The Last Days of Queen Isabella (c1295-1358)

Isabella returns to England from France

The following account of the final days of Isabella is taken from John Timbs, “Nooks and corners of English life, past and present,” Second edition, London (1867): Griffith and Farran, pp.148-53--* (punctuation modernized)

THE PRIVATE LIFE OF A QUEEN OF ENGLAND

ONE of the most interesting records of the domestic life of our ancestors is a series of “Notices of the Last Days of Isabella, Queen of Edward II, drawn from an Account of the Expenses of her Household,” and communicated to the Society of Antiquaries, by Mr. E. A. Bond, of the British Museum. Nothing can exceed the minuteness of this memorial of the domestic manners of the middle of the fourteenth century—no court circular ever chronicled the movements of royalty more circumstantially than does this household account.

After the deposition and murder of Edward II, we hear little of the story of the chief mover of these events.  Having mentioned the execution of Mortimer, Froissart tells us that the King ordered his mother to be confined in a goodly castle and gave her plenty of ladies to wait and attend on her, as well as knights and esquires of honour. He made her a handsome allowance to keep and maintain the state she had been used to, but forbade that she should ever go out or drive herself abroad, except at certain times, when any shows were exhibited in the court of the castle.  The King visited her twice or thrice a year. Castle Rising was the place of her confinement. Here the Queen took up her abode in 1330; after the first two years, the strictness of her seclusion was relaxed. She died at Hertford, August 22, 1358, and was buried in the church of the Grey Friars, within Newgate, now the site of Christ's Hospital.

The account of the Queen's expenses is one of the Cotton MSS. in the British Museum.  It embraces, in distinct divisions, the Queen's general daily expenses; sums given in alms; miscellaneous necessary expenses; disbursements for dress; purchases of plate and jewellery; gifts; payments to messengers; and imprests for various services.  In the margin of the general daily expenses are entered the names of the visitors during the day, together with the movements of the household from place to place. From these notices, in addition to the light they throw upon the domestic life of the period, we gain some insight into the degree of personal freedom enjoyed by the Queen and her connections, the consideration she obtained at the Court of Edward III her son, and even into her personal disposition and occupations. These particulars relate to her last days.

It appears that, at the beginning of October 1357, the Queen was residing at her castle of Hertford, having not very long before been at Rising. The first visitor mentioned, and who sups with her, was Joan her niece.  Joan visited the Queen constantly and nursed her in her last illness.

About the middle of October, Queen Isabella set out from Hertford on a pilgrimage to Canterbury. She rested at Tottenham, London, Eltham, Dartford and Rochester.  In going or returning [she] visited Leeds Castle, and was again at Hertford in the beginning of November. She gave alms to the nuns—Minoresses without Aldgate; to the rector of St. Edmund's in London, in whose parish her hostel was situated (Lombard Street); and to the prisoners in Newgate. On the 26th of October she entertained the King and Prince of Wales, in her own house in Lombard Street; and we have recorded a gift of thirteen shillings and fourpence to four minstrels who played in their presence.

On the 16th of November, after her return to Hertford Castle, she was visited by the Gascon warrior, Captal de Buche, cousin of the Comte de Foix. He had recently come over to England with the Prince of Wales, having fought with the English at Poitiers.  Subsequent entries record the visits of several noble captives taken in that battle.

On the following day is recorded a visit, at dinner, of the "Comes de la March," considered to be Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, the grandson of her favourite. He was high in Edward the Third's confidence and appears to have been in England at the present time: under the head of donations is notice of a sum paid to four minstrels of the Earl of March. His visit was subsequently twice repeated, and then in company with the King (by whom, as Froissart tells us, "he was much loved") and the Prince of Wales.  “And thus," says Mr. Bond, "we have an indication that time has scarcely weakened Isabella's fidelity to a criminal attachment [my emphasis]; although [Mortimer] had been torn from her, she still cherished his memory and sought her friends among those most nearly allied to him."

On the 28th of November and the two following days, the Queen entertained the Earl of Tancarville, one of the captives at Poitiers.  With him [was] the Earl of Salisbury, who was connected with the Mortimers, being brother-in-law to the existing Earl of March.  His father had personally acted a principal part in arresting Isabella's paramour in Nottingham Castle. On the 15th of December, the Queen was visited by the Countess of Pembroke, one of Isabella's closest friends. And, again, what can we infer but a clinging on her part to the memory of Mortimer, when we find that this lady was his daughter? and thus visits were received by Isabella from a daughter, the grandson, and grandson's brother-in-law, of her favourite, within the space of one month.

