Tudor Queens of England (43 page)

George and his wife Elizabeth, of the Scottish family of Bowes Lyon helped to steer Britain through the traumas of the Second World War and again reinvented the monarchy in a domestic mode. This was largely the work of the Queen who developed a talent for high profi le family life, which set an agenda for two whole generations of Britons. George died in 1952, but his widow survived him for more than 50 years, becoming eventually the best loved as well as the most durable member of the royal family. George was succeeded by his elder daughter Elizabeth II, who thus became England’s sixth and Great Britain’s third ruling Queen. At the time of her accession she was already married to her remote kinsman, Philip Mountbatten. Philip was never accorded the title of Prince Consort (let alone King) but was created Duke of Edinburgh, which title he retains. The couple have four children, of whom the oldest, Charles, has been Prince of Wales since 1958. Despite the ‘New Elizabethan’ rhetoric of the 1950s, there is no comparison between the position of the present monarch and that of her predecessor and namesake. The fi rst Elizabeth was the head of 234

T U D O R Q U E E N S O F E N G L A N D

government as well as the head of state. As such, although she was constrained by certain laws and customs, she was answerable only to God and not in any sense to her people. The present Elizabeth is not the head of any government and her political power is largely confi ned to an infl uence based on vast experience and a shrewd understanding of the world. The profi le of the monarchy is high, but it is so largely for formal and ceremonial reasons. It no longer makes much difference whether the incumbent is male or female, because the symbolism is that of the offi ce rather than the person – which was not so even as late as the reign of Victoria. The image of the Royal family as a cosy domestic unit, so assiduously cultivated by the late Queen Mother, has now largely disappeared, as fi rst the Queen’s sister Margaret, and then three of her four children, were divorced from their partners. Paradoxically, this has brought the Queen closer to her people, for whom such experiences have become routine. The monarchy no longer has a mystique but it does have a practical utility. The Queen is still the head of the Commonwealth, that international club that evolved out of the British Empire and an hereditary succession still seems the most sensible way to fi ll a position which is largely symbolic. By comparison, the idea of regular presidential elections and of an executive power divided between an elected President and an elected assembly has little appeal. What the fi rst Elizabeth might have thought of her successor’s reduced circumstances does not bear thinking about. The position of Queen Consort has been untested for over half a century, during which there have been dramatic social and conceptual changes. Whether the present Duchess of Cornwall will ever become Queen Consort is a matter of uncertainty and if she does what the responsibilities of that position might entail has still to be tested. The monarchy is still evolving, but it is reasonably certain that the role of the Queen as the defender of her husband’s honour has been consigned to history.

Notes

Notes to Introduction

1 Bruce M. Metzger and Michael D. Coogan,

The Oxford Companion to the Bible
, (Oxford, 1993), pp. 806–18.

2 John

Knox,

The First Blast of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women
, (1557), f.13v.

3 E.T.,

The Lawes Resolution of Women’s Rights, or the Lawes Provision for Woemen
, (1632).

4 Joanna L. Chamberlayne,

English Queenship, 1445–1503
, York University Ph.D. thesis, (1999), p. 2.

5 W.E.A.

Axon

(ed.)

The Game and Play of Chess
, (London, 1969), p. 27.

6 J.R. Lander, ‘Marriage and Politics in the Fifteenth Century; the Nevilles and the Wydevilles’,

Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research
, (1963), 36, p. 133 and n. 7 K.A. Winstead, ‘Capgrave’s St Katherine and the Perils of Gynecocracy’, (1995),
Viator
, 26, pp. 361–75.

8 Even in France, where the claim of a woman to the throne was barred by custom, Catherine de Medici could still become regent in 1559. Mary Stuart had been Queen of Scotland without challenge since 1542.

9 Henry

Ellis,

Original Letters Illustrative of English History
(London, 1824), vol. I, p. 127.

10 Diarmaid MacCulloch (ed. and trans.), ‘The Vita Mariae Angliae Reginae of Robert Wingfi eld of Brantham’,

Camden Miscellany
, (1984), 28. This was written in Latin but there were similar encomiums in Italian, Spanish and German. 11 For a draft version of the treaty (very close to the fi nal version) see C.S. Knighton, (ed),
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, Mary I
, (1998), no. 24. The original manuscript is TNA SP11/1, no. 20.

12 House of Lords Record Offi ce, Original Acts. 1 Mary. Sess. 3, cap 1. 13 For a full, and sympathetic, discussion of her relations with Robert Dudley and their consequences, see Derek Wilson,

Sweet Robin: a Biography of Robert Dudley, Earl of
Leicester, 1533–1588
(London, 1981).

