The Third Plantagenet: George, Duke of Clarence, Richard III's Brother

by John Ashdown-Hill

  3. Margaret (Burgundy) b. Waltham Abbey,9 Tuesday 3 May 1446, married 1468, d. Thursday 23 November 1503.

  4. William b. Fotheringhay Castle, Friday 7 July 1447, d. before 1456.

  5. John b. Neyte (manor of the Abbot of Westminster), Ebury (‘Ey’), Westminster, Thursday 7 November 1448, baptised Chelsea, d. before 1456.

  6. George (Clarence) b. Dublin Castle, 12 noon, Tuesday 21 October 1449, d. Wednesday 18 February 1478.

  7. Thomas b. 1450/1451, d. before 1456.10

  8. Richard (III) (Glos.) b. Fotheringhay Castle (?or possibly Berkhamsted Castle?), Monday 2 October 1452, d. Monday 22 August 1485.

  4. Ursula b. Sunday 20 July (Feast of St Margaret) 1455, d. before 1456.

  NOTES

  1. T. Hearne, Liber Niger Scaccarii nec non Wilhelmi Worcestrii Annales Rerum Anglicarum vol. 2 (London, 1774), pp.52–6.

  2. A daughter called Joan, b. 1438, d. 1438, was listed as the Yorks’ first child in A. Weir, Britain’s Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy (London, 1989), p.135. However, Joan is mentioned neither by Friar Osberne Bokenham (see title page) nor by William Worcester, and Alison Weir told me that she now believes that there is no evidence for the existence of Joan, who will be removed from any future editions of her book (personal communication 6 December 2012).

  3. ‘in quodam manerio Domini episcopi Eliensis nuccupato [sic in MS] Hatfeld’.

  4. In later copies of his list, Worcester says 9 August, or Tuesday 10 August.

  5. In 1445 Edward was given the title ‘Earl of March’. It is clear that he was then the Yorks’ eldest son, and it was his marriage with a French princess which was being negotiated, so Henry must have been dead by then.

  6. In other versions of the list Worcester gives Edward’s date of birth as Monday 28 April – which is impossible.

  7. Elsewhere, Worcester says Monday 17 May, which is impossible.

  8. Elsewhere, Worcester says Tuesday 22 April, but 22 April was not a Tuesday, and details of arrangements for Elizabeth’s baptism show that she must have been born in September.

  9. Later versions of the list (possibly confusing Margaret with William) incorrectly state that Margaret was born at Fotheringhay.

  10. William Worcester’s original list (probably written down in about 1450) ends with George. Later versions of the list give brief details of Richard and Ursula, and include additional – and often erroneous – information regarding the births of the earlier children. But none of Worcester’s lists mentions Thomas.

  MOTTOS OF THE FAMILY OF

  GEORGE, DUKE OF CLARENCE

  George, Duke of Clarence ex Honore de Clare (Of – or from – the honour of Clare).1

  Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers nulle la vault (Nothing is worth it)

  Edward IV (brother) 1. modus et ordo (Method [?or manner] and order).2

  2. comfort et liesse (Comfort and joy).3

  Elizabeth of York junior (niece) san removyr (Without changing).4

  Margaret of Clarence (Pole), Countess spes mea in Deo est

  of Salisbury (daughter (My hope is in God).5

  Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy bien en aviengne

  (sister) (May good come of it)

  Richard III (brother) 1. loyaulte me lie (Loyalty binds me)

  2. a vo me ly’ (= a vous me lie =

  [It] binds me to you)

  3. I have desired it so much.6

  Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (father-in-law) soulement une (Only one).7

  NOTES

  1. P. McGill and J. Jones, Standards, Badges & Livery Colours of the Wars of the Roses (Enfield:, 1992), p.20 [MB].

  2. http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/King-Edward-IV/ (consulted January 2013).

  3. http://www.r3.org/bookcase/misc/edward4roll/frame.html (consulted January 2013).

  4. http://www.r3.org/rnt1991/bookofprayer.html (consulted January 2013).

  5. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Dg1FAAAAYAAJ&pg=PT195&lpg=PT195&dq=Margaret+Countess+of+Salisbury+motto&source=bl&ots=JyNTZIIcXD&sig=KZn2gffnqgV1VueOg2eT6hgsoes&hl=en&sa=X&ei=YbnqUMP0MobN0QWsxoGQDA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwADgU (consulted January 2013).

