Margaret of Anjou’s starkly simple will, executed on August 2, 1482, is a vivid testament to her reduced fortunes at the end of her life. Here’s an excerpt from it, as translated into English by J. J. Bagley in his biography Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England:
Tag archieven: Earl of Warwick the Kingmaker
The Wars of the Roses/[From Susan Higginbotham ”In Their Own Words]/The Last Will and Testament of Margaret of Anjou
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The Wars of the Roses/[NevillFeast]/Battle of Blore Heath and the attainting of the Countess of Salisbury
23 September 1459 – Battle of Blore Heath
Here’s my notes for this battle:
• Salisbury on his way to Ludlow;
• Lancaster led by Audley and Dudley
• Salisbury chose a position at Blore Hill
• Lancster had to cross stream to attack
• Salisbury pursued them
• Dead – Audley;
• Taken – Dudley
– Thomas Nevill, John Nevill (& Harrington ?) possibly while seeking shelter/help for injuries
• Augustinian friar covers Salisbury’s withdrawal by firing cannon all night; when found next day, claims he did it to keep his spirits up.
And THAT’s why I’m a day late and getting later blogging this battle! Sometimes I think I should fire myself and hire a research assistant!
So, what I thought I’d do, rather than reach for my books and give you something more comprehensive and sensible about the battle itself, is talk about the involvement of Alice Montacute, countess of Salisbury.
I’ve mentioned before that she was attainted at the so-called Parliament of Devils, along with York, Salisbury, Warwick, Thomas and John Nevill, the earls of March and Rutland and a whole bunch of other people. The other wives were explicitly exempted from this, their personal wealth untouched and their safety not in question. They remained in England (or in the countess of Warwick’s case, Calais) able to get on with their lives, so far as anyone can whose husband and sons have been forced to flee the country or have been captured and imprisoned. Alice had to get herself gone fast.
Here’s the relevant section from the parliamentary rolls dealing with Alice.
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The Wars of the Roses/Causes of the Wars of the Roses/A travel to the past
RICHARD PLANTAGENET, 3RD DUKE OF YORK, CLAIMANT TO THE ENGLISH THRONE
AND ONE OF THE MAIN LEADERS OF THE WAR OF ROSES
[WAR BETWEEN THE HOUSES OF LANCASTER AND YORK,
BOTH DESCENDANTS OF KING EDWARD III]
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]
EDWARD PLANTAGENET, FOURTH DUKE OF YORK,
SON OF RICHARD, THIRD DUKE OF
YORK, THE LATER KING EDWARD IV
[FICTION]
RICHARD NEVILLE, 16TH EARL OF WARWICK, THE KINGMAKER
COUSIN TO EDWARD IV, FIRST ALLY TO HIS FATHER, RICHARD,
DUKE OF YORK, THEN TO KING EDWARD IV
LATER THEY BECAME ADVERSARIES AND THE KINGMAKER TURNED
TO MARGARET OF ANJOU [BECOMING A ”LANCASTRIAN] TO RESTORE HENRY VI TO THE THRONE
HE FAILED AND LOST HIS LIFE IN THE BATTLE OF TEWKESBURY
HIS DAUGHTER, ANNE, LATER BECAME QUEEN OF ENGLAND,
MARRIED TO KING RICHARD III [BROTHER TO KING EDWARD IV]
[FICTION]
ANNE PLANTAGENET, DUCHESS OF EXETER [MARRIED TO HENRY HOLLAND,
3TH DUKE OF EXETER], DAUGHTER OF THE DUKE OF YORK
[FICTION]
ANNE OF YORK’S HUSBAND, HENRY HOLLAND, THIRD DUKE OF EXETER, SON
IN LAW OF THE DUKE OF YORK, WHO BECAME A SOLID
LANCASTRIAN, PROBABLY ONE OF THE CAUSES OF
THE DIVORCE OF THE COUPLE
[FICTION]
WAR OF THE ROSES
SCENE AT THE TEMPLE GARDEN
RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK, WEARING A
WHITE ROSE, TO CONFRONT
HIS POLITICAL RIVAL AND ENEMY,
EDMUND, BEAUFORT, 2ND DUKE OF
SOMERSET, FORCING HIM TO
CHOOSE A RED ROSE
THE NOBLE LORDS TAKING SIDES
THIS IS A SHAKESPEARE SCENE [HENRY VI]
AND NOT BASED ON ANY HISTORICAL
EVIDENCE
The White Rose of theHouse of York
The Red Rose of theHouse of Lancaster
.jpg)
KING HENRY VI OF ENGLAND
