Royal Marriage Secrets

by John Ashdown-Hill

  Eleanor had been married at a young age to Thomas Butler, the son of one of her father’s associates, Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley. The child-bride almost certainly finished her upbringing at Sudeley Castle, in the home of her parents-in-law. In 1452, when she reached the age of 16 (the age at which a marriage with a child-bride could be consummated), Lord Sudley gave a small group of manors to his son and daughter-in-law, and thereafter Eleanor and Thomas probably lived mainly at Burton Dassett in Warwickshire. However, in 1459, after only seven years of real marriage, Eleanor was left a young and childless widow.

  Her relationship with her father-in-law, Lord Sudeley, seems to have remained cordial, for Lord Sudeley reached an agreement with the young widow whereby, while one of her husband’s manors was returned to him, another was ceded to Eleanor outright.22 Moreover, there is some evidence that a little later Eleanor used her influence with Edward IV to protect Lord Sudeley and his interests (see below). Nevertheless, after losing her husband, Eleanor seems to have left Warwickshire for good, and moved to East Anglia, where she joined the household of her younger sister, Elizabeth Talbot, Countess Warenne, wife of the son and heir of John Mowbray, third Duke of Norfolk.

  Recently discovered evidence shows that the future Edward IV, then Earl of March, was in the eastern counties during the summer of 1460, visiting a cousin of the Duke of Norfolk.23 Eleanor may also have travelled to the eastern counties at about that time, in order to visit her sister. If so, and given that the Duke of Norfolk was the father-in-law of Eleanor’s sister, Edward might easily have met Eleanor during his visit. Several of her relatives and connections were closely linked to Edward, and could have presented Eleanor to him.24 Their second possible meeting could well have taken place in the late spring or early summer of 1461, when Edward was returning south to London after the bloody battle of Towton. The new king’s route was via Coventry, Warwick and Daventry. On about 8 June, travelling between Warwick and Daventry, he would have passed very close by Eleanor’s manors of Fenny Compton and Burton Dassett, the first of which her former father-in-law had granted to her absolutely, and the second of which she held as part of her jointure. By this time the widowed Eleanor would have completed her period of mourning for her dead husband. Therefore, if there was a secret marriage between Edward and Eleanor it could well have taken place in early June 1461, and the most likely venue for this event would have been one of Eleanor’s Warwickshire manors.

  We have seen already that it would be easy to imagine a situation in which Edward IV, overcome by the strength of his own passion, and in love with a religious and aristocratic lady who would not consent to be his mistress, might have uttered a casual promise which was never seriously meant. In fact a number of historical novelists have made use of precisely this scenario to explain the story of Edward and Eleanor. But unfortunately, however enticing the picture may be, in reality it does not provide an adequate explanation of what happened in this case.

  The problem is that such a scenario could only have been enacted completely in private. It would then have remained a secret. In the present instance, however, a key feature of the accounts which survive is the fact that there was reportedly at least one witness to the marriage. Moreover, the named witness was of significant status: an ecclesiastic who was an expert in canon law, and who was able to evaluate very precisely the significance both of the event and the words uttered. He was Canon (later Bishop) Stillington. This witness is a very important figure in Edward IV’s marital history, and we shall have more to say about him and his role shortly.

  One other fact which undermines the notion that Edward IV thoughtlessly uttered words which he did not mean simply in order to achieve his sexual objective is that, while such an explanation would certainly have entitled Eleanor to claim Edward as her lawful husband, in fact she never did so. As we shall see, Eleanor’s conduct was tactful and discreet – more closely resembling that of Maria Smythe (the undoubted secret wife of George IV) than that of Lucy Walter (probable mistress of Charles II).

  Even so, evidence survives which suggests that Eleanor had certain claims upon the king. There is some evidence that he gave her property, and that he treated her and her feelings with a degree of respect. Also, as we have just seen, there is evidence that an expert witness to the marriage existed; a witness who later stated very publicly – and at considerable cost to himself – that Edward was married to Eleanor. All of this necessarily presupposes that the alleged secret marriage between Edward and Eleanor was no mere casual uttering of unmeant promises on the part of a king eager merely for sexual fulfillment. If the marriage took place it must have been a serious, if private, exchange of marriage vows – similar to the ceremony later alleged to have been secretly conducted between Edward and Elizabeth Woodville.

