Tag archieven: history

[Susan Higginbotham’s History Refreshed]/Guest Post by Kathryn Warner: Edward II and the Despensers

 

I’m so pleased to welcome my friend Kathryn Warner for her new biography of Edward II. I’ve been looking forward to a book like this for years, and what better person than Kathryn to write it?

 

9781445641201

Kathryn and I first met online a number of years ago, when I published my first novel, The Traitor’s Wife, about Eleanor de Clare, Edward II’s favorite niece and the wife of his favorite, Hugh le Despenser the younger.  Given that, what better topic for this guest post than Edward II and the Despenser family? Over to Kathryn:

 

Edward II Effigy

King Edward II of England (reigned 1307 to 1327) is famous, or infamous, for his reliance on male ‘favourites’, the best known of whom is Piers Gaveston, whom Edward made earl of Cornwall and who was beheaded by a group of the king’s aggrieved barons in June 1312.  The last of the favourites, Hugh Despenser the Younger, is not nearly so well-known, even though he was far more politically powerful than Piers Gaveston and helped bring about the king’s downfall and his own in 1326/27.  Rather curiously, Edward II also had some kind of intense relationship near the end of his reign with Hugh Despenser’s wife – who happened to be his own niece, Eleanor de Clare.

 

Hugh Despenser the Younger was born sometime in the late 1280s as the elder son of Hugh Despenser the Elder, stepson of the earl of Norfolk and later earl of Winchester (1261-1326) and Isabel Beauchamp (1260s-1306), daughter and sister of earls of Warwick and first cousin of the earl of Ulster.  Hugh the Younger made a splendid marriage in May 1306 when Edward I arranged and attended his wedding to his eldest granddaughter Eleanor de Clare, thirteen-year-old daughter of the earl of Gloucester and Edward I’s second daughter Joan of Acre.  Hugh and Eleanor’s relationship seems to have been successful, as they had at least ten children together in their twenty-year marriage: Hugh, Edward, Gilbert, John, Isabel, Joan, Eleanor, Margaret, Elizabeth and an unnamed boy who died young in 1321.

 

 

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[Susan Higginbotham’s History Refreshed]/Thanks Uncle! Gifts to Eleanor de Clare from Edward II

 

 

Whatever else one might say about Edward II, he was a generous uncle–at least to his favorite niece, Eleanor de Clare. Here’s some of his recorded gifts to her:

 

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The Wars of the Roses/Manifesto of Margaret of Anjou to the citizens of London in 1461/Letter to Susan Higginbotham

File:Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York.jpg
RICHARD OF YORK, CLAIMANT TO THE ENGLISH THRONE
AND ONE OF THE MAIN LEADERS OF THE WAR OF ROSES
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]

13501173331

_________________________________________

EDMUND BEAUFORT, 2ND DUKE OF SOMERSET, THE GREAT RIVAL
OF RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK
HISTORICAL FICTION
King Edward IV.jpg

KING EDWARD IV, SON OF RICHARD, DUKE OF

YORK
HISTORICAL IMAGE

KING EDWARD IV, SON OF RICHARD, DUKE OF

YORK
HISTORICAL FICTION

image

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]
KING HENRY VI OF ENGLAND
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]
MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]

TWO IMAGES OF MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
[FICTION]
MANIFESTO OF MARGARET OF ANJOU TO THE CITIZENS OF
LONDON IN 1461/LETTER TO SUSAN HIGGINBOTHAM
Dear Mrs Higginbotham
As you probably know, I am a great admirer of your interesting
historical novels, especially your  accurate historical research.
Perhaps you’ll remember that  I wrote you some comments on  your novel about
Margaret of Anjou ”Queen of Last Hopes”
See
Since then I wrote some critical remarks on your post
”If Margaret, why not Cecily?”
See your post
See my comments, which were published on your webliog
”History Refreshed”
MANIFESTO OF MARGARET OF ANJOU TO THE CITIZENS
OF LONDON IN 1461

