H I S T O R I C O T P S // Matilda of Flanders + William the Conqueror
She was an extremely well-educated and beautiful high-borne lady, the niece and granddaughter to kings of France. Her features, according to chroniclers, were refined, delicate, her body graceful, and her head well-set. He, on the other hand, was the bastard son to the Duke of Normandy, a descendent of vikings, rugged, tall, and rough albeit healthy and handsome. His voice was said to be guttural and his skill as a horseman and a fighter unmatched. Medieval writers criticized William for his greed and cruelty, his relentless onslaughts, but universally praised him for his personal piety; while hard and unforgiving on the outside with his wife Matilda - and only her - he was by all accounts an affectionate and devoted husband, never recorded to have taken a mistress or fathered any children but that of the ten he sired with Matilda.
According to legend, William had fallen deeply in love with Matilda when he first saw her at the French court. He was said to have been so passionately enamored by her that he would’ve done anything to obtain her, and his pride was greatly slighted when his marriage proposal was rejected due to his “bastard” origins. After hearing this response, William rode from Normandy to Bruges, found Matilda on her way to church, dragged her off her horse by her long braids, and threw her down in the street in front of her flabbergasted attendants before riding off. Another version of the story states that William rode to Matilda’s father’s house in Lille, threw her to the ground in her room (again, by her braids), and hit her (or violently battered her) before leaving. Naturally, Matilda’s father took offense at this but, before they could draw swords, Matilda settled the matter by refusing to marry anyone but William; even a papal ban by Pope Leo IX at the Council of Reims on the grounds of consanguinity did not dissuade her. Despite the rather violent nature of their meeting, William and Matilda went on to have a successful and happy marriage. William was especially proud of his wife. He made sure that he would take her with him on royal tours of his dominions, showing her off to his subjects.Matilda’s death plunged William into deep depression. It was said that after her death, he became tyrannical, and people blamed it on his having lost her. He no longer went hunting, which was his favorite sport. After four long years of mourning and grief, he too died, and was buried next to his wife for eternity. (x) (x)
“Lord Rivers was always considered a kind, serious and just man, and tested by every
vicissitude of life. However much he prospered, he never harmed anyone , while doing good to many'”On the 25th of June 1483, Anthony Woodville is executed at Pontefract Castle.
25 June 1483: Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, is executed at Pontefract Castle
Gloucester had taken care of one last bit of business before becoming king: ordering the execution of Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan. Rivers made his will at Sheriff Hutton on 23 June, indicating that the execution order had been sent from London at least a couple of days before that.
Rivers’s will is a conventional one, in which Anthony is concerned with paying his debts, righting any wrongs he might have done, such as to Lady Willoughby, providing for the poor, and attending to the welfare of his soul. Perhaps anticipating that he would be brought south and given the trial in front of his peers that was his right as an earl, he asked that if he died beyond the River Trent, he be buried before Our Lady of Pewe at Westminster.
Crowland is adamant that Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan were beheaded ‘without any form of trial’ under the supervision of Sir Richard Ratcliffe, who was leading Gloucester’s army south to London. John Rous, on the other hand, claims that Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, was their chief judge. No records of their indictments or trial, if there were any, have survived, nor is there any indication of who besides Northumberland sat in judgement of the trio. One is inclined to suspect that any process must have been summary even by contemporary standards; certainly nothing indicates that a jury of peers was summoned to try Rivers, as was his right under Magna Carta.– Susan Higginbotham - The Woodvilles: The Wars of the Roses and England’s Most Infamous Family
❝King Edward himself was never the same man after Philippa’s death. He had depended more than he knew upon her steadfast and straightforward character ; her loss had plunged him into uncontrollable grief.❞
(fancast: Jessica Brown Findlay as Philippa of Hainault & Michael Fassbender as Edward III)
♔ The will of Elizabeth Woodville + mentions of her beloved ones8th of June 1492: Elizabeth Woodville dies at Bermondsey Abbey
–> Favorite relationships in history: Henry VIII of England and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk.
Brought up at the court of Henry VII, Charles Brandon soon became a favorite to Henry VIII, notably thanks to his talent at jousting, and one of his closest friends. He married in secret Mary Tudor, Henry’s little sister and then widow of Louis XII of France, in 1515. Although Henry was furious at first, he quickly forgave them, something that would not have happened later in his reign.
Following Cardinal Wolsey’s disgrace in 1529, Brandon’s influence grew daily. Despite being opposed to the marriage with Anne Boleyn, he remained on good terms with Henry VIII during the early 1530′s and thereafter enjoyed a position of influence at court until the end of his life.
