In-Law: Eleanor Cobham, c 1400-1452

Marriage into the Plantagenet family could be a dangerous proposition.  Family connections, particularly wives and children, can often be seen as weak links to exploit during family frictions.  Eleanor Cobham, c 1400-1452, 2nd wife of Humphrey Duke of Gloucester, found herself in the middle of a family squabble for power during the Wars of the Roses and ended up with a witchcraft conviction and a life sentence.

Eleanor was born around 1400 in Sterborough Castle, Kent.  Though some novels portray her as coming from an obscure background, she was the daughter of Reginald Cobham, 3rd Baron Sterborough and Cobham and had gentry connections through her mother's side.  Although common, in the sense of not being royal, her family was still minor aristocracy and good enough that Eleanor became a lady in waiting to Jacqueline of Hainault, first wife of Humphrey Plantagenet, Duke of Gloucester, an uncle of King Henry VI.  Humphrey was the guardian of his minor nephew, Henry VI and leader of the royal council.  At some point, he departed to France to secure control of Jacqueline's estates in what is now Belgium and, on returning to England, he caught sight of Eleanor.  Eleanor was described as beautiful, intelligent and ambitious.  Just the type to appeal to Humphrey, who was an intelligent, ambitious and powerful man in his own right.  He and Eleanor began an affair, but it wasn't enough for Humphrey.  In 1428, he had his marriage to Jacqueline annulled and married Eleanor, causing a great deal of scandal and diminishing his own prestige at court.

Humphrey and Eleanor worked their way back into society by becoming an it couple, holding a flamboyant court at Humphrey's palace of La Pleasaunce, later Greenwich Palace.  By 1436, Eleanor was granted the title Duchess of Gloucester and allowed precedence at court in time for that year's Garter ceremony.  Humphrey placed his estate in jointure with her, allowing her to keep his entire property at his death.  Then, Humphrey's brother John, Duke of Bedford died and Humphrey was heir presumptive to the throne after his young nephew.  He claimed the right to be Regent of the Kingdom, but the council opposed his plans.  Whispers began that Humphrey had treasonous ambitious to take the crown for himself.  It was noted that Eleanor was quite popular with the young king.

Though witchcraft and magic of any sort were strictly forbidden in England, astrology and other forms of magic are as old as the hills.  Eleanor, like many wealthy people, kept the services of an astrologer, Roger Bolingbroke, who with a colleague Thomas Southwell, predicted the death of the King in 1441 from a sudden illness.  In those days, even talking about the possible death of the king, let alone predicting it, was considered a lesser form of treason and punishable by death.  The two men were arrested and Bolingbroke implicated Eleanor, suggesting that she had contacted him to discern her and Humphrey's future.  Eleanor was arrested and denied everything, but stated that she had sought the services of one Margery Jourdemayne, the so-called Witch of Eye, to buy potions for help in conception.  This was a common occurrence among women with disposable income.  The pressure for multiple male heirs was high and Eleanor had only had one son by Humphrey, Arthur, who died young.  This admission was enough to accuse both Eleanor and through her Humphrey of having treasonous designs on the King's life.  Southwell and Bolingbroke were hanged, drawn and quartered.  Jourdemayne was burnt at the stake.  Eleanor was forced to divorce Humphrey and renounce all royal title and position, as well as claim to his property.  She performed public penance in London and was imprisoned in a succession of castles further and further away from London, Chester, then Kenilworth, the Isle of Man, and finally Beaumaris Castle, where she died in 1452.