 

 

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The Wars of the Roses/Enmity between Margaret of Anjou and Richard, Duke of York/After the battle of Wakefield/Manifesto of Margaret of Anjou to the citizens of London in 1461

File:Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York.jpg
RICHARD OF YORK, CLAIMANT TO THE ENGLISH THRONE
AND ONE OF THE MAIN LEADERS OF THE WAR OF ROSES
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]
 

13501173331

_________________________________________

EDMUND BEAUFORT, 2ND DUKE OF SOMERSET, THE GREAT RIVAL
OF RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK
HISTORICAL FICTION
 
 
King Edward IV.jpg

KING EDWARD IV, SON OF RICHARD, DUKE OF

YORK
HISTORICAL IMAGE

KING EDWARD IV, SON OF RICHARD, DUKE OF

YORK
HISTORICAL FICTION

image

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]
 
KING HENRY VI OF ENGLAND
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]
 
MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
[HISTORICAL IMAGE]
 

TWO IMAGES OF MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
[FICTION]
ENMITY BETWEEN MARGARET OF ANJOU AND RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK/
AFTER THE BATTLE OF WAKEFIELD/MANIFESTO OF MARGARET OF
ANJOU TO THE CITIZENS OF LONDON IN 1461
I proudly present one of the rare documents I found in which Queen Margaret
of Anjou  refers to her great enemy, Richard, Duke of York.
It is to be read in a Manifesto she proclaimed to the citizens
of London concerning her military campaigns  after
See the text of the Manifesto  below
But first:
BACKGROUND

 

 

 

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The Wars of the Roses/[Murreyandblue/WordPress.com]/Duke Richard the 3rd Duke of York (3), heir to the throne

DUKE RICHARD, THE 3RD DUKE OF YORK (3), HEIR TO

THE THRONE

The she-wolf of France, but worse than wolves of France

Whose tongue more poisons than an adders tooth

How ill beseeming it is in thy sex

To triumph like an amazon trull

(Henry VI Part 3)

St Albans and its significance

 

The first battle of St Albans represents a landmark in the dispute between York and Lancaster; not as the first battle of a civil war, since it was not that, or as their biggest or bloodiest battle, since it was not that either. Its importance lay in the fact that it represented the ultimate expression of York’s change of tack from being the king’s champion to being the realm’s champion.

 

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The Wars of the Roses/[Murreyandblue/WordPress.com]/Duke Richard the 3rd Duke of York ”……..the King’s true liegeman……?”

 

How now? Is Somerset at liberty?

Then, York unloose thy long-imprisoned thoughts

And let thy tongue be equal with thy heart.

Shall I endure the sight of Somerset?

(Shakespeare: Henry VI part 2)

On his return from service in Normandy, duke Richard was the king’s true liegeman and an obedient servant of the Lancastrian establishment: or so it seemed. If he blamed the government for his enormous debts incurred on the king’s service, he did not show it. If he resented the preferment of John Beaufort and two other Lancastrian earls, he did not show it. If he was angry at the loss of Anjou and Main as part of the queen’s marriage settlement, he did not show it. In fact his reticence was a remarkable display of sangfroid in the face of his worsening financial, dynastic and political situation. Whether this reflected his true feelings or not is doubtful. Although there was now a fracture in his bond of loyalty to the Lancastrian government, he could not afford a public show of pique. He was politically weak and only harm could come to him from making a fuss now. Discretion is indeed the better part of valour; York was keeping his own counsel and biding his time.