Careful with his investment in court intrigues and a strong supporter of the king’s religious policies, Brandon had little enemies and was appreciated by most. It is a testament to the strength of their friendship that Henry, deeply grieved, buried him at his own expense at Windsor in St George’s Chapel in 1545 and noticed that Brandon had “never attempted to hurt an adversary, nor had he ever said a word to injure anyone”, which was more than many at court could say.
“The queen gave birth to a very handsome daughter, which rejoiced the king and all the nobles exceedingly, though they would have preferred a son.” (x)
On the 20th of March 1469 Cecily of York was born at Westminster, third daughter to Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. She was forced to flee into sanctuary with her mother and sister twice, once in 1470 when she was only one year old and secondly in 1483 after her father’s death. Her uncle Richard of Gloucester seized the crown for himself and declared her and her sisters illegitimate.
Upon leaving sanctuary in 1484, her uncle, now Richard III, promised safety and good matches for his nieces and thus in 1485 Cecily was married to Ralph Scrope. Later that year, when Henry Tudor was victorious at the Battle at Bosworth, he became king Henry VII, the York sisters were declared legitimate again and Cecily’s marriage to Scrope was annulled. Her older sister Elizabeth was married to the new king. By 1487 Cecily was married to the John Welles, half-brother to the king’s mother Margaret Beaufort.
Cecily was a prominent figure at court for most of her life, often playing part in ceremonies and festivities, such as her nephew prince Arthur’s christening, she was also chief lady-in-waiting to her sister Queen Elizabeth.
Her husband John Welles died in 1499 and neither their daughters, Elizabeth and Anne, lived till adulthood. About three years later, in 1502, Cecily married to Sir Thomas Kyme, without seeking royal permission. This, and the fact that her husband was far beneath her in rank, angered king Henry and he seized her estates and banished her from court. Margaret Beaufort, the king’s mother, intervened on behalf of Cecily, the two had always been on friendly terms. Margaret allowed Cecily and her husband to stay in her residence until the King returned their lands. Eventually some of their estates were reestablished, but Cecily was not allowed back at court and reportedly she did not attend her sister Elizabeth’s funeral in 1503.
When Cecily died on the 24th of August in 1507, Margaret Beaufort continued to show her affections towards Cecily and payed most of the funeral expenses. Due to her banishment from court, there is little known about Cecily last marriage but it was likely a love match and may have resulted in two children, Margaret and Richard.
“She was the wisest woman that ever was, for she understood the interests and dispositions of all the princes in her time, and was so perfect in the knowledge of her own realm, that no councillor she had could tell her anything she did not know before.”
Around ten o'clock that evening, with heavy rain pattering against the windows, Elizabeth turned her face to the wall and fell into a deep sleep from which she would never wake. With Dr Parry, who ‘sent his prayers before her soul’, and her old friends Lady Warwick and Lady Scrope by her side, she passed to eternal rest, ‘mildly like a lamb, easily, like a ripe apple from a tree’, shortly before three o'clock in the morning of Thursday, 24 March, 'as the most resplendent sun setteth at last in a western cloud’. – Alison Weir, Life of Elizabeth I
March 16, 1485 | Death of Anne Neville, Queen consort of England - Age 28
Anne Neville (June 11, 1456 - March 16, 1485) was Queen consort of King Richard III and mother to Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales who died eleven months before her.
Anne died on 16 March 1485 [from an illness, likely tuberculosis], on the same day that England experienced a great eclipse of the sun. She was just three months short of her twenty-ninth birthday. She was buried in Westminster Abbey ‘with honours no less than befitted the burial of a queen’ (Crowland, p. 175.). [x]
4th March 1461: Edward, Earl of March is named King Edward IV
Born in England on October 2, 1452, Richard III served as king of England for only two years, but his reign was one of the most historic and turbulent. He is credited with the responsibility for several murders, including those of his nephews Edward and Richard, and of Henry VI. Shakespeare portrayed him as a tyrannical ruler in his play, King Richard III, but modern scholars have pointed to evidence that Richard III was a successful leader. He died in England in 1485. [x]
Queen Elizabeth II portrayed in various movies, tv shows, theatrical plays and docudramas
(( 1000+ Followers Celebration POST ))
Henry/Elizabeth + a political union turning eventually into a loving marriage
T H E R O S E A N D H E R D R A G O N
It could be debated whether or not Henry VII was a great King, but he was clearly a successful King. He had several goals that he had accomplished by the end of his reign. He had established a new dynasty after 30 years of struggle, he had strengthened the judicial system as well as the treasury and had successfully denied all the other claimants to his throne. The monarchy that he left to his son was a fairly secure one and most definitely a wealthy one. [x] Henry unfortunately was always overshadowed by either his predecessor Richard III or his son and successor Henry VIII who were to become two of England’s most infamous Kings.