Descendant: Arthur Plantagenet, Viscount Lisle, c 1475 -1542

The reigns of the first Tudor Kings were an inopportune time to be a Plantagenet.  Both Henry VII and Henry VIII were ever alert to any threats to their rule, coming from either a legitimate descendant who might have a claim to the throne, or a biological descendant who might support them.  Even members of the family who were otherwise innocent weren't immune. 

Arthur Plantagenet was the biological son of Edward IV of England.  Edward had several mistresses, so Arthur's mother isn't known.  He was born in Calais, the sole surviving Continental enclave of the Plantagenet empire on the Continent, the year ranges anywhere from 1461-1475.  Whenever it was, Arthur was soon brought to London to his father's court and may have been as young as 7 years old when Edward IV died in 1483.  Arthur next surfaces in the historical record in 1501 in the household of his half-sister, Elizabeth of York, consort of Henry VII.  Later, Arthur transferred to Henry VII's service and in 1509, with the accession of Henry VIII, he was made an Esquire of the Bodyguard and became a close companion of the young King.

Being a friend of Henry VIII could be a mixed blessing.  Arthur married Elizabeth Grey, Viscountess Lisle in her own right.  He was made High Sheriff of Hampshire, and later Vice Admiral of England.  He would attend Henry at the Field of Cloth of Gold in 1520.  In 1523, Arthur was made Viscount Lisle, Privy Councilor, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, and finally Constable of Calais.  Elizabeth died and Arthur later married Honor Grenville, the widow of Sir John Bassett.  It was a blended family, Arthur's three daughters from his first marriage, joining Honor's 7 children, including royal ladies in waiting Anne, Elizabeth and Mary Bassett, any of whom were rumored as potential brides for Henry VIII after Jane Seymour's death. 

Anne might have made it had not Henry become suspicious of most of the remaining members of the Plantagenet family by 1540.  Several of them were rounded up, including Margaret, Lady Salisbury and members of the Pole family, as well as Arthur.  The charge against Arthur was that he had conspired to give Calais over to the French.  A real plot was discovered, and its perpetrators executed, but no evidence could be found against Arthur himself.  He remained in the Tower of London, each day uncertain as to whether it would be his last.  Nobody looked forward to a beheading and there had been too many of them in Henry's reign.  Finally, in 1542, Henry decided to release Arthur.  When the news was brought to him, Arthur was shocked, expecting quite the opposite.  He died two days later of a heart attack, no doubt brought on by sheer fright and relief.  One historian later wrote that Henry VIII's mercies were as fatal as his judgments.  Arthur would have agreed! 

A fortunate by-product of Arthur's arrest and the search for evidence against him was that over 3,000 letters written by him and Honor were seized.  Posted at Calais, with three daughters at court, Lord and Lady Lisle had to manage their extensive properties and correspond with friends and family by letter.  The Lisle Letters, like the Paston Letters decades before, provide a valuable primary source for the era.

The Titulus Regius of 1483

The controversies of Richard III's reign don't begin with what happened to his nephews, the Princes in the Tower.  They begin with Richard's own ascent to the English throne.  In those days, strict primogeniture, or descent from father to son, wasn't a done deal.  More often then not, when a King died, the throne was open to whichever male of the Royal Family could fight for it.  Many Kings of the Plantagenet dynasty were lucky enough to die when their heir was an adult, Henry II to Richard I to John, or Henry III to Edwards I-III.  Others were fortunate enough that loyal councilors or members of the family protected the rights of a minor heir, such as young Henry III, who succeeded when he was 9 years old, or Richard II, who succeeded when he was 10.  Twelve-year-old Edward V wasn't so lucky.

Edward IV was madly in love with his wife, Elizabeth Woodville, but that didn't preclude him from relationships with other women.  Jane Shore wasn't his first mistress.  A woman named Elizabeth Lucy had born Edward his son, Arthur, later 1st Viscount Lisle.  And there may have been still others.  At the time of his accession, Edward was resisting a French match being proposed by Warwick the Kingmaker and may have given his troth, or promise of marriage, to another woman besides Elizabeth Woodville.  She was Lady Eleanor Talbot, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury and more commonly known by her married name of Butler.  According to rumor, Edward IV may have been secretly engaged to her and she may have born him a child.  In those days, an engagement to marry was looked upon almost as legal and binding as a marriage.  If the parties had contracted or promised to marry, they could not legally marry another person, as a precontract would render the subsequent marriage null and void and any children illegitimate.  Whatever the relationship between Edward and Eleanor, they each went on with the lives with other people.  Eleanor married Sir Thomas Butler and became a wealthy patroness of religious institutions.  Edward married Elizabeth Woodville and had 7 surviving children.