On the 10th of February messengers arrive from the King of Navarre, to announce, as it appears elsewhere, his escape from captivity: an indication that Isabella was still busy in the stirring events in her native country. On the 20th of March the King comes to supper. On each day of the first half of the month of May, during the Queen's stay in London, the entries show her guests at dinner and her visitors after dinner and at supper, as formally as a court circular of our own time.

Of the several entries we select a few of the more interesting. On three occasions in March guests came to supper with the Queen: Lionel, Earl of Ulster; the King; and the Earl of Richmond. The supper of that period was given, probably, at five o'clock, three hours earlier than the royal dinner of our time.

In April we find reference to the Queen's journey to Windsor, upon which Mr. Bond remarks: "There is no room for doubt, therefore (though the chroniclers make no mention of the circumstance), that the object of Isabella's journey was to be present at the festivities held at Windsor by Edward III in celebration of St. George's Day, the 23d of April—festivities set forth with unwonted magnificence, in honour of the many crowned heads and noble foreigners then in England, and to which strangers from all countries were offered safe letters of conduct." From an entry in May, we find a donation of the considerable sum of six pounds thirteen shillings to a messenger from Windsor, certifying her of the conclusion of terms of a peace between Edward III and his captive, John of France.  The same sum is given by Isabella, the same day, to a courier bearing a letter from Queen Philippa, conveying the same intelligence.

On May 14, Isabella left London, resting at Tottenham, on her way to Hertford.  A payment is recorded of a gift of six shillings and eightpence to the nuns of Cheshunt, who met the Queen at the cross in the high road in front of their house.

On the 4th of June, Isabella set out on a pilgrimage to Canterbury and a visit to Leeds Castle. At Canterbury, on the 10th and llth, she entertained the Abbot of St. Augustine's.  Under "Alms" are recorded the Queen's oblations at the tomb of St. Thomas and her payment to minstrels playing "in volta;" as also her oblations in the church of St. Augustine and her donations to various hospitals and religious houses in Canterbury.

Respecting Isabella's death, she is stated by chroniclers to have sunk, in the course of a single day, under the effect of a too powerful medicine--administered at her own desire.  In this account, however, she appears to have been in a state requiring medical treatment for some time previous to her decease. She expired on August 22; however, as early as February 15, a payment had been made to a messenger going on three several occasions to London for divers medicines for the Queen, and for the hire of a horse for Master Lawrence, the physician; and again for another journey by night to London. On the same day a second payment was made to the same messenger for two other journeys by night to London, and two to St. Albans, to procure medicines for the Queen. On the 1st of August, payment was made to Nicholas Thomasyer, apothecary, of London, for divers spices and ointment supplied for the Queen's use. Among the other entries is a payment to Master Lawrence of forty shillings, for attendance on the Queen and the Queen of Scotland, at Hertford, for an entire month.

It is evident that the body of the Queen remained in the chapel of the castle until November 23, as a payment is made to fourteen poor persons for watching the Queen's corpse there, day and night, from Saturday, the 25th of August, to the above date, each of them receiving twopence daily, besides his food. "While the body lay at Hertford, a solemn mass was performed in the chapel, when the daily expenditure rose from the average of six pounds to fifteen and twenty-five pounds. The Queen's funeral took place on the 27th: she was interred in the choir of the church of the Grey Friars, the Archbishop of Canterbury officiating, and the King himself being present at the ceremony. Just twenty-eight years before, on nearly the same day, the body of her paramour Mortimer was consigned to its grave in the same building [ed. note: Roger was actually buried in Austin Priory, Wigmore].

The Alms amount to the considerable sum of 298l. They consist of chapel offerings; donations to religious houses; to clergymen preaching in the Queen's presence; to special applicants for charity; and to paupers. The most interesting entry, perhaps, is that of a donation of forty shillings to the abbess and minoresses without Aldgate, in London, to purchase for themselves two pittances on the anniversaries of Edward, late King of England, and Sir John, of Eltham (the Queen's son), given on the 20th of November. This is the sole instance of any mention in the account of the unhappy Edward II.

Among these items is a payment to the nuns of Cheshunt for meeting the Queen in the high road in front of their house: and this is repeated on every occasion of the Queen's passing the priory in going to or from Hertford. There is more than one entry of alms given to poor scholars of Oxford, who had come to ask it of the Queen. A distribution is made amongst a hundred or fifty poor persons on the principal festivals of the year, amongst which that of Queen Katharine is included. Doles also are made among paupers daily and weekly throughout the year, amounting in one year and a month to 102l. On the 12th of September, after the Queen's death, a payment of twenty shillings is made to William Ladde, of Shene (Richmond), on account of the burning of his house by an accident while the Queen was staying at Shene.

