Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers

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Woodville Coat of Arms as the Earl Rivers

Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers KG (actually Richard Wydeville or Wydville , * around 1405 in Maidstone ; † August 12, 1469 in Kenilworth ) was an English military man and nobleman who, through his granddaughter Elizabeth of York, became the ancestors of today's British royal family heard.

Life

origin

Woodville came from an old family of the gentry of Northamptonshire . He was a son of Richard Wydeville , who, the younger son of a nobleman , had fought as a soldier during the Hundred Years War in France.

Soldier in the Hundred Years War

Woodville also became a soldier and was beaten to a Knight Bachelor in 1426, mainly because of his father's reputation . In 1429 he served as captain and in 1435 he was part of the entourage of the Duke of Bedford , the English regent in France. In the same year he took part in the Battle of Gerberoy , during which he was believed to be captured. After his release he served under William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk until 1436 , under the Duke of Somerset and the Earl of Shrewsbury in 1439, and under Richard of York from 1441 to 1442 . In 1440 he won a tournament match in Smithfield against the Spanish knight Pedro de Vasquez . Woodville became captain of Alençon and in 1444 accompanied the future Queen Margaret of Anjou to England as Knight Banneret . In 1450 he became Seneschal of Gascony , but he could not take up his office because the region was conquered by France. From 1454 to 1455 he was Lieutenant of Calais . After his father died around 1441, he inherited his modest estates at Grafton Regis in Northamptonshire and Mote near Maidstone . Woodville held several offices, including from 1448 as Justice of the Peace of Northamptonshire and from 1454 for Kent . In 1450 he took part in the suppression of the Jack Cade revolt .

Marriage of the widow of the Duke of Bedford

Woodville had been moderately successful both as a military and as a landowner. He owed his rise to Jacquetta von Luxemburg , the young widow of Duke of Bedford, who died in 1435 and whom he secretly married in March 1437. This improper marriage came as a shock to Jacquetta's relatives and, having taken place without the king's permission, the latter fined Woodville £ 1,000. However, Woodville became a relative of the House of Lancaster and the French Luxembourg family through his marriage. Ligny , the Count of St Pol and the later Queen of England, Margaret of Anjou. Through her Wittum he received a lifelong annual income of 2,000 marks . On May 9, 1448 Woodville was raised to Baron Rivers and 1450 as a Knight Companion in the Order of the Garter. For his children he was able to arrange marriages with the lower nobility. Nevertheless, he was treated as an upstart by the old aristocratic families, especially the Nevilles . Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick , no longer confirmed him as Lieutenant of Calais in 1456. As a result, Woodville was frequently in the service of the Duke of Somerset and in 1457 was Constable of Rochester .

Supporters of the House of Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses

After the flight of the Earl of Salisbury and the Earl of Warwick, the main supporter of Richard of York to Calais in 1459, Woodville was to protect Kent from an attack by the Yorkists as Constable of Rochester . However, he was surprised by the Yorkists himself at Sandwich in 1460 and captured under humiliating circumstances. After his release he continued to fight for the House of Lancaster until he switched sides after the defeat of Towton when the Wars of the Roses seemed lost to the House of Lancaster. He was not expropriated, but had to prove himself in the fight against the remaining Lancastrians in northern England.

Father-in-law of King Edward IV.

From 1463 he had the favor of the new king, Edward IV of the House of York, who accepted him into his council. In May 1464, the king secretly married Woodville's eldest daughter, Elizabeth , who was already widowed . King Edward IV generously provided his father-in-law and sister-in-law with titles and offices. Woodville was named Lord High Treasurer on March 4, 1466 , and Earl Rivers on May 25, 1466 . On August 24, 1467 he became Constable of the Realm after the previous incumbent, the Earl of Worcester , had offered the office for sale. Of Woodville's children, Lionel became Bishop of Salisbury , John married the widowed Duchess of Norfolk, and his grandson Thomas Gray married Anne Holland, daughter and heir to the Duke of Exeter . His daughter Katherine married the Duke of Buckingham , and Margaret, Anne, Mary and Eleanor were married to Thomas, Lord Maltravers , William, Lord Bourchier , William Herbert and Anthony Gray, the heirs and Earls of Arundel , Essex , Pembroke and Kent, respectively arranged. The king also took over the costs of the weddings and partly endowed them with land as dowry. Through this preference by the king and through his steep rise, Woodville got numerous envious people and enemies, especially the Earl of Warwick, who himself had numerous daughters for whom he was looking for potential marriage candidates.

Through Woodville's wife Jacquetta, who was also related to the Dukes of Burgundy , King Edward established relationships with the Burgundian court. Woodville's son Anthony wore a famous tournament in 1467 with Antoine, Count of La Roche , an illegitimate son of the Duke of Burgundy . In 1468 Margaret , the king's sister, married the Duke of Burgundy himself.

death

In 1469 the Earl of Warwick, his brother, the Archbishop of York and the Duke of Clarence rebelled against the king. Woodville and his son John were captured by the rebels in Chepstow after the Battle of Edgecote Moor on July 27, 1469, in which they had not participated . They were taken to Kenilworth Castle where they were executed. Woodville's widow, Jacquetta, was charged with sorcery, but that charge was withdrawn after King Edward was restored to power.

progeny

Woodville had sixteen children with his wife Jacquetta von Luxemburg:

literature

  • David Baldwin: Elizabeth Woodville. Mother of the princes in the tower. Sutton Books, Strout 2002, ISBN 978-0-7509-2774-1 .

Web links

predecessor Office successor
New title created Baron Rivers
1448-1469 		Anthony Woodville
New title created Earl Rivers
1466-1469 		Anthony Woodville
personal data
SURNAME Woodville, Richard, 1st Earl Rivers
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wydeville, Richard; Woodville, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soldier and nobleman
DATE OF BIRTH around 1405
DATE OF DEATH August 12, 1469
Place of death Northampton