 

 

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The Wars of the Roses/[Murreyandblue/WordPress.com]/Duke Richard of York (1), the man who would be king

 

 

On the 10th of October 1460, Richard Plantagenet 3rd duke of York walked into Westminster Hall wearing the full arms of England undifferenced. After a moment, he put his hand on the empty throne. When asked if he wished to see the king, he replied “I know of no one in the realm who would not more fitly come to me than I to him”. With those words, he declared to all those present that duke Richard had finally renounced his allegiance to king Henry VI and claimed the English crown by right of strict inheritance. York’s motive has puzzled historians ever since. Was it really his ‘natural disposition’ to champion the public interest, or was it the notion that he was the rightful king all along that stirred his ambition? This is the first of three essays in which I hope to explore that question from a personal perspective. I should add for the avoidance of doubt, that I have no intention of considering the validity duke Richard’s title: that is for another time. Neither is this a potted biography; I have included a few details of what I believe are some relevant friction points in his life for purely contextual reasons.

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The Wars of the Roses/[Rusell Butcher]/Propaganda in the prepared parliamentary speeches of 1455-1461

 

RUSELL BUTCHER
Propaganda, perceived by many as a twentieth-century phenomenon, has permeated recorded history. The mass propaganda of the world wars and cold war linger most in present memory, due not only to its chronological proximity, but also its potency. Earlier uses of propaganda can easily be overshadowed, in many cases considered mere bias. Yet it has always existed, and in England developed particularly in the years from 1455 to 1485, which saw a growth in the awareness for the need of propaganda to stabilise or undermine the regime in power. Many historians have made reference to propaganda in the prepared speeches in the parliamentary records for 1455-61, but few have scrutinised them as a whole as I intend to do here.

 

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[Susan Higginbotham’s History Refreshed]/Two [maybe three] little nuns

On January 1, 1327, Queen Isabella, having executed her enemies and imprisoned her husband, King Edward II, turned her attention to much smaller matters: Hugh le Despenser the younger’s little daughters. On that day, the queen issued an order that Eleanor le Despenser be packed off to Sempringham, a Gilbertine priory in Lincolnshire, and veiled as a nun “without delay.” A similar order sent Margaret to Watton, another Gilbertine priory in Yorkshire. Coming just a few weeks after the brutal execution of the girls’ father and the imprisonment of their mother, the queen’s orders completed the unraveling of the privileged existence these girls had enjoyed.

Hugh le Despenser had left four sons and five daughters behind him. Isabel, the oldest of the girls, was about fourteen. She had been married as a child to Richard Fitzalan and thereby escaped her younger sisters’ fate.

 

 

 

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The Wars of the Roses/Rivalry between Richard, Duke of York and the Duke of Somerset/The oath of allegiance of Richard, Duke of York to King Henry VI at St Paul´s Cathedral in 1452

File:Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York.jpg
RICHARD 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]

13501173331

_________________________________________

EDMUND BEAUFORT, 2ND DUKE OF SOMERSET, THE GREAT RIVAL
OF RICHARD, DUKE OF YORK
HISTORICAL FICTION
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]
WARS OF THE ROSES
RIVALRY BETWEEN RICHARD, DUKE
OF YORK AND THE DUKE OF SOMERSET/
THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE OF RICHARD, DUKE
OF YORK TO KING HENRY VI IN THE ST PAUL´S
CATHEDRAL IN 1452
INTRODUCTION
Presenting the  oath of allegiance that Richard, Duke of York had to
swear to King Henry VI, which I found in the Paston Letters.
This oath  was the direct result of the rivalry between

Richard, Duke of York and Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset,which

came to an armed clash with King Henry VI in 1450 as 1452, not challenging

the King´s power, as sometimes is assumed, but to dismiss

Somerset as councillor of the King.

Trying to get rid of Somerset, York had also made two
proclamations, one at the 9th of january and when that didn’t
work, and then, a stronger one at the 3rd of february, 1452, showing
more enmity against Somerset than in the first.

However, this strike was for Somerset,

because York was arrested and had to swear an oath of
allegiance to King Henry VI  at St Paul’s Cathedral, while Somerset was still
in favour.

Eventually,  this rivalry,

together with other causes, would lead to the Wars of the Roses.

 

BACKGROUND

 

 

 

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