Eleanor died in 1468 and Edward died in 1483, having arranged for his son by Elizabeth to become Edward V and his brother Richard of Gloucester to serve as regent.  At that opportune moment, with both Eleanor and Edward IV dead and unable to account for the past, a preacher came forward, claiming that young Edward V wasn't the valid king because his parents' marriage had been tarnished by the earlier engagement of Edward and Eleanor.  Who put this preacher on the trail of this old chesnut will never be known.  Did Richard dig up the information and use the preacher as a mouthpiece to set his plot in motion to take the throne?  It will never be known for sure.  However, once the information became public in the form of a sermon, Richard took full advantage.  Edward V and his brother, Richard of Shrewsbury were already in the Tower of London for safekeeping and their they would remain.  But there was another problem.  George, Duke of Clarence left a son, Edward, who was attainted of his father's dukedom, but had inherited his uncle Warwick's title through his mother.  Edward of Warwick had a more senior claim to the throne than his uncle.  He was also a minor and in the Tower but boys grow up and the Tower wasn't escape-proof.  Something had to be done.

Parliament convened in the wake of Edward IV's death and passed a law known as the Titulus Regius, or Royal Title.  During this tumultuous period, with the Wars of the Roses fresh in everyone's mind, a stable reign under a competent adult male was much better than a regency council, or a takeover by another contender.  And, the MPs would have been aware of Henry Tudor waiting in the wings over in France.  The Titulus invalidated Edward IV's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, making all their children illegitimate.  It not only affirmed Clarence's attainder for treason, but asserted that Clarence, born in Ireland, was born outside of England and thus unable to inherit the throne.  Ironically, this logic would have applied to many Plantagenet kings born in what is now France.  But logic doesn't always prevail when stability and national security are a concern.  With the Titulus in effect, not only could Richard be crowned King and hopefully live long enough to see his own Edward into adulthood, but he could keep his nephews under lock and key indefinitely. 

Then, tragedy struck.  Richard's son Edward died months before his father's death at Bosworth in 1485.  With Henry Tudor now on the throne and due to marry Elizabeth of York, there was a need to remove the stain on her family inheritance by reinstating her parents marriage.  The Titulus Regulus was repealed, with Edward V once more in the list of English Kings.  By this time Edward V and Richard, Duke of York were conveniently dead, maybe, and Edward of Warwick had lived so long in the Tower of London that he was institutionalized and probably wouldn't have been able to function adequately outside prison walls. 

 

Places: Fotheringhay Castle, Nottinghamshire, England

Some places are known for the tragedies that took place there.  Fotheringhay Castle in Nottinghamshire, England will always be associated with February 8, 1587, a day of infamy to Scots everywhere as the execution date of Mary Queen of Scots.  However, long before Mary there was an association with Scotland, and with impending tragedy.

William the Conqueror granted the property that would become Fotheringhay to the wife of the Earl of Northumberland.  Her daughter, Maud, married two powerful men, Simon de Senlis, Earl of Huntingdon, and later Prince David of Scotland, who became Earl of Huntingdon after Simon's death and on his marriage to Maud.  What's a Scottish prince doing with a castle in England?  Nobles of the time owned property in many different areas besides their own native land.  Scottish princes were often at the English court, either as exiles or hostages and it was more convenient to give them property of their own to support their stay.  David I later became King of Scots, but held on to the property, which passed down to other Scottish princes until the reign of King John.  John, excommunicated by the Pope and ever suspicious of the loyalty of his barons, demanded that the then Earl of Huntingdon, another David, send his sons as hostages and turn over Fotheringhay Castle.  In 1215, as part of the terms of Magna Carta, some barons managed to recover their confiscated lands and the Earls of Huntingdon recovered Fotheringhay.

