Ascott House) to "Agnes, da. of Sir Richard Woodvyle, Erle Ryvers" but does not say whether the father was the first or the third earl, who the mother was or whether Agnes was legitimate.

In fiction

Jacquetta is a main character in

The White Queen, Jacquetta is portrayed by actress Janet McTeer.[15]

Jacquetta is also an important character in

John, Duke of Bedford. This historical novel tells a tale regarding her marriage to Sir Richard Woodville
. There is no mention of witchcraft in this novel.

Jacquetta is also a prominent character in The Last of the Barons (1843), a novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803–1873). The book's title is a reference to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ David Baldwin, Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower, (The History Press, 2010), Genealogical table 4.
  2. ^ Wagner 2001, p. 135.
  3. ^ Schirmer 1961, p. 229.
  4. ^ Calendar of the Patent Rolls Preserved in the Public Record Office, Volume 3 p. 53 Web. 17 November 2014.
  5. ^ Gregory, Baldwin & Jones 2011, p. 65.
  6. ^ Gregory, Baldwin & Jones 2011, p. 153.
  7. ^ Griffiths 1991, p. 59-61.
  8. ^ Gregory, Baldwin & Jones 2011, p. 134.
  9. ^ Calendar of Patent Rolls, 1467-77, p. 190
  10. ^ "The Richard III and Yorkist History Server". r3.org. Archived from the original on 31 August 2008.
  11. JSTOR 24442963
    . Retrieved 6 May 2022.
  12. ^ Richard Marius, Thomas More: A Biography, (Harvard University Press, 1984), 119.
  13. ^ "The White Queen (Official site)". PhilippaGregory.com. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  14. ^ "The Lady of the Rivers (Official site)". PhilippaGregory.com. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  15. ^ "BBC – Media Centre: The White Queen, a new ten-part drama for BBC One". BBC.co.uk. 31 August 2012. Retrieved 6 October 2014.

Sources

Further reading
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