  6. Both http://www.r3.org/rnt1991/bookofprayer.html (consulted January 2013).

  7. http://www.r3.org/learn.html (consulted January 2013).

  GEORGE, DUKE OF CLARENCE

  FAMILY TREES

  The patrilineal ancestry of George, Duke of Clarence – Table 1.

  The patrilineal ancestry of George, Duke of Clarence – Table 2.

  The matrilineal ancestry of George, Duke of Clarence.

  Relatives of George, Duke of Clarence – the Beaufort line (simplified).

  Relatives of George, Duke of Clarence – the Neville line (simplified).

  ABBREVIATIONS

  Bennett, HT J. Bennett, The History of Tewkesbury (Tewkesbury, 1830)

  Blunt, TA J. H. Blunt, Tewkesbury Abbey and its Associations (London, 1875)

  CCR Calendar of Close Rolls

  Commynes M. Jones, ed. and trans., Philippe de Commynes, Memoirs (Harmondsworth, 1972)

  CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls

  CSPM Calendar of State Papers – Milan

  Crowland N. Pronay and J. Cox, eds, The Crowland Chronicle Continuations: 1459–1486 (London, 1986)

  de Roye B. de Mandrot, ed., Journal de Jean de Roye 1460–1483, connu sous le nom de Chronique Scandaleuse vol. 1 (Paris, 1844); vol. 2 (Paris, 1846)

  DNB Dictionary of National Biography

  Eleanor J. Ashdown-Hill, Eleanor, the Secret Queen (Stroud, 2008)

  FFPC M. Hicks, False, Fleeting, Perjur’d Clarence – George, Duke of Clarence 1449–78 (Bangor, 1992)

  Harl. 433 R. Horrox and P. W. Hammond, eds, British Library Harleian Manuscript 433 vol. 2 (London, 1980); vol. 3 (London, 1982)

  HHB A. Crawford, ed., The Household Books of John Howard, Duke of Norfolk, 1462–1471, 1481–1483 (Stroud, 1992)

  ‘Knave’ A. Sutton and L. Visser-Fuchs, ‘Richard III and the Knave of Cards: An Illuminator’s Model in Manuscript and Print, 1440s to 1990s’, The Antiquaries Journal 79 (1999), pp.257–99

  Mancini D. Mancini, The Usurpation of Richard III ed. C. A. J. Armstrong (Gloucester, 1989)

  MAT H. J. L. J. Massé, The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury with Some Account of the Priory Church of Deerhurst Gloucestershire (London, 1900, 1901, 1906)

  HCSP A. and J. Nicoll, eds, Holinshed’s Chronicle as used in Shakespeare’s Plays (London, 1927, 1955)

  ODNB Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

  Ric. The Ricardian

  RMS J. Ashdown-Hill, Royal Marriage Secrets (Stroud, 2013)

  RP Rotuli Parliamentorum ut et Petitiones et Placita in Parliamento (London, 1767–77)

  Scofield C. L. Scofield, The Life and Reign of Edward the Fourth, King of England and of France and Lord of Ireland 2 vols (London, 1923; reprinted 1967)

  TA4 M. Donmall and R. K. Morris, ‘The Bones in the Clarence Vault’, in R. K. Morris and R. Shoesmith (eds), Tewkesbury Abbey: History, Art and Architecture (Hereford, 2003; reprinted with corrections, 2012), chapter 4

  V&A Victoria and Albert Museum

  Wavrin J. de Wavrin, Recueil des Chroniques et Anchienne Istories de la Grant Bretaigne, à Present Nommé Engleterre Vol. 5 ed. W. Hardy and E. L. C. P. Hardy (1891, reprinted Cambridge, 2012)

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS

  Bodleian, MS. Top. Glouc. d. 2

  Bodleian MS Dugdale 15

  TNA C81/1512/ 51–52

  TNA C81/1512/52

  Suffolk Record Office (Ipswich)

  HA 246/B2/498

  BOOKS

  Published in London unless stated otherwise.