But not for long.  In 1218, David of Huntingdon rebelled against King Henry III and the castle was permanently forfeited to the crown.  It was granted to William Marshal, Jr., 2nd Earl of Pembroke.  Later, the castle was granted to the 1st Earl of Kent when he married the then-King of Scotland's sister.  It would pass to the Earl of Albermarle before Henry III retained the castle again.  The castle remained in royal hands until the reign of Richard II, when he gave it to a cousin, John of Brittany, Earl of Richmond.  John's daughter inherited the property, but died in 1377 and the castle changed hands again, going to Edward III's son, Edmund of Langley.  Edmund was the 1st Duke of York and we know where this story is heading.  The castle became a favorite residence of the Dukes of York, including Richard, 3rd Duke of York and his formidable wife, Cecily Neville.  Several of their children were born there, including Richard of Gloucester, the future Richard III, who first opened his eyes on this earth in 1452.  The castle remained in the York family until Cecily Neville's death, when it again reverted to the Crown.

None of the Tudors took an interest in the castle, until it became a needed prison for Mary, Queen of Scots.  There were several reasons for this.  Elizabeth I generally kept Mary in places that were far enough from the border to prevent her escaping back to Scotland, but far enough from London that Mary wouldn't think to make a mad dash there, either.  Mary was beheaded in the castle's great hall in February, 1587 and the castle was abandoned again.  Over time, it fell into ruin.  Locals carted away the stones for their own use, and today only the outline and one foundation stone remain.  The stone is surrounded by a fence commemorating the site as Richard's birthplace, and Mary's execution site.

What Is: Lady Day

Today, we think of January 1, New Year's Day, as being the official start of a new year.  However, Medieval people were on a different timetable, based more on the liturgical calendar and the seasons then the niceties of calendaring and dating.  From 1155-1751, i.e., during the entire reign of the Plantagenet dynasty and then some, Lady Day or the Feast of the Annunciation, was the official start of the year.

The Feast of the Annunciation, now celebrated on March 25 of each year, but in Medieval times celebrated on April 5, corresponds to the Biblical story of the Angel Gabriel announcing to the Virgin Mary that she will become the Mother of Jesus.  The Medieval calendar functioned on four quarter days, or days when contracts were signed, rents became due, and courts began a new term.  Because Lady Day happens roughly around the time of the Spring Equinox and about the time that a new harvest would be planted, it was a logical place to start the year.  If a farmer were about to take possession of a new farm, the rental agreement and the move would take place on Lady Day. 

 

King: Edward V of England, 1470-1483?

He was never crown, yet he retains his regnal number and is one of the more famous of the Plantagenet kings.  Edward V, 1470-1483? is better known to history as the oldest Prince in the Tower.  A young man who showed great promise, should have succeeded to the throne, but then just disappeared, or did he?

Edward V was the oldest son of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.  He had a younger surviving brother, Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, and five sisters.  Edward was made Prince of Wales in 1471 and in 1473 given his own household at Ludlow Castle on the Welsh border.  He was nominal president of the Council of Wales and the Marches, though the actual duties were taken care of by adults.  Edward IV placed his son in the care of his maternal uncle, Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers and laid down strict instructions for the Prince's education and upbringing.  An Italian diplomat later reported that Edward was bright for his young age, spoke clearly, had a dignified bearing, and showed much promise for the future.  Edward IV was in negotiations for his son to marry a Breton princess.

Then in 1483, tragedy struck.  Edward IV died suddenly.  His now 12-year-old son was King Edward V of England.  Elizabeth Woodville knew the Plantagenet family history when it came to child heirs to the throne.  She took Richard of York and her five daughters into sanctuary at Westminster Abbey.  Edward IV's will named his brother, Richard of Gloucester, as Protector of the Realm.  Edward set out from Ludlow to claim his inheritance, meeting up with Uncle Richard, who was coming from Yorkshire.  They met in Stony Stratford.  That evening, Richard of Gloucester dine with Earl Rivers, Edward's half-brother Richard Grey, and Edward's chamberlain, Richard Vaughn and all seemed peaceful enough.  The next day all three men were arrested and Richard had control of the young King.  In May, 1483, Edward entered into London and was lodged in the Tower, to all outward appearances, soon to be crowned King according to custom.  Richard persuaded his mother Elizabeth to allow her younger son Richard to join his brother.