  In fact one near-contemporary source does actually report that Edward played out with Eleanor a scene that was remarkably similar to the one he was subsequently believed to have enacted with Elizabeth Woodville. According to the slightly later account of Philippe de Commynes, the young king ‘promised to marry her, provided that he could sleep with her first, and she consented’. Edward ‘had made this promise in the Bishop [of Bath]’s presence. And having done so, he slept with her’.25 Stillington’s reported presence is chronologically interesting, because it suggests that the marriage must have taken place soon after Edward’s accession, probably in 1461.26 There are also other reasons for believing this. The Act of Parliament passed in 1484 formally ruled that Eleanor had married Edward before 1464, legislating that this had been the king’s only true and valid marriage. This act also said that Edward and Eleanor were married for a ‘long tyme after’ 1464. Since Eleanor died in 1468, a ‘long tyme after’ must have meant about four years. At the same time the act stated that they were married a ‘long tyme bifore’ 1464. If that expression also referred to a period of about four years then the couple must have married in about 1460/61.

  Elsewhere, Commynes presents the case for the marriage even more strongly, stating explicitly that Stillington ‘had married them’.27 This seems credible, because as we have just seen, a secret marriage between Edward IV and Eleanor cannot have been ‘off the cuff’, and can only have been entered into after some planning. In addition to Commynes’ evidence, both Domenico Mancini and Polydore Vergil (while not mentioning Eleanor by name) refer to Edward IV’s involvement with a member of the Earl of Warwick’s family,28 and Mancini also specifically states that Edward made a promise of marriage.29

  It is not clear why secrecy might initially have been seen as an essential element of Edward’s alleged contract with Eleanor. Nevertheless, there are possible explanations. For example, Edward may have feared the reactions of his family – and particularly those of his mother, Cecily Neville, the dowager Duchess of York. Cecily certainly seems to have been strongly opposed to Edward’s later relationship with Elizabeth Woodville. Based on less certain evidence she is also reported to have disapproved of his relationship with Elizabeth Wayte (Lucy).30

  The second possibility is that a deliberately secret marriage was merely Edward’s dishonourable way of tricking and deceiving Eleanor. In theory, the fifteenth-century chivalric code placed a high importance on keeping one’s word.31 However, Edward IV was certainly capable of telling lies, and there are known instances when he did so. Apparently he was able to reconcile this behaviour with his sense of honour. For example in 1471, on his return from exile, it was said that ‘the lies that he told were mere “noysynge”, necessary to fulfil his true intention, which was in itself validated … by his true claim to the throne’.32

  The third possibility is that Edward was following an ancient tradition by coupling first and awaiting results. If Eleanor had become pregnant perhaps he would then have acknowledged their marriage. This may also have been how he handled things in connection with his subsequent secret marriage with Elizabeth Woodville.

  What positive evidence now survives of a relationship between Edward and Eleanor? At the time
of Eleanor’s death she owned certain landed property in addition to the manors she had acquired from the Sudeley family as a result of her first marriage, and her later accommodation with her father-in-law. At some stage she had acquired further estates in Wiltshire and perhaps elsewhere. Where the property in question can be identified, it can be traced neither to Eleanor’s birth family, nor to the Sudeley family. It therefore seems probable that she received it as a gift from the king. There are two reasons for suggesting the lands were a royal gift. First, we have the fact that at least one of the estates – the manor of Oare-under-Savernake – seems to have comprised royal land.33 Second, we have the curious circumstance whereby on Eleanor’s death Edward IV’s government seems to have taken deliberate steps to avoid any investigation of Eleanor’s tenure of this property.34