  Armstrong, C. A. J., ed., Mancini D., The Usurpation of Richard III (Gloucester: 1989)

  Ashdown-Hill, J., Eleanor, the Secret Queen (Stroud: 2008)

  Ashdown-Hill, J., Richard III’s ‘Beloved Cousyn’, John Howard and the House of York (Stroud: 2009)

  Ashdown-Hill, J., Royal
Marriage Secrets (Stroud: 2013)

  Atkyns, R., Ancient and Present State of Gloucestershire (1712; reprinted 1974)

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  Bennett, J., The Tewkesbury Register and Magazine vol. 2 (Tewkesbury: 1850)

  Bigland – see Frith

  Blaire, J. and Ramsey, N., eds, English Medieval Industries (1991, 2001)

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  Brooke, C. N. L., The Medieval Idea of Marriage (Oxford, 1989)

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  Clive, M., This Sun of York (1973)

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  Commynes, P. de – see Jones

  Complete Peerage – see Cockayne

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  Croke, G., Select Cases – see Grimstone

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  Doubleday, H. A. and Howard de Walden, Lord, The Complete Peerage vol. 7 2nd edition (1929)

  Edwards, R., The Itinerary of King Richard III 1483–1485 (1983)

  Ellis, H., ed., Holinshed’s Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland 6 vols (1807–8)

  Ellis, H., ed., The New Chronicles of England and France by Robert Fabyan (1811)

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  Fabyan, R. – see Ellis

  Frith, B., ed., Bigland, R., Historical Monumental and Genealogical Collections Relative to the County of Gloucestershire 4 vols (Gloucester, 1992)

  Gairdner, J., ed., Letters and Papers Illustrative of the Reigns of Richard III and Henry VII 2 vols (London, 1861–3)

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  Grimstone, H. and Leach, T., eds, Reports of Sir George Croke, Knight, of … Select Cases (Dublin, 1793)

  Halstead, C. A., Richard III vol. 1 (1844)

  Hammond, P. W., ed., Richard III: Loyalty Lordship and Law (Stroud, 1986)

  Hardy, W. and E. L. C. P., eds, J. de Wavrin, Recueil des Chroniques et Anchienne Istories de la Grant Bretaigne, à Present Nommé Engleterre vol. 5 (1891; reprinted Cambridge, 2012)

  Harris, B. J., English Aristocratic Women, 1450–1550 (Oxford, 2002)

  Hayman, S. and Graves, J., eds, Unpublished Geraldine Documents (Dublin, 1870–81)

  Hicks, M., False, Fleeting, Perjur’d Clarence 2nd edition (Bangor: 1992)

  Horrox, R. and Hammond, P. W., eds, British Library Harleian Manuscript 433 vol. 2 (1980)

  Humphreys, H. N., The Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages. An Account of the Development and Progress of the Art of Illumination, as a Distinct Branch of Pictorial Ornamentation, from the IVth to the XVIIth Centuries (London, 1849)

  Johnson, P. A., Duke Richard of York 1411–1460 (Oxford: 1988)

  Jones, M., ed. and trans., Philippe de Commynes, Memoirs (1972)

  Kendall, P. M., Richard the Third (1955)

  Kendall, P. M., Warwick the Kingmaker and the Wars of the Roses (1957, 1973)

  Laynesmith, J., The Last Medieval Queens: English Queenship 1445–1503 (Oxford, 2004)

  Mancini, D. – see Armstrong

  Mandrot, B. de, ed., Journal de Jean de Roye 1460–1483, connu sous le nom de Chronique Scandaleuse 2 vols (Paris: 1844–6)

  Manners and Household Expenses of England in the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (London, 1841)

  Massé, H. J. L. J., The Abbey Church of Tewkesbury with Some Account of the Priory Church of Deerhurst Gloucestershire (1900, 1901, 1906)

  McGill, P. and Jones, J., Standards, Badges & Livery Colours of the Wars of the Roses (1992)

  Morris, R. K. and Shoesmith, R., Tewkesbury Abbey: History, Art and Architecture (2003)

  Myers, A. R., ed., English Historical Documents vol. 4 (1969)

  Myers, A. R., ed., Buck, G., The History of the Life and Reigne of Richard the Third (1646; reprinted Wakefield, 1973)

  Nicoll, A. and Nicoll, J., eds, Holinshed’s Chronicle as used in Shakespeare’s Plays (1927, 1955)

  ODNB – see internet

  Pronay, N. and Cox, J., The Crowland Chronicle Continuations 1459–1486 (1986)

  Riley, H. T., ed., Ingulph’s Chronicle of the Abbey of Croyland (1854)

  RP, vol. 6

  Ross, C., Edward IV (1974)

  Roye, J. de – see Mandrot

  Scofield, C. L., The Life and Reign of Edward the Fourth, King of England and of France and Lord of Ireland 2 vols (1923; reprinted, 1967)