The Council wanted to proceed to a coronation and avoid the need for a Protectorate.  Richard kept postponing the coronation.  Edward and his brother were regularly seen on Tower Green, playing as young boys would do.  Then, in June 1483 a preacher asserted that Edward IV had been engaged to Lady Elizabeth Butler when he married Elizabeth Woodville, making Edward IV's marriage invalid and all his children illegitimate.  Where this propaganda came from, no one knows but it suited Richard's plans.  A delegation of lords and commons declared Richard III the legitimate King of England, and confirmed that Edward IV's children were bastards and George of Clarence's children forfeited by his attainder.  This was later confirmed in the Titulus Regius, a formal bill passed by Parliament.  On June 26, 1483, Richard of Gloucester was crowned Richard III of England and the two young boys were seen less and less, disappearing from view by the end of summer, 1483.

The commonly excepted theory, which may be Tudor propaganda, held that the boys were smothered to death in their sleep at Richard's orders.  This was the plot used by Shakespeare in his Richard IIIm and later memorialized in the boys' epitaph at Westminster Abbey.  Some sources believe that Edward, who was being regularly seen by a doctor during this time, may have died of an illness.  Still others maintain that the boys were murdered by the Duke of Buckingham on orders of Henry Tudor, who later put the blame on Richard.  In 1674, workers at the Tower of London discovered the bones believed to be of two young children.  Charles II, himself a Plantagenet and Tudor descendant, believed them to be the Princes in the Tower and had them reburied in Westminster Abbey.  Still later, in 1789, workers accidently broke into Edward IV's tomb at Westminster, noticing the coffins for two small royal children, who were actually found elsewhere.  Who were the coffins intended for, really?  The world will never know.

Vassals: the Balliols of Scotland

As anyone whose watched Game of Thrones knows, there are great houses and lesser houses, the heads of lesser houses becoming bannermen or vassals of those higher up the social rank.  This is classic feudal hierarchy.  Everyone owed fealty, which ranged from simple pledges of loyalty to required levies of knights and men-at-arms, monetary tribute and almost anything else, to someone else.  Even kings such as the Plantagenets of England often owed fealty to other kings for lands that lay within the domains of those royal families.  Add in the competing claims to thrones and other titles, often based on complex of descent and the friction only deepened. 

When Alexander III, the last ruler of the House of Dunkeld died without heirs in 1290, the Scottish crown was up for grabs.  A period of interregnum ensued while various claimants jockeyed for backing to become the next King of Scots.  The main contenders, the Bruces and the Balliols, both claimed Dunkeld descent through various female descendants of the late royal house.  Ironically, the Plantagenets also had a horse in that raise.  Henry II's grandmother, Matilda of Scotland, was a Dunkeld princess.  Edward I preferred to remain neutral while providing tacit support to the Balliol family.  The reason, while both the Balliols and Bruces held extensive lands in England for which they owed Edward fealty, the Balliols had a more vested interest and could be counted on to be loyal.  Thus, Edward could hope to control Scottish affairs through a vassal king, rather than having to spend the blood and treasure to fight for it.

The Balliol family hailed from Bailleul in Picardy, in what is now France.  They came to England during the reign of William II, or William Rufus in the 11th century and soon began to accumulate estates and vassals of their own.  John Balliol, the father of the Scottish King, even founded a college at Oxford, Balliol College, that's still in existence.  John married a Scottish noblewoman, Devorgilla of Galloway, whose father Alan of Galloway was a son of David, Earl of Huntington, brother of William I of Scotland.  This gave John's son, John, Jr., a viable claim to the throne of Scotland, as well as an extensive inheritance in England.  The Bruces claimed descent from David I of Scotland.  The nobles of Scotland lined up, not so much on who had the greater claim by descent, but on each noble's willingness to be under English control.  Many of the nobles of Scotland also held land in England, or in Capet or Plantagenet France and had their own tangled ties of fealty to sort out.

