A Royal Marriage

Henry VII and Elizabeth of York

Henry VII

• Defeated Richard III August 22, 1485• Claim to throne– Conquest– Maternity

• Coronation October 30– Repeal of Titulus regulus November 7– Marriage: January 18, 1486

Elizabeth of YorkPaternal Ancestry

Edward III

Edmund Langley Duke of York

RichardEarl of Cambridge

RichardDuke of York

Edward IV

Life of Elizabeth of York

Parents: Edward IV and Elizabeth Wydeville (1437-92), secretly married in 1464

Elizabeth WydevilleQueens College, Cambridge

Elizabeth of York (1466-1503)

• Siblings– Mary of York (1467-92)– Cecily of York (1469-1507)– Edward V (1470-1483?)– Richard, Duke of York (1473-1483?)– Anne of York (1475-1511)– Catherine of York (1479-1527)

Elizabeth of York Homes

1466 Birth, Palace of Westminster1470 Sanctuary, Westminster AbbeyRoyal palaces to death of Edward IV1483-84 Sanctuary, Westminster Abbey1484 Court of Richard III1484-85 Sheriff Hutton

Sheriff Hutton Castle, North Yorkshire Shaunconway, Wikipedia

Elizabeth of York Betrothals

1470 George Neville1474 Charles, Dauphin of France (b. 1470)

Louis XI proposes Charles m. Mary of Burgundy1482 Dauphin . Margaret, d. of Emperor Maximilian

1484 Speculation and denial of Richard III1484 Parliament passes Titulus Regius

Elizabeth of York - author

My heart is set upon a lusty pin ;I pray to Venus of good continuance,For I rejoice the case that I am in,Deliver’d from sorrow, annex’d to pleasance,Of all comfort having abundance ;This joy and I, I trust, shall never twinMy heart is set upon a lusty pin.

Elizabeth of York - author

I pray to Venus of good continuanceSince she hath set me in the way of ease ;My hearty service with my attendanceSo to continue it ever I may please ;Thus voiding from all pensful disease,Now stand I whole far from all grievance-I pray to Venus of good continuance

Henry VII Paternal Ancestry

Owen Tudorm. widow of Henry V

Edmund Tudorm. Margaret Beaufort

Henry VII Maternal Ancestry

“My Lady the King’s Mother”

John of Gaunt

John Beaufort

John Beaufort

Margaret Beaufort

William Atkynson, translation of Thomas à Kempis (1504)

Henry VII (Richmond) Marriage Considerations

1483 Betrothal to Elizabeth or Cecily of York arranged by Margaret Beaufort and Elizabeth WydevilleConsiders Maud, d. of Earl of Pembroke

She marries Henry PercyConsiders one of Maud’s sisters

Henry and Elizabeth

1484 Papal dispensation because degree of consanguinityJan. 16, 1486 Dispensation by papal legateJan. 18, 1486 MarriageMarch 2, 1486 Papal dispensation for affinity by marriageMarch 27 Papal recognition of rights of heirs

MarriagePrinted Papal Dispensation

English Translation

First Born

Prince Arthur(b. 1486)

Second Born

Margaretb. 1489

Third Born

Prince Henry(b. 1491)

Fourth Born

Mary Tudor

b. 1496

Life of a Royal FamilyEltham Palace

Richmond Palace

Richmond Palace model

Comments of Spanish Ambassadors

• The queen is “beloved because she is powerless. They love (Arthur) as much as themselves [because he is grandson of Edward IV]. . . The King is much influenced by his mother and his followers . . . The Queen, as is generally the case, does not like it.”

• The Queen was not reluctant to dispute over possession of letters from Spain.

The Queen in 1501

[Thought to be pregnant]. It is not so, she has much plumpness and large breasts.

Portuguese ambassador

Queen’s Charity, etc.