Under the head of  "Necessaries," we find a payment of fifty shillings to carpenters, plasterers, and tilers, for works in the Queen's chamber, for making a staircase from the chamber to the chapel, &c. Afterwards we find half-yearly payments of twenty-five shillings and twopence to the Prioress of St. Helen's, in London, as rent for the Queen's house in Lombard Street; a purchase of two small "catastse," or cages, for birds, in the Queen's chamber; and of hemp-seed for the same birds. From an entry under "Gifts," it appears that two small birds were given to Isabella by the King on the 26th of November. Next are payments for binding the black carpet in the Queen's chamber; for repairs of the castle; lining the Queen's chariot with coloured cloth; repairs of the Queen's bath, and gathering of herbs for it. Also, payments to William Taterford, for six skins of vellum for writing the Queen's books; and for writing a book of divers matters for the Queen, fourteen shillings, including cost of parchment; to Richard Painter, for azure for illuminating the Queen's books; the repayment of the sum of 200l  borrowed of Richard Earl of Arundel; the purchase of an embroidered saddle, with gold fittings, and a black palfrey, given to the Queen of Scotland; a payment to Louis de Posan, merchant, of the Society of Mallebaill, in London, for two mules bought by him at Avignon for the Queen, 28l 13s. The mules arrived after the Queen's death, and were given over to the King.

The division of the account relating to her jewels affords an insight into the personal character of Isabella, showing that the events of her life and her increasing years had not overcome her natural passion for personal display. The total amount expended on jewels was no less than 1,399l; and, says Mr. Bond, "after ample allowance for the acknowledged general habit of indulgence in personal ornaments belonging to the period, we cannot but consider Isabella's outlay on her trinkets as exorbitant, and as betraying a more than common weakness for those vain luxuries." The more costly were purchased of Italian merchants. Her principal English jewellers appear to have been John de Louthe and William de Berking, goldsmiths, of London. In a general entry of 421l paid for divers articles of jewellery to Pardo Pardi, and Bernardo Donati, Italian merchants, are items of a chaplet of gold, set with "bulays" (rubies), sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, and pearls, price 105l; divers pearls, 87l; a crown of gold set with sapphires, rubies of Alexandria, and pearls, price 80l. The payment was not made till the 8th of August; but there can be little doubt that these royal ornaments were ordered for the occasion of Isabella's visit to Windsor, at the celebration of St. George's Day. Among other entries, is a payment of 32l for several articles: namely, for a girdle of silk studded with silver, 20s, three hundred doublets (rubies) at twentypence the hundred; 1,800 pearls at twopence each; and a circlet of gold of the price of 16l,  bought for the marriage of Katharine Brouart; another of a pair of tablets of gold, enamelled with divers histories, of the price of 9l.

The division of “Dona,” besides entries of simple presents and gratuities, contains notes of gifts to messengers from acquaintances; and others, giving us further insight into the connexions maintained by the Queen. Notices of messengers bringing letters from the Countesses of Warren and Pembroke are very frequent. Under the head of "Prestita," moreover, is an entry of a sum of 230l given to Sir Thomas de la March, in money, paid to him by the hands of Henry Pikard, citizen of London (doubtless the magnificent Lord Mayor of that name, who so royally entertained King John of France, the King of Cyprus, and the Prince of Wales, at this period) as a loan from Queen Isabella, on the obligatory letter of the same Sir Thomas: he is known as the victor in a duel, fought at Windsor, in presence of Edward III, with Sir John Viscomte, in 1350. To the origin of Isabella's interest in him we find no clue.

Several payments to couriers refer to the liberation of Charles, King of Navarre, proving that the Queen was not indifferent to the events passing in her native country.  Charles of Navarre [was] perhaps the most unprincipled sovereign of his age, known in his country's annals under the designation of "the Wicked."

Among the remaining notices of messengers and letters, we have mention of the King's butler coming to the Queen at Hertford, with letters of the King, and a present of three pipes of wine; a messenger from the King, with three casks of Gascon wine; another messenger from the King, with a present of small birds; John of Paris, coming from the King of France to the Queen at Hertford and returning with two volumes of Lancelot and the Sang Real, sent to the same King by Isabella; a messenger bringing a boar's head and breast from the Duke of Lancaster, Henry Plantagenet; William Orloger, Monk of St. Albans, bringing to the Queen several quadrants of copper; a messenger bringing a present of a falcon from the King; a present of a wild boar from the King and of a cask of Gascon wine; a messenger, bringing a present of twenty-four bream from the Countess of Clare; and payments to messengers bringing new year's gifts from the King, Queen Philippa, the Countess of Pembroke, and Lady Wake.