John Balliol claimed the Scottish throne in 1292, all the while promising fealty to King Edward I.  Once on the throne, he made the mistake of concluding an alliance with France, a traditional ally of Scotland.  Furious, Edward invaded Scotland in 1296 and John had to abdicate.  The Scottish coat of arms was torn from the surcoat he wore over his arm, leaving him only with the Balliol arms, which had a blank field.  This gave rise to the derisive nickname Toom Tabard or Empty Coat.  While John had time to regret his transgressions in the Tower, he was later allowed to go into exile in France, provided he stay there.

John's son, Edward Balliol, didn't fair much better.  He, too, tried to rule Scotland from 1332-1338 in opposition to Bruce's son, David II.   He tried several times to maintain a viable rule in Scotland, but ultimately surrendered his claim to Edward III in exchange for a pension.  He died in 1364 and lies buried today under a post office in Doncaster, England.  His cousin married into the Coucy family, which later married into the Bourbon family that later came to rule France and then Spain.  Today the Balliol claim to Scotland rests with the Bourbons, who no doubt won't be exercising it any time soon.

Queen: Eleanor of Provence, Queen of England, 1223-1291

Foreign-born queens throughout history were in a difficult spot.  They had to be loyal to their husband and his country while still advancing the interests of their home countries.  They also had to make themselves likeable to their new subjects, who were often suspicious of them because of their foreign origin.  Some queens didn't fair so well and Eleanor of Provence, the wife of Henry III was one.

Eleanor, 1223-1291, was born in Aix-en-Provence, the daughter of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and his wife Beatrice of Savoy.  Her family had ties to the royal family of Barcelona, which was an independent city ruled by a count at that time, as well as to the Savoyard dynasty.  This relationship placed Eleanor in that group of southern kingdoms and duchies, which included Spain and Aquitaine, which were known for their wealth and culture.  Eleanor herself was well educated, liked to read and write poetry.  She would later be known as a fashionable and learned woman.  She was also well-known for her beauty, a point which helped her family induce Henry III to accept her with no dowry, a rare thing in those days.  In June, 1235, when she was 12 years old, Eleanor was engaged to Henry.

Eleanor first laid eyes on her husband when she married him at Canterbury Cathedral on January 14, 1223.  She was crowned Queen Consort at Westminster Abbey the next day.  In that era, Eleanor was old enough to begin the duties of a wife.  She and Henry would have five surviving children.  The future Edward I, Margaret, who later became Queen of Scotland, Beatrice, who later married the Duke of Brittany, Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, and Katherine, who died when she was about 3.  There were also four little boys who died as babies or soon after birth, Richard, John, William and Henry.  They were a close family.  When Edward became ill to the point of death, the monks at Beaulieu Abbey allowed Margaret to stay with her son.  When little Katherine died, both her parents were grief-stricken. 

Eleanor stood by Henry during some difficult times, but the English people did not like her.  The reasons was that, when she came to England, she trailed a significant number of relatives and others in her retinue, who all seemed to think they were entitled to positions at court, money and other perks.  This greedy pack, called the Savoyards collectively, incited the anger of Henry's barons and word spread.  The people of London didn't like Eleanor either, one time pelting her barge with garbage as it floated down the Thames.  And the feeling was mutual.  Eleanor demanded her full right of monetary tribute, known as Queen's Gold, and wasn't about to let anyone tell her how to spend it.  When Henry was away tending to wars or other issues on the Continent, Eleanor functioned as regent in his absence, particularly in 1235.  When Simon de Montfort rebelled against the King in 1263-64, Eleanor helped raised troops in Europe to fight on Henry's side. 

In 1272, Henry died and her son Edward I, who was away with Edmund on the Ninth Crusade at the time, became King of England.  Eleanor raised three of her grandchildren, Edward's son Henry and daughter Eleanor, and Beatrice's son John.  When little Henry died in her care in 1274, Eleanor was plunged into grief and paid for his heart to be embalmed and placed at Guildford Priory in London.  Her two surviving daughters, Margaret and Beatrice also died young, further adding to her sorrow.  She retired into a convent in Amesbury and died in 1291.  She was buried at the Abbey of St. Mary and St. Melor, Amesbury.  The exact gravesite was later lost, which made Eleanor the only English queen whose grave cannot be identified.