• Gifts to ascetics• Alms to poor; Payments to children for diet,

clothes, ‘learning,’ books and psalters.• Tips to court personnel• Support for relatives• Gold and silk to make the King’s mantle of the

GarterPrivy purse accounts 1502-3

Other expenses

• Silks, gowns, bonnets, • Gambling – tables (backgammon), dice and

cards• Last year of her life– Expenses £3,411 5s 9d– Receipts from manors, farms, etc. which were her

dower £3,585 19s 10½d (including a loan on plate)

Turges When Stormy WindsA prayer for Prince Arthur, 1501

Entertainment

• Minstrels paid by the King and hired from others– Payments of £12 and £30 to a dancinng maiden

and young damsel that danseth– Instruments – bagpipes, organs, pipes, sackbuts,

tabors, trumpets, fiddles, harps, recorders, horns• Tumblers, jugglers, leapers, wrestlers,

disguisers

Midsummer’s Night

• Bonfires and bonfire leaping• Lord of Misrule

King’s Fools

• “Patch”• Dego the Spaniard”• “Duke of Lancaster”• “Scot,’ “Thomas Blakall,” “Dick”

Other expenses

• £120,000 for jewels (1492-1507)• £10 to John Cabot for his explorations and

discoveries• £100 for a tower at the Tower of London• £13 6s 8d for a leopard

From Henry to the Queen

• Communion cloth• Plate• Services of a physician and surgeon• Loans (two way)

Crown of Henry VII from Myrtens Charles I

Crown of State

Videos – Gender and AgeProf. Wrightson http://oyc.yale.edu/history/hist-251

Gender • Feme sole and Feme covert • DowerYouth• Servants; Apprentices• Gerontocratic society – the old should rule

Mendelson, Sara H, and Patricia Crawford. Women in Early Modern England, 1550-1720. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998

Video: The Household

Family – Johnson’s Dictionary 1755

Family

• Wrightson “huswifery”Huswifrie frugalitasBaret Alvearie, 1580

Priority: Survival of the Household

• Subsistence (80%): market (20%) of agriculture• Risk of bad harvests• Disease• Life expectancy from birth = 33

Priority: Future of the Household

• Work positions for families with many children; acquiring workers for those with few children

• Learning skills through apprenticeships• Arranging marriages

Raising the Children

• Prince Arthur - own household• Other children at Eltham Palace

Arthur (1486-1502)

• 1488 Dame Elizabeth Darcy, governess• 1489 Knight of Bath; 1491 Knight of the Garter• 1490 Warden of the Scottish Marches• 1492 Keeper of England; King's Lieutenant• 1501 Sent to Wales

Education of Elizabeth of York

• Literate in French– Historical romances

• Dancing, musical instruments• Hunting• Table games• Sewing, needlework

Raising the Children

• Prince Arthur - own household• Other children at Eltham Palace

Arthur (1486-1502)

• 1488 Dame Elizabeth Darcy, governess• 1489 Knight of Bath; 1491 Knight of the Garter• 1490 Warden of the Scottish Marches• 1492 Keeper of England; King's Lieutenant• 1501 Sent to Wales

Education of Elizabeth of York

• Literate in French– Historical romances

• Dancing, musical instruments• Hunting• Table games• Sewing, needlework

Education of a Prince (Arthur)

• Tutor: poet, John Skelton• Humanist exposure – Erasmus• Languages, science • Hunting and military training

Marriage of Arthur

1501

Marriage of Arthur

• Discussed as early as 1487• Treaty of Medina del Campo (12/1490)• Proxy marriage (1497)

Catherine of Aragon?

Juan

de

Flan

des

c. 1

500

Michel Sitt

ow c. 1505

16th Century Thought on Women

Biblical– Genesis 1 So God created mankind in his own

image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

– Genesis 2 . . . while he [Adam] was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs . . . Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

Italian Views

• Inferiority does not justify abuse• Hierarchy in state and household

English Views

• We will see specific arguments addressed to actual cases as they arise in the last half of the 16th century (Mary, Jane, Elizabeth)