From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
English noblewoman
Katherine Woodville
(also spelled
Wydville
,
Wydeville
, or
Widvile
[nb 1]
) (c. 1458
[1]
? 18 May 1497
[2]
) was the
Duchess of Buckingham
and a medieval English
noblewoman
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Katherine was the daughter of
Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers
, and
Jacquetta of Luxembourg
. When her sister
Elizabeth
married
Edward IV of England
, the King elevated and promoted many members of the Woodville family. Elizabeth Woodville's household records for 1466/67 indicate that Katherine was being raised in the queen's household.
First marriage
[
edit
]
Sometime before the coronation of Elizabeth in May 1465, Katherine was married to
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham
; both were still children. A contemporary description of Elizabeth Woodville's coronation relates that Katherine and her husband were carried on squires' shoulders due to their youth. According to
Dominic Mancini
, Buckingham resented his marriage to a woman of inferior birth. However, the couple had four children:
In 1483, Buckingham first allied himself to the Duke of Gloucester, helping him succeed to the throne as
King Richard III
, and then to
Henry Tudor
, leading an unsuccessful rebellion in his name. Buckingham was executed for treason on 2 November 1483.
Second marriage
[
edit
]
After Richard III was defeated by Henry Tudor at the
Battle of Bosworth
in 1485, Katherine married the new king's uncle
Jasper Tudor
on 7 November 1485.
[3]
Third marriage
[
edit
]
After Jasper's death in December 1495, Katherine married ? not later than 24 February 1496 ? Sir
Richard Wingfield
, who outlived her.
Depiction in fiction
[
edit
]
Katherine is the main protagonist in
Susan Higginbotham
's 2010
historical novel
The Stolen Crown
. She is briefly mentioned in
Philippa Gregory
's historical novels
The White Queen
(2009),
The Red Queen
(2010), and
The White Princess
(2013).
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
Although spelling of the family name is usually modernised to "Woodville", it was spelled "Wydeville" in contemporary publications by Caxton and her tomb at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle is inscribed thus; "Edward IV and his Queen Elizabeth Widvile".
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Her brother Richard's 1492 postmortem inquisition names her as being "34 or more", placing her birthdate at about 1458. See Calendar of Inquisitions Post-Mortem, Henry VII, vol. I, No. 681 (Richard, Earl of Ryvers).
- ^
Pugh, p. 241.
- ^
Richard Marius,
Thomas More: A Biography
, (Harvard University Press, 1984), 119.
Sources
[
edit
]
- Call, Michel L. (2005).
The royal ancestry bible : a 3,400 pedigree chart compilation (plus index and appendix) containing royal ancestors of 300 colonial American families who are themselves ancestors of 70 million Americans
(1st ed.). Salt Lake City, Utah: M.L. Call.
ISBN
1933194227
.
(chart 806)
- Nicholls, C.S.; Le May, G H L, eds. (1993). "Henry Stafford, Second Duke of Buckingham".
The Dictionary of national biography
(Reprinted ed.). Oxford [England]: Oxford University Press.
ISBN
9780198652113
.
- Myers, A R (1967). "The household of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, 1466-7".
Bulletin of the John Rylands Library
.
50
(1): 207?235.
ISSN
0301-102X
.
- Pugh, T B (1963).
The Marcher Lordships of South Wales 1415-1536
. Cardiff: University of Wales Press.
ISBN
0708301150
.
- Smith, George, ed. (1975) [1935].
The coronation of Elizabeth Wydeville, Queen Consort of Edward IV, on May 26th, 1465 : a contemporary account set forth from a XV century manuscript
. Cliftonville: Gloucester Reprints.
ISBN
0904586006
.