ANNE BEAUCHAMP, (1426-1492), 16th COUNTESS OF WARWICK from 1448, was the daughter of Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick and his second wife Isabel le Despencer, she was married to Richard Neville, son of Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury. Following the deaths of her father (the 13th earl), brother (the 14th earl) and niece (the 15th countess), Anne became the 16th Countess of Warwick. Anne and Richard had two daughters, Lady Isabel Neville “Bella” and Lady Anne Neville “Nanette”. When her sons-in-law George, Duke of Clarence and Richard Duke of Gloucester fought over the rich Warwick-Salisbury inheritance, she was declared legally dead and “invited” to live with her younger son-in-law Richard Duke of Gloucester. It is not known what happened to Anne after Richard, Duke of Gloucester became King Richard III and her younger daughter Anne became Queen of England. She died in obscurity in 1492.
LADY ELEANOR TALBOT also known as LADY ELEANOR BUTLER (born circa 1435, died 1468), youngest daughter to John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Margaret Beauchamp. She married (a) Sir Thomas Butler, (b) Edward IV. She was buried at the Carmelite Priory of Ludlow in June, 1468.
THE WOODVILLES
SIR RICHARD WOODVILLE (1405-1469), EARL RIVERS from 1448, son of Richard Woodville, a squire from Maidstone, Kent, he was the father of Élisabeth Woodville, Queen of England. He was executed in 1469 by the Earl of Warwick, known as “Warwick the Kingmaker.”
JACQUETTA DE ST POL, DUCHESS OF BEDFORD “JACQUETTA OF LUXEMBOURG” (born circa 1416, died 1472). Married (a) John, Duke of Bedford (1389-1435) brother to King Henry V, (b) Sir Richard Woodville. She was the elder daughter of Peter I, Count of St Pol and Margherita del Balzo of Andria. Jacquetta had no children with her first husband, but had nine daughters and five sons who survived to adulthood with Sir Richard Woodville, including Élisabeth Woodville, Queen of England. During her lifetime, she was widely perceived to be a sorceress, and was accused of practicing the Black Arts to secure Edward IV as a husband for her daughter.
QUEEN ÉLISABETH WOODVILLE “THE SERPENT” (born circa 1437, died 1492), eldest daughter of Sir Richard Woodville and Jacquetta de St Pol. Married (a) Sir John Grey of Groby (born circa 1432, died 1461), (b) King Edward IV (1442-1483). She was the mother of the Little Princes in the Tower. Cecylee was her mother-in-law.
SIR ANTHONY WOODVILLE, (born circa 1440, died 1483) BARON SCALES, 2nd EARL RIVERS from 1469, eldest son and heir of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers and Jacquetta de St Pol. He was brother to Élisabeth Woodville, Queen of England. During his lifetime, Sir Anthony garnered a reputation for being a great jouster, a man of letters, and for piety. He was entrusted with the guardianship of Edward, Prince of Wales, later Edward V, the son and heir of Edward IV. In June, 1483, he was executed by Richard of Gloucester.
SIR JOHN WOODVILLE (1445-1469), brother to Élisabeth Woodville, Queen of England, he married Cecylee’s sister Cath in January 1465, when he was nineteen and she was sixty-seven. At the time, this was called the Diabolical Marriage. He was executed in 1469 by the Earl of Warwick, known as “Warwick the Kingmaker.”
SIR EDWARD WOODVILLE “NED” (born circa 1455, died 1488) a younger brother to Élisabeth Woodville, Queen of England. Made Admiral of the Fleet by King Edward IV, he never married.
THOMAS GREY, 1st MARQUESS OF DORSET (born circa 1454, died 1501), elder son of Élisabeth Woodville, Queen of England, by her first husband Sir John Grey of Groby. Deputy Constable of the Tower of London, he was married to (a) Anne Holland, daughter of Cecylee’s daughter Nan and (b) Cecily Bonville, a wealthy heiress and a grand-daughter of Richard Neville 5th Earl of Salisbury. It is possible that this grand-daughter was named after Salisbury’s famous sister Cecylee Neville.
SIR RICHARD GREY (born circa 1457, died 1483), younger son of Queen Élisabeth Woodville by her first husband Sir John Grey of Groby. He was executed by Richard of Gloucester, on his way to becoming King Richard III.
EDWARD OF WESTMINSTER, PRINCE OF WALES (1470-1483), uncrowned King Edward V from April 9, 1483. He was the son and heir of Edward IV and Élisabeth Woodville. One of the Little Princes in the Tower, he disappeared in the Tower of London in July 1483, and was probably murdered shortly thereafter. He is unlikely to have survived to adulthood since he had a serious ear infection that would have killed him, even if he hadn’t been murdered. He was one of Cecylee’s grandsons.
RICHARD OF SHREWSBURY (1473-1483) 1st DUKE OF YORK from 1474, second son of Edward IV and Élisabeth Woodville, he was one of Cecylee’s grandsons. In January 1478, when he was about four years old, he married the five-year-old Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk, who had inherited the vast Mowbray estates in 1476. He was the younger of the Little Princes in the Tower. Like his elder brother, Edward V, Richard disappeared in July 1483, and was probably murdered shortly thereafter. Alternatively, he could have been smuggled on a boat to Burgundy, and returned to England in July, 1495, bearing the name Perkin Warbeck. Perkin Warbeck was executed by Henry VII in 1499.