236

N O T E S T O PA G E S 1 3 – 2 7

Notes to Chapter 1: The Queen as Trophy: Catherine de Valois
1 Agnes

Strickland,

Lives of the Queens of England
(London, 1902), vol. III, p. 110. Strickland’s account of Isabella’s misdemeanours is highly coloured.

2 A.R. Myers, (ed.)

English
,
Historical Documents, 1327–1485
, (1969/96), no. 113. Taken from T. Rymer (1704–35),
Foedera, conventiones, literae et cuiuscunque generis carta publica
(London), Vol. IV, iii, p. 179.

3

Calendar of the Close Rolls, 1419–22
, (London), pp. 118–20. 4
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
, (Oxford, 2004) ‘Catherine de Valois’ says that they did meet, but does not cite evidence.

5 For an account of the Southampton plot, see E.F. Jacob,

The Fifteenth Century
(Oxford, 1961), pp. 146–7. Henry had also had to deal with the rebellion of Sir John Oldcastle before setting out for France.

6 Fabyan describes (among many other things) ‘a subtlety called a pelican sitting on his nest, with her birds, and an image of the said [St] Katherine holding a book and disputing with the doctors, holding a reason in her right hand saying “madame le royne” …’ Henry Ellis, (ed.)

New Chronicles of England and France by Robert Fabyan
(London, 1811), pp. 586–7. 7 Ibid., p. 141.
Calendar of the Close Rolls
(p. 26) on the other hand, makes it appear that lands were assigned to the Queen from the Duchy and the Earldom. 8 There was a contemporary story to the effect that Henry had warned her (prophetically) not to go to Windsor for her lying in, lest their child should turn out unfortunate. She ignored the warning and is alleged to have repented bitterly at her death. 9 Rymer,

Foedera
, vol. X, p. 204.

10 J.A. Giles (ed.)

Incerti Sriptoris Chronicon Angliae de regnis trium regum Lancastrensium
(London, 1848), Vol. IV, p. 17.

11 N.H. Nicolas, (ed.)

The Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council
(London, 1834–7), vol. V. p. 61.

12 BL Cotton MS Tiberius E.VIII, f.221.

13 G.E. Cokayne,

The Complete Peerage
, (1910–49),
sub
Richmond. 14 Ibid.

Notes to Chapter 2: The Queen as Dominatrix: Margaret of Anjou
1 Jaquetta, sister of the Count of St Pol, had married Sir Richard Woodville shortly after being widowed in 1435.

2 J. Stevenson, (ed.),

Narratives of the Expulsion of the English from Normandy
, (London, 1863). vol. I, pp. 448–80.

3 A.B.

Hinds,

Calendar of the State Papers
,
Milan
(London, 1912), vol. I, pp. 18–19. 4
Calendar of the Charter Rolls
, (London, 1927), vol. VI, p. 81

5 C. Brown, ‘Lydgate’s Verses on Queen Margaret’s Entry into London’,

Modern Language
Review
, (1912), vol. VII, pp. 225–34.

6 J. Stacey, et al.,

Rotuli Parliamentorum
, (London, 1767–77), Vol. V, pp. 73–4. 7 Stevenson,

Narratives
, I, pp. 164–7.

N O T E S T O PA G E S 2 7 – 4 6

237

8 Thomas

Gascoigne,

Loci e libro veritatem
, ed. J.E.T. Rogers (1881), pp. 204–5. 9 Agnes

Strickland,

Lives of the Queens of England
, (London, 1902), Vol. III, p. 109. 10 J.S. Davies, (ed.),
An English Chronicle of the Reigns of Richard II, Henry IV, Henry V and
Henry VI
, (London, 1856), pp. 116–18.

11 Stevenson,

Narratives
, I, pp. 198–201.

12 Ibid, pp. 243–64.

13 A.L. Brown, ‘The King’s Councillors in Fifteenth Century England’,

Transactions of the
Royal Historical Society
, (1969), pp. 95–118.

14 This complaint was directed at the alleged factional use of legal process as a means of pursuing personal quarrels.

15 A.R. Myers, ‘The Household of Margaret of Anjou, 1452–3’,

Bulletin of the John Rylands
Library
, (1957–8), vol. XL, pp. 70–113, 391–431.

16 Strickland,

Queens of England
, vol. III, p. 212. 17 Davies,
An English Chronicle
, p. 78.