  Further possible evidence of Eleanor’s relationship with Edward IV emerges from the king’s treatment of her father-in-law, Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley. Like other peers, Ralph was summoned to – and attended – Edward IV’s first Parliament. Ralph was then in his late sixties. The old man had recently suffered family bereavements and was probably in poor health. On 26 February 1462 Edward IV generously granted him exemption for life from personal attendance in council or Parliament, and from all royal appointments such as local commissions.35 Could it have been Eleanor who obtained this exemption for her former father-in-law? Was she also responsible for the royal grant to him, three months later, of ‘four bucks in summer and six does in winter within the king’s park of Woodstock’?36

  The suggestion that Eleanor could have been responsible for Edward’s grants to Lord Sudeley is strengthened by the fact that later, when Eleanor was no longer intimate with the king, the latter treated Lord Sudeley’s exemption as a dead letter, with the result that Lord Sudeley was once again regularly appointed to commissions from the end of 1462.37 Previous writers had difficulty in understanding Edward IV’s actions in respect of Lord Sudeley – perhaps because they overlooked the significant fact that the king’s kindness dated from precisely the period when his alleged partner was Ralph’s friend and former daughter-in-law. It must also be significant that subsequently Edward IV’s treatment of Lord Sudeley changed dramatically. In February 1469 the king was to break the old man completely and confiscate all his property. However, that was eight months after Eleanor’s death.

  We have seen that in the case of Henry V’s widow, Queen Catherine, silence had prevailed during her lifetime in respect of her relationship with the man who fathered her later children. Similarly during the 1460s, nothing was said publicly about the precise nature of Edward IV’s relationship with Eleanor. Allegations to the effect that this had taken the form of a secret marriage seem to have surfaced for the first time during the 1470s.The story of Edward’s marriage to Eleanor was then a particularly live issue during the period 1483–85. Subsequently, discussion of the matter was very firmly suppressed in England in the autumn of 1485, following the accession of the ‘Tudor’ dynasty. However, on the European mainland the topic continued to be a live issue from roughly 1483 to 1534.38 There the claim continued to be advanced that Edward and Eleanor had been secretly married in the presence of at least one witness.

  Edward IV’s relationship with Eleanor Talbot was of relatively short duration. In 1461–62 the king seems to have become involved in an affair with Elizabeth Wayte (Lucy), who bore him an illegitimate child.39 Much later, during the ‘Tudor’ period, there were rumours that it might have been Elizabeth Wayte, rather than Eleanor Talbot, whom the king had secretly married. These rumours may have stemmed in part from faulty memories. However, they may also have been politically motivated. Either way, they appear to indicate that Edward’s relationship with Elizabeth Wayte must also be dated to the early period of his reign, and certainly prior to 1464.40

  Meanwhile, in the absence of any public statement about a wedding with Eleanor, negotiations had been started by Edward IV’s cousin (and Eleanor’s uncle), Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, for a royal diplomatic alliance with Bona of Savoy. These negotiations were in process from 1463 to 1464. The Earl of Warwick had been one of the strongest supporters of his cousin, the king, and he had thought to use his power to influence the king in the important choice of a suitable consort. The earl may well have been aware that his niece, Eleanor, had attracted the king’s attention soon after the latter’s accession. However, it is obvious that in 1463–64 he had absolutely no idea that the king might have contracted a marriage with her. While some might see this point as significant, actually it proves nothing, since Warwick was obviously equally ignorant in respect of Edward’s undoubted (but secret) involvement with Elizabeth Woodville. As far as the earl was aware, in 1464 the king was still free to marry, and he had accordingly been urging Edward to accept Bona of Savoy. At the same time he had been strongly promoting and advocating Edward’s suit at the French court.

  In mid-September 1464, at a council in Reading, Warwick urged the king to agree finally to the dynastic alliance with Bona.41 To everyone’s astonishment – and to Warwick’s embarrassment and fury – the king responded by announcing that he was already married. Perhaps even more astonishing to those few people (such as Canon Stillington and perhaps the Duchess of Norfolk) who may have known of the king’s attachment to Eleanor, might have been the fact that the person Edward now named as his wife was not Eleanor Talbot, but Elizabeth Woodville.