ELIZABETH OF YORK “LADY BESSY”, QUEEN OF ENGLAND (1466-1503), eldest daughter of King Edward IV and Élisabeth Woodville, and his heiress on the deaths of her brothers The Little Princes in the Tower, she was rumored to have had an unsavory liaison with her uncle Richard III. She married Henry VII in 1486 and founded the Tudor dynasty. One of Cecylee’s grand-daughters, she was the mother of Henry VIII, and died on her birthday, February 11, due to the effects of childbirth.
MISCELLANEOUS
BONA OF SAVOY (1449-1503), younger sister of Charlotte of Savoy, who was Louis XI’s queen, was also considered as a possible bride for Edward IV. In 1468, she was married to Galeazzo Maria Sforza and became Duchess of Milan.
ISABELLA OF CASTILE (1451-1504), daughter of John II of Castile, was also considered a possible bride for Edward IV. She married Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469, unified Spain, and became the mother of Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII. She was descended from John of Gaunt via his second marriage to Constanza of Castile.
JOHN MORTON, BISHOP OF ELY (1420-1500). ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY from 1486, CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND from 1487. Originator of “Morton’s Fork” as a full-proof method of collecting fines.
JOHN TALBOT, 1st EARL OF SHREWSBURY (1390-1453), the husband of Lady Margaret Beauchamp, he is remembered for his dashing bravery in trying to win back the territories around Bordeaux for the English. His murder by the French at Castillon is thought, by some historians, to have precipitated Henry VI’s 16-month bout of madness, which modern doctors think was probably catatonic schizophrenia.
JOHN DE VERE, 12th EARL OF OXFORD (1408-1462), the son of Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford, he married the wealthy heiress Lady Elizabeth Howard (who is portrayed in ONE SEED as Cecylee’s dear friend Bess). In later life, he became a Lancastrian supporter. He was convicted of high treason and beheaded by the Edward IV on Tower Hill in 1462.
LAMBERT SIMNEL (born circa 1477, died circa 1525). Of humble origins in Oxford, his family background is obscure. Noting a striking similarity to Edward IV (who had many bastards), a local priest named Roger Simon or Richard Symonds spread a rumor that he was the Earl of Warwick, son and heir of George, Duke of Clarence. John de la Pole, one of Cecylee’s grandsons and Richard III’s designated heir joined the rebellion, and Lambert was crowned in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin on May 24, 1487. After the collapse of the rebellion, Lambert was pardoned by Henry VII, who put him to work in the castle kitchens as a turn-spit. He later became a laborer and died of natural causes in 1525.
LOUIS XI “LOUIS THE SPIDER” (1423-1483) KING OF FRANCE from 1461. He was the son of Charles VII of France and Marie d’Anjou. Shrewd and often vicious, he spun webs of plot and conspiracy which earned him the nickname “THE SPIDER.” When he died in August of 1483, few people mourned his passing.
MARY OF GUELDERS (born circa 1434, died December 1463) QUEEN CONSORT OF SCOTLAND from 1449, QUEEN REGENT from 1460, she was the daughter of Arnold of Guelders and wife of James II of Scotland. She acted as regent for her son James
III of Scotland until her death in 1463. When Marguerite d’Anjou fled north to Scotland in 1461, Mary at first helped her, later switching sides to support Edward IV.
MELUSINE is a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers. The Counts of Anjou are supposedly descended from her. Thus she would have been an ancestress of both Cecylee (via Henry II and Edward III) and Élisabeth Woodville (via Henry II and Alainor of Aquitaine’s granddaughter Eleanor Plantagenet).
PERKIN WARBECK (born circa 1474, died 1499) may have been the son or foster-son of Jehan de Werbecque. His mother may have been Werbecque’s wife Katherine de Faro. Alternatively, he may have been the illegitimate son of Edward IV and Katherine de Faro, fathered during Edward’s enforced stay in Burgundy during 1470-1471. Or he may have been Richard, Duke of York (born 1473), younger son of Edward IV, who had been smuggled out of London by his mother Élisabeth Woodville. Perkin Warbeck was executed by Henry VII in 1499.
PHILIPPE DE SAVOY, COUNT OF GENEVA (1417-1444). Youngest son of Count Amadeus VIII of Savoy, who became the Antipope Felix V. Little is known about Philippe de Savoy, except that he never married.
ROBERT STILLINGTON (1420-1491) BISHOP OF BATH & WELLS, from 1465, he served as Chancellor of England twice under Edward IV. He married Edward IV to Lady Eleanor Talbot probably sometime in 1462.
THOMAS BOURCHIER (born circa 1404, died 1486) BISHOP OF ELY from 1443, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY from 1454. He was a younger brother to Henry, Viscount Bourchier, and therefore brother-in-law to Cecylee’s husband Richard of York.
Table of Contents
The Plantagenets from 1377
The Nevilles
England and France circa 1422
Prologue
Book One: THE BRIDE PRICE
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Book Two: ONE SEED SOWN
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Book Three: THE GILDED CAGE
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Book Four: TWO MURDERS REAPED
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Epilogue
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Author’s Note
Books Used in Research
Characters
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