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]
MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]
TWO IMAGES OF MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
[FICTION]
EDMUND BEAUFORT, 2ND DUKE OF SOMERSET, FAVOURITE
OF MARGARET OF ANJOU AND BITTER ENEMY OF RICHARD,
DUKE OF YORK
[FICTION]
WILLIAM DE LA POLE, IST DUKE OF SUFFOLK, IN FAVOUR
BY BOTH QUEEN MARGARET AND KING HENRY VI
COUNCILLOR OF KING HENRY VI
HISTORICAL IMAGE
THE WARS OF THE ROSES/CAUSES OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES/A TRAVEL TO THE PAST
Dear Readers,
Much has been said about the Wars of the Roses, the English
civil war between 1455 till 1485 (although some let it end in 1471,
with the battle of Tewkesbury), when the main royal line
of the royal Lancaster House was finished by the death of
Edward of Westminster, son to King Henry VI], which nearly
exterminated the old English nobility.
Many colourful characters passed the bloody theatre, like the determined and hard
Queen Margaret of Anjou [although not harder than the men
involved], her great adversary Richard, Duke of York, her favourites
And not to forget ”the golden boy” ‘Edward, the fourth Duke of York ,
Richard, Duke of York’s son, who later became King Edward IV, as his
cousin and ally, Richard Neville, the 16th Earl of Warwick, the
”Kingmaker”, who would ultimately
became Edward’s adversary and end so tragically in the battle of Barnet.
I myself hold the opinion, that when King Edward would have concentrated
on the military (he was an extremely capable military commander)
and the Earl of Warwick on
ruling and diplomacy, they whould have been made a deadly double and perhaps
ruled England happily together, if at least Edward had not fallen ill and died
And last but not least, the pious and tragic King Henry VI, who,
alas, had a mental illness his tendency to forgiveness and
aversion of war and bloodshed, characteristics, which were admired
in Medieval women, but not in men, especiallynot Kings and
noblemen, had to be brave warriors, as Henry VI’s father,
Although I wrote about the Wars of Roses earlier, now
I want to focus in particular on the causes and events, that led to such a
disastrous period in English history and the end of the
impressive Plantagenet dynasty [in fact also the end of Medieval England]
and the beginning of the also interesting Tudor dynasty.
ENTER THE WORLD
WHAT WERE THE WARS OF THE ROSES
Most people know, that the Wars of the Roses was a civil war in
England between the nobles of the two rival branches of the royal family,
the House of Lancaster [descended from John of Gaunt, third
son of King Edward III , the family line of King
Henry VI, and the House of York [with the Duke of York, descendant
of both Lionel of Antwerp , second son of King Edward III and
Edmund of Langley, fourth son of King Edward III.
IMPORTANT TO KNOW
The House of Lancaster and the House of York were
bothbranches of the House of Plantagenet.
The Lancaster branch consisted of King Henry VI, descendant of John
of Gaunt [from his marriage with Blanche of Lancaster,
as the Beauforts [descendants of John of Gaunt
and his mistress, Katharine Swynford , whom he later married]
A very important member of the Beaufort family was Edmund Beaufort,
Duke of Somerset, later the bitter enemy of the Duke of York.
The price of the fighting?
The throne of England, of course, which both the Beauforts as
Richard, Duke of York claimed, especially after the insanity of Henry VI showed
Through his mother, the Duke of York
had a superior claim to the throne, even above Henry VI, who
was descending of Henry IV, the usurper King , which I
will explain below.
But however dynastic rivalry played a role, is too simplistic
to point it out as a major cause of the War of Roses.
The major causes are more complicated
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