Frequent payments to minstrels playing in the Queen's presence occur, sufficient to show that Isabella greatly delighted in this entertainment; and these are generally minstrels of the King, the Prince, or of noblemen, such as the Earl of March, the Earl of Salisbury, and others. And we find a curious entry of a payment of thirteen shillings and fourpence to Walter Hert, one of the Queen's "vigiles" (viol-players), going to London, staying there in order to learn minstrelsy at Lent time; and again, of a further sum to the same on his return from London, "de scola menstralcie."

Of special presents by the Queen, we have mention of new year's gifts to the ladies of her chamber, eight in number, of one hundred shillings to each, and twenty shillings each to thirty-three clerks and squires; a girdle to Edward de Ketilbergh, the Queen's ward; a donation of forty shillings to Master Lawrence, the surgeon, for attendance on the Queen; a present of fur to the Countess of Warren; a small gift to Isabella Spicer, her god-daughter; and a present of sixty-six pounds to Isabella de St. Pol, lady of the Queen's bed-chamber, on occasion of her marriage with Edward Brouart. Large rewards, amounting together to 540l, were given after Isabella's death, by the King's order, to her several servants, for their good service to the Queen in her lifetime.

The division of Messengers contains payments for the carriage of letters to the Queen's officers and acquaintances. Among them we find mention of a letter to the Prior of Westminster, "for a certain falcon of the Count of Tancarville lost, and found by the said Prior."

The period of the account is from the 1st of October 1357 to the 5th of December in the following year, the same being continued "beyond the date of the Queen's death.”  The totals of the several divisions of the account are (in pounds, shillings and pence):


The Household Expenses amount to      

4,014   2   11 ½

Alms

298   18   7 ½

Necessaries

1,395   6   11

Great wardrobe

542   10   4 ½

Jewels

1,399   0   4

Gifts

1,248   5   2 ½

Messengers

14   12   10

Imprests

313   4   3 ½

Making a general total of more than  9,000 pounds

*Review of an article by E. A. Bond, “Notices of the Last Days of Isabella, Queen of Edward II, drawn from an Account of the Expenses of her Household," published in Archaeologia 35 (1854): 453-69.

A Letter to Their Father, from the Sons of Richard, Duke of York

Ludlow Castle in Shropshire.  Residence of the family of Richard, Duke of York [1411-1460].  The stairs in the foreground lead to the Great Hall.

Edward the Fourth when Earl of Marche, and his brother the Earl of Rutland, to their father, Richard, Duke of York, about the year 1454.  Edward would then have been in his 12th year, and Edmund in his 11th [ms. Cotton. Vksp. F. in. fol 9. Orig.]:

Ryght hiegh and ryght myghty Prince, oure ful redouted and ryght noble lorde and ffadur, as lowely with all oure herts as we youre trewe and naturell sonnes can or may, we recomaunde us un to your noble grace, humbly besechyng your nobley & worthy ffaderhode daily to yeve us your hertely blessyng: thrugh whiche we trust muche the rather to encrees and growe to vertu, and to spede the bettur in all matiers and things that we schall use, occupie, and exercise. Ryght high and ryght myghty Prince, our ful redouted lorde and ffadur, we thanke our blessed Lorde not oonly of your honourable conduite and good spede in all your matiers and besynesse, and of your gracious preuaile ayenst the ntent & malice of your evilwillers, but also of the knowelage that hit pleased your nobley to lete us nowe late have of the same by relacion of Syr Watier Deureux knyght, and John Milewatier squier, and John at Nokes yemon of your honorable chambur. 

Also we thonke your noblesse and good ffadurhod of our grene gownes nowe late sende unto us to our grete comfort; beseching your good lordeschip to remembre our porteux, and that we myght have summe fyne bonetts sende un to us by the next seure messig, for necessite so requireth. Overe this, ryght noble lord and ffadur, please hit your highnesse to witte that we have charged your servant William Smyth berer of thees for to declare un to your nobley certayne things on our behalf, namely coicernyng and touching the odieux reule and demenyng of Richard Crofte and of his brother. Wherefore we beseche your graciouse lordeschip and full noble ffadurhood to here him in exposicion of the same, and to his relacion to yeve ful feith and credence. Ryght hiegh and ryght myghty Prince, our ful redoubted and ryght noble lorde and ffadur, we beseche almyghty Jhu yeve yowe as good lyfe and long with as muche contenual perfite prosperite as your princely hert con best desir. Writen at your Castill of Lodelowe on Setursday in the Astur Woke.

