#elizabeth of lancaster countess of huntingdon

[une-sanz-pluis]

It was Gaunt who arranged Henry's marriage. The object of his attentions was Mary, the co-heiress to Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford, Essex and Northampton, who had died at the age of thirty in January 1373, leaving no sons, two underage daughters, and a very substantial inheritance. The elder daughter, Eleanor (born in 1366), was married to Gaunt's brother, Thomas of Woodstock, earl of Buckingham, probably in 1374. What now happened to Mary (born in 1369–70) was naturally a matter of considerable interest to Buckingham. As long as she remained single, the entire Bohun inheritance would fall to him; were she to marry, he would be obliged to share it with her husband. Inconveniently, other duties now deflected his attention. On 3 May 1380, he indented with the king and council to lead an expedition to Brittany with a retinue of 5,000 men. During the following two months he did what he could to ensure that the Bohun patrimony did not slip from his grasp during his absence: on 8 May he obtained a royal grant of the custody of Mary's share of the inheritance during her minority; on 22 June Eleanor came of age and Thomas performed his fealty to the king for his wife's share of the lands. Shortly before leaving he even took the precaution of bringing Mary to stay with her sister at Pleshey castle (Essex), where he arranged for her to be instructed by nuns with the intention that she should join the order of St Clare. According to Froissart, ‘the young lady seemed to incline to their doctrine, and thought not of marriage’. Hopeful of having ensured the integrity of his inheritance, Buckingham shipped his troops to Calais and, on 24 July 1380, set out with his army on a campaign from which he would not return for nine months. No sooner had he done so than Gaunt made his move. Three days after his brother's crossing, he secured a royal grant of Mary's marriage, ‘for marrying her to his son Henry’, and shortly after this induced her mother, Joan countess of Hereford, to spirit her away from Pleshey and take her to Arundel, where the young couple were rapidly betrothed. They were married on 5 February 1381 in a service held at Countess Joan's manor of Rochford (Essex). The connivance of the king and council, who would have been aware of the blow this inflicted on Buckingham, is a measure of the financial and political leverage Gaunt exercised in Richard II's minority government. Gaunt attended and presented Mary with a ruby, as well as paying for the festivities; Henry's sisters, Philippa and Elizabeth, each gave their new sister-in-law a goblet and ewer. The king and Edmund earl of Cambridge (Gaunt's younger, and Buckingham's older, brother) may also have been there, for ten royal minstrels and four of Cambridge's minstrels received gratuities from Gaunt for enlivening the proceedings. There was nothing hasty or clandestine about the wedding.

Chris Given-Wilson, Henry IV (Yale University Press, 2016)

[nanshe-of-nina]

Women of the House of Lancaster aesthetic, part II

Catherine, reina de Castilla. Daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Constanza de Castilla. Mother of Catalina de Castilla, duquesa de Villena and María de Castilla, reina d’Aragó.

Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland. Daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Katherine Swynford. Mother of Elizabeth Ferrers, 6th Baroness Boteler of Wem; Margaret Ferrers; Katherine Neville, Duchess of Norfolk; Anne Neville, Duchess of Buckingham; and Cecily Neville, Duchess of York. 

Blanche, Pfalzgräfin bei Rhein. Daughter of Henry IV of England and Mary de Bohun.

Philippa, Dronning af Danmark. Daughter of Henry IV of England and Mary de Bohun.

Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scotland. Daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset and Margaret Holland. Mother of Margaret Stewart, dauphine de France; Isabella Stewart, dugez Breizh; Joan Stewart, Countess of Morton; Annabella Stewart, Countess of Huntly; and Eleanor Stewart, Herzogin von Österreich.

Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Devon. Daughter of John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset and Margaret Holland.

Eleanor Beaufort, Countess of Ormond. Daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset and Eleanor de Beauchamp. Grandmother of Margaret Spencer and Catherine Spencer, Countess of Northumberland.

Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Stafford. Daughter of Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset and Eleanor de Beauchamp. Mother of Margaret Dayrell, Baroness Audley. Grandmother of Elizabeth Stafford, Countess of Sussex and Anne Stafford, Countess of Huntingdon. 

Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond. Daughter of John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset and Margaret de Beauchamp. Grandmother of Margaret Tudor, Queen of Scotland and Mary Tudor, reine de France.

[katesficnotes]

Captive King Ages

On August 22, 1485, Richard III was 32; Henry VII was 28; Elizabeth of York was 19

Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford and Earl of Pembroke, was 53

Margaret Beaufort was 44

Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby, was 50

Richard, Duke of York, was 49; would have been 74

Cecily Neville was 70

Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter, was 37; would have been 46

Henry of York was 1 day; would have been 44

Edward V was 41; would have been 43

Edmund, Earl of Rutland, was 17; would have been 42

Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk, was 41

Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy, was 39

William of York was ??; would have been 38

John of York was ??; would have been 37

George, Duke was Clarence, was 29; would have been 36

Thomas of York was 1; would have been 35

Ursula of York was ??; would have been 30

John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford was 46; would have been 96

Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers, was 64; would have been 80

Jacquetta of Luxembourg was 57/58; would have been 70/71

Lewis Woodville was ??; would have been 47

Anne Woodville, married to George Grey younger brother to Eleanor/Joan’s hubby, was 47/46

Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, was 43; would have been 45

John Woodville was 25; would have been 41

Jacquetta Woodville, Dowager Lady Strange of Knockin, was 40

Lionel Woodville was 38; would have been 39

Eleanor/Joan Woodville, Countess of Kent, was 37/36

Margaret Woodville, Countess of Arundel, was 35

Martha Woodville, Lady Bromley, was 34-33

Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers, was 32

Edward Woodville, Lord Scales, was 31-27

Mary Woodville, Countess of Pembroke, was 25; would have been 29

Catherine Woodville, Dowager Duchess of Buckingham, was 27

Elizabeth Woodville was 48

Thomas Grey, Earl of Huntingdon, Marquess of Dorset, and Lord of Ferrers de Groby, was 30

Richard Grey was 26; would have been 28

Mary of York was 15; would have been 18

Cecily of York was 16

Edward V was 12; would have been 14

Margaret of York was 8months; would have been 13

Richard of Shrewsbury was 9; would have been 12

Anne of York was 9

George of Windsor was 2; would have been 8

Catherine of York was 6

Bridget of York was 4