18

English Historical Documents
, Vol. IV, p. 272

19 N. Davis (ed.),

Paston Letters and Papers of the Fifteenth Century
, (Oxford, 1971–6), vol. II, p. 108.

20 C.A.J. Armstrong, ‘Politics and the Battle of St Albans, 1455’,

Bulletin of the Institute of
Historical Reasearch
, (1960), vol. XXXIII, pp. 1–72. 21 Ibid.

22 E.B. Fryde, et al., (eds),

Handbook of British Chronology
, 3rd edn, (London, 1986), pp. 87, 95, 107.

23 Strickland,

Queens of England
, vol. III, p. 225. 24
Rotuli Parliamentorum
, vol. V, p. 375. Davies,
English Chronicle
, pp. 99–100. 25
Rotuli Parliamentorum
, vol. V, pp. 375–83. The judges and law lords had pro nounced themselves incompetent to mediate in ‘so high a matter of state’. 26 R.A. Griffi ths,
The Reign of KingHenry VI
, (London, 1981), pp. 870–1. While the battle of Wakefi eld was being fought, Margaret was at Lincluden in Scotland, seeking the help of Mary of Geldres. Helen Mauer,
Margaret of Anjou
, (London, 2005), op. cit. 27 Davies,
English Chronicle
, p. 110.

28 Rawdon Brown, et al.,

Calendar of State Papers, Venetian
, (London, 1864–98), vol. I, p. 119. 29 Philippe de Commynes,
Memoires
, ed. J. Calmette and G. Durville, (1924–5), vol. I, p. 205.

30 J. Warkworth,

A Chronicle of the First Thirteen Years of the Reign of King Edward the Fourth
, ed. J. Halliwell, (London, 1839), p. 19.

Notes to Chapter 3: The Queen as Lover: Elizabeth Woodville
1
Rotuli Parliamentorum
, (London, 1767–77), vol. IV, p. 498.
Calendar of the Patent Rolls,
1436–41
, (London, 1911), p. 53. The Duchess had recently been granted dower provided that she did not remarry without royal permission.

2 R.

Fabyan,

The New Chronicles of England and of France
, ed. H. Ellis, (London, 1811), p. 654.

238

N O T E S T O PA G E S 4 6 – 6 2

3 ‘Gregory’s Chronicle’, in J. Gairdner (ed.),

The Historical Collections of a Citizen of London
, (London, 1876), p. 226.

4 Jean

de

Waurin,

Anchiennes Cronicques d’Engleterre
, ed. E. Dupont, (1858–63), 3 vols, vol. II, pp. 327–8.

5 J.R. Lander, ‘Marriage and Politics in the Fifteenth Century: The Nevills and the Wydevilles’,

Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research
, (1963), 26, pp. 135–43. 6 G.

Smith,

The Coronation of Elizabeth Woodville
, (London, 1935),
Excerpta Historica
, ed. S. Bentley (London, 1831), pp. 176–212.

7 ‘Annales rerum anglicarum’, in J. Stevenson (ed.),

Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Wars
of the English in France
, (1864), vol. II, ii, p. 783. 8 Ibid., pp. 783–5.

9 Lander, ‘Marriage and Politics’, p. 140.

10

Handbook of British Chronology
, p. 271.

11 A.R. Myers, ‘The Household of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, 1466–7’,

Bulletin of the John
Rylands Library
, (1967–8), 1, pp. 207–35, 443–81.

12 A.H. Thomas and I.D. Thornley (eds),

The Great Chronicle of London
, (London, 1938), pp. 204–8.

13 Edward Hall,

Chronicle
, ed. H. Ellis, (London, 1809), pp. 273–4. 14 Polydore Vergil,
Anglica Historia
, ed. D. Hay (London, 1950), n.s. 74, p. 125. 15 J. Warkworth,
A Chronicle of the First Thirteen Years of the Reign of King Edward the Fourth
, ed. J. Halliwell (London, 1839), p. 10.

16 Bruce, J. (ed.),

Historie of the Arrivall of King Edward IV
, (London, 1838), p. 2. 17 Ibid., pp. 18–21.

18 Ibid., pp. 32–3.

19 D. Baldwin,

Elizabeth Woodville
, (Stroud, 2002), p. 77. 20 John Stacey and Thomas Burdett, ‘Croyland Chronicle’ in W. Fulham (ed.)
Rerum
Anglicarum Scriptores Veterum
, (Oxford, 1654), p. 561. 21
Calendar of the Patent Rolls, 1476–85
, pp. 172–3. A petition to the parliament of 1478 by Ankarette’s grandson and heir, Roger Twynho.