Your humble sonnes

E. Marche and E. Rutlonde

Sir Henry Ellis: Original Letters, Illustrative of English History [London: 1824], 1:9-10.  

The Lady and the Unicorn

"The Lady and the Unicorn" (French: La Dame à la licorne), also called the Tapestry Cycle, is the title of a series of six Flemish tapestries depicting the senses. They are estimated to have been woven in the late 15th century in the style of mille-fleurs.

The lady depicted in the tapestry called Taste, is conjectured to have been Blanche of Lancaster (1345-1369), 1st wife of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Blanche was the daughter of Henry of Grosmont, 1st Duke of Lancaster and his wife, Isabel de Beaumont. Her paternal great-great-grandfather was Henry III of England. Dying of the plague in 1369, Blanche was said to have had blue eyes, fair hair and skin, and a calm and serene demeanor. She was living in Bolingbroke Castle at the time of her death, while her husband was away. Her funeral at St. Paul's Cathedral in London was preceded with a magnificent cortege attended by most of the nobility and clergy. John of Gaunt held annual commemorations of her death for some years thereafter.

Though some scholars disagree, it is widely held that Gaunt's grief over the death of his duchess was immortalized by Chaucer in his work, The Booke of the Duchess.  See:  http://omacl.org/Duchess/

In the tapestry, the lion and the unicorn frame the Lady who, eyes turned towards a parrot in her right hand, is taking a sweet from the candy dish offered to her by her servant. Her little dog follows her every move; at her feet a leering monkey, eating a berry or a candy, highlights the significance of the scene.

Blanche's daughter, Elizabeth (wife of John Holand, 1st Duke of Exeter), is an ancestor of my "gateway" forebear, Capt. Philip Nelson of Rowley, Massachusetts.

Source: Musee de Nationale de Moyen Age,

http://www.musee moyenage.fr/ang/pages/page_id18314_u1l2.htm

Richard II, Dining with the Dukes of York, Gloucester and Ireland. Circa 1386

Clockwise:

Edmund of Langley, uncle of the King, created 1st Duke of York in 1385

Thomas of Woodstock, another uncle of the King, created Duke of Gloucester about that same time

Richard II

Robert de Vere, court favorite of Richard and hugely unpopular with the nobles, created Duke of Ireland in 1386.

The Body of a Prince: Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, 1341-1402

By his will, dated 25th November 1400, Edmund of Langley directed his interment in the Church of the Friary of Langley, near the remains of Isabel, his first consort, who had died in 1392.  The tomb of alabaster and black marble, richly sculptured and adorned with shields of arms, was, at the dissolution of the Friary, removed into the north-east corner of the chancel of the parish church of Langley, where it is still extant.

Personality

"Shakespeare found Edmund in the chronicles in the shape of a man who loved hunting and good cheer and avoided the council chamber--just the kind of person, in fact, to provide a contrast in temperament with Richard II and in ability with Bolingbroke. York has no refinement of understanding and no political ambition. He is a sturdy, honest, well-meaning man, prompt with sensible advice but easily flustered, shrewd enough to see what's coming but not clever or resolute enough to prevent it. Normally he makes the best of a bad business--which is usually not so bad after all, either for himself or for the nation." -- J. L. Palmer, Political Characters of Shakespeare (1945), p. 552.

Edmund's Wife

Isabel of Castile-Leon (1355-1392), was a Spanish princess, the daughter of Pedro I ("the Cruel," or "el Justiciero," depending on whose side you are on) and his mistress, Maria Diaz de Padilla.

Isabel lies entombed with her husband in King's Langley. By the terms of her will, dated December 6, 1392, she asked that a hundred trentals and a hundred sauters were to be said for her soul, and four priests, or one at least, were to sing for her by the space of four years. Upon the day of her burial her best horse was to be delivered for her mortuary. She bequeathed to the King her heart of pearls; to the Duke of Lancaster, a tablet of jasper, given her by the King of Armenia; to her son Edward, her crown, to remain to his heirs; to Constance le Despencer, her daughter, a fret of pearls; to the Duchess of Gloucester, her tablet of gold with images, and also her sauter with the arms of Northampton; and to the King the residue of her goods, in trust that he should allow his godson Richard, her younger son, an annuity of 500 marks for life, a trust which the King, out of the great respect he bore to her, accepted. -- Dugdale, Baronage (1676), 2:155.