  It had probably been late in 1463, or possibly very early in 1464, according to modern year dating42 – when Edward IV first met Elizabeth Woodville, the dowager Lady Grey (later known to those who disliked her as ‘the Grey Mare’). Elizabeth was the eldest child of the large family born to Jacquette of Luxemburg, dowager Duchess of Bedford, and her second husband, Richard Woodville (Lord Rivers). Like Eleanor Talbot, Elizabeth Woodville was a little older than the king. Her precise date of birth is not recorded but she is thought to have been born in 1437, soon after her parents’ marriage. Indeed it is possible that Jacquette had already been pregnant at the time of her second marriage. Elizabeth’s place of birth is also uncertain, but her parents spent a lot of time in France during the early years of their marriage.

  Very little is known about Elizabeth’s life before she met Edward.43 However, it is certain that in about 1456 the 20- or 21-year-old Elizabeth married Sir John Grey (c.1432–61), the eldest son and heir of Lord Ferrers of Groby. During the four or five years of their marriage the fertile Elizabeth bore Sir John two sons.44 Elizabeth has been described as a beauty, with very fair hair. It is true that some manuscript illustrations show her with golden hair. However the portrait of her at Queens’ College, Cambridge, shows dark auburn hair, so the details of her appearance remain doubtful.

  Elizabeth’s reason for an interview with the king is often stated to be that she came to petition him for the return of land he had confiscated following the death in battle of her Lancastrian first husband. This is inaccurate. Despite the fact that Sir John had been a Lancastrian supporter, his land had not been confiscated by Edward IV. The truth was that Elizabeth Woodville’s mother-in-law was contesting Elizabeth’s right to her jointure. The case between the two women was being hotly contested in Chancery, and it was in order to improve her chances of winning that Elizabeth sought the help of a distant relative, Lord Hastings, who, in return for a promise of some share of the proceeds, agreed to present Elizabeth to the king.45

  Once again, there are no surviving contemporary accounts of what took place when Edward and Elizabeth first met. We owe their story as it has come down to us principally to Sir Thomas More (Henry VIII’s chancellor, and subsequent opponent in religious matters). Unfortunately Thomas More is far from being a consistently reliable source for Yorkist history! However, according to More’s account Edward was rapidly captivated by the beautiful Elizabeth, and asked her to go to bed with him in return for his promise to grant her suit in respect of her jointure. Elizabeth refused, and the king therefore decided to contract a secret marriage with her i
n order to get his way. This all sounds remarkably similar to the account of Edward’s earlier relationship with Eleanor.

  The Woodville secret marriage was reportedly celebrated at the manor house which was the home of Elizabeth’s parents, at Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire. The date of the wedding is traditionally given as Tuesday 1 May 1464 – four weeks and two days after Easter.46 This date is plausible. During the Middle Ages marriage was not permitted to take place during the penitential season of Lent (i.e. from Ash Wednesday until Easter) and sexual intercourse during this period was also subject to the rule of abstinence.47 In point of fact, however, ‘the details cannot be confirmed and may be fictional. 1 May, or May Day, was already associated with romantic love’.48

  According to popular accounts, the marriage is generally reputed to have been celebrated in the presence of the bride’s mother, Jacquette, Duchess of Bedford. However, other versions of the story state that the ceremony took place ‘in the presence only of the priest, two gentlemen, and a young man to sing the responses’, the celebrant having been ‘the Dominican Master Thomas Eborall’.49 In reality we have no better proof of the people who attended Edward IV’s Woodville marriage than we have of those who attended his alleged Talbot wedding.50 In almost every respect, what we know of Edward’s Woodville marriage sounds very similar to what we know of his relationship with Eleanor Talbot. Indeed, there would probably have been little prospect of the story of the Woodville marriage being believed by later historians if (like the story of the Talbot marriage) it had remained a secret throughout Edward’s lifetime, and if the fertile Elizabeth had not gone on to give the king a large family of children!