  Smith, G., ed., The Coronation of Elizabeth Wydeville, Queen Consort of Edward IV, on May 26th 1465. A Contemporary account now First Set Forth from a XV Century Manuscript (London, 1935; reprinted Cliftonville, 1975)

  The Coronation of Their Majesties King George VI & Queen Elizabeth, Official Souvenir Programme (1937)

  The Skinners’ Company, Guild Book of the London Skinners’ Fraternity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (c. 1472)

  Thomas, A. H. and Thornley, I. D., eds, The Great Chronicle of London (1938)

  Tudor-Craig, P., Richard III, National Portrait Gallery exhibition catalogue (1973)

  Twining, A. G., Our Kings and Westminster Abbey (1911)

  Visser-Fuchs, L., Edward IV’s Memoir on Paper to Charles, Duke of Burgundy: The So-Called ‘Short Version of the Arrivall’ (Nottingham, 1992)

  Urban, S., The Gentleman’s Magazine vol. 96, no. 1 (January–June 1826)

  Wavrin (Waurin) – see Hardy

  Weightman, C., Margaret of York Duchess of Burgundy 1446–1503 (Gloucester, 1989)

  Weir, A., Britain’s Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (1989)

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  Articles, Chapters & Booklets

  Adair, J., ‘The newsletter of Gerhard von Wesel, 17 April 1471’, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research (1968), pp.65–9.

  Ashdown-Hill, J., ‘The Red Rose of Lancaster?’, Ric. 10 (June 1996), pp.406–20.

  Ashdown-Hill, J., ‘Walsingham in 1469: The Pilgrimage of Edward IV and Richard, Duke of Gloucester’, Ric. 11 (March 1997), pp.2–16.

  Ashdown-Hill, J., ‘Edward IV’s Uncrowned Queen: The Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lady Butler’, Ric. 11 (December 1997), pp.166–90.

  Ashdown-Hill, J., ‘The Elusive Mistress: Elizabeth Lucy and her Family’, Ric. 11 (June 1999), pp.490–505.

  Ashdown-Hill, J., ‘Norfolk Requiem: The Passing of the House of Mowbray’, Ric. 12 (March 2001), 198–217.

  Ashdown-Hill, J., ‘The Lancastrian Claim to the Throne’, Ric. 13 (2003), pp.27–38.

  Ashdown-Hill, J. & Carson A, ‘The Execution of the Earl of Desmond’, Ric. 15 (2005), pp.70–93.

  Ashdown-Hill, J., “‘Yesterday
my Lord of Gloucester came to Colchester …”’ Essex Archaeology & History 36 (2005), pp.212–17.

  Barnfield, M., ‘Diriment Impediments, Dispensations and Divorce: Richard III and Matrimony’, Ric. 17 (2007), pp.84–98.

  Helmholz, R. H., ‘The Sons of Edward IV: A Canonical Assessment of the Claim that they were Illegitimate’, in Hammond, P. W., ed., Richard III: Loyalty Lordship and Law (1986), pp.91–103.

  Madden, F., ‘Political Poems of the Reigns of Henry VI and Edward IV’, Archaeologia, 29 (1842), pp.318–47.

  Maddern, P., ‘Honour among the Pastons: Gender and Integrity in Fifteenth-Century English Provincial Society’, Journal of Medieval History, 14 (1988).

  Peers, C., Berkhamsted Castle (HMSO, 1948) (1968).

  Rosenthal, J. T., ‘The Estates and Finances of Richard, Duke of York (1411–1460)’, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance History, 2 (1965), pp.117–204.

  Sutton, A. and Visser-Fuchs, L., ‘Richard III and the Knave of Cards: An Illuminator’s Model in Manuscript and Print, 1440s to 1990s’, The Antiquaries Journal, 79 (1999), pp.257–99.

  ‘Tewkesbury Memoires’, New York Times, 20 Sept 1885.

  Tewkesbury Register, 29 April 1876 –‘Tewkesbury Abbey Restoration, Interesting Discoveries’.

  Tewkesbury Register, 20 July 1878 – ‘Restoration of Tewkesbury Abbey’.

  The Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. xcvi.i (1826).

  Visser-Fuchs, L., ‘Richard in Holland, 1461’, Ric. VI, no. 81 (1983), pp.182–9.

  Wesel – see Adair

  Internet

  Felinah Memo Hazara Khan-ad-Din, ‘Old age, height and nutrition: common misconceptions about medieval England’ 2003, http://sirguillaume.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Old_Age-Height-Nutrition.pdf (consulted February 2013)