The Couple Exhumed, With a Surprise Guest

Originally interred in the Church of the Friary at Langley, the remains of the Duke and his wife were brought to All Saint's, King's Langley, about the year 1574.

The couple were destined for a second exhumation. On November 22, 1877, Professor George Rolleston, M.D., examined *three* skeletons removed from the Duke of York's tomb at All Saint's.

"I examined three skeletons at King's Langley. Of these one was the skeleton of a powerful man, considerably past the middle period of life; a second was the skeleton of a woman, as far as I could judge, between thirty-five and forty years of age; the third had belonged to a younger woman, whose age, however, could not have been very far from thirty. The bones of the first two had got somewhat intermingled; those of the third had been kept safely apart from intermixture in a leaden coffin.

"The skull belonging to the male skeleton had a sloping forehead. The chin and lower jaw were powerfully developed. The front teeth were small in size and crammed together, and many of the back teeth lost. Still the retention of the front teeth and the good development of the lower jaw and chin, coupled with the length and breadth of the facial region, must have given a commanding expression to the old man who owned this skull.

"The age was somewhere between fifty-eight and sixty-five. The crippled condition of his later years must have formed a touching contrast to the strength and vigor which he certainly possessed. In the lower jaw, three molars had been lost during life, two on one side and one on the other, and one pre-molar was carious. In the upper jaw the molars had been lost during life, and two pre-molars were carious. A piece of coarse textile fabric, with some hair of a greyish-red color adhering to it, was found with the skull. He was from 5' 5" to 5' 7" in height.

"The second skeleton, which was more or less mixed up with the first, belonged to a woman from 4 feet 6 inches to 4 feet 8 inches in stature, and between thirty-five and forty-five years of age. The wisdom teeth were all present; of those in the upper jaw, the one on the right side was apparently only just through the socket; whilst that on the other (left) side had a large cavity. The two lower jaw wisdom teeth were little worn. The right lower jaw canine presented the rare anomaly of a bifid root.

"In a leaden coffin was the skeleton of a woman about thirty years of age, a little over, probably, rather than under that age, with some auburn hair still remaining, though detached from the skull. The wisdom tooth was absent in the lower jaw on the left, and one pre-molar was absent on the right side. She was between 5 foot 3 and 5 foot 5 in height.

Concerning the identity of these bones, John Evans says that the powerful male is most certainly the Duke Edmund; the female intermixed with his bones is probably that of his first wife, Isabel of Castile-Leon.

And who is the young woman who was buried in the Duke and Duchess' tomb, alone in the leaden coffin? "In the tomb at Langley it is still uncertain who was the lady whose body was thus protected."

"It has struck me as possible that these remains may be those of Anne Mortimer, daughter of Roger Mortimer, Earl of March, first wife of Richard of Coningsburgh. This is, however, mere conjecture." -- John Evans, "Edmund of Langley and His Tomb," Archaelogia, v. 46 pt. 2 (1878), pp. 319-25; Society of Antiquaries of London.

Contemporary historians and genealogists agree with Evans' view that the skeleton in the leaden coffin is Anne Mortimer's. She was the heir general in her issue of the Crown of England, and transmitted the right to the Crown to her grandson, Edward IV.

Richard of York Anticipates a Crown, 1460

Richard Plantagenet (1411-1460), duke of York and regal hopeful, son of the disgraced Richard of Conisbrough and grandson of Edmund of Langley, was also a lineal descendant of Lionel of Clarence through his mother, Anne Mortimer. He was the first to use "Plantaginet" as a surname.

Richard's multiple descents from Edward III guaranteed that no one, not even Henry VI, had a stronger claim to the throne. Despite Parliament's acknowledgement in November 1460 naming Richard as heir of Henry VI, the latter's Queen, Margaret (who could never agree to the disinheritance of her son, Edward), raised a rebellion that resulted in York's death outside his castle at Wakefield--only a few short weeks after his future kingship had been declared.

Few men have come as close to the throne as Richard of York, and yet he died not knowing that his son, Edward, would soon become king. Even to his contemporaries, his motives were the subject of debate: had he always sought the throne, or did Henry VI's poor judgment force his hand? All questions that are destined to remain unanswered. Neither his enemies, or his friends, left a memoir of Richard.