Blood Sisters : The Women Behind the Wars of the Roses (9780465038688) by Gristwood Sarah

Author:Gristwood, Sarah [Gristwood, Sarah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780465038688
Publisher: Perseus Book Group

IT IS OFTEN SAID that Elizabeth Woodville must have known the Princes were dead, or she would never have gone along with a plan to marry her daughter Elizabeth, with her valuable York blood, to the Lancastrian Henry Tudor. But her late husband had, at the end of his life, promoted the same plan of a marriage between Elizabeth and Henry: a way to bring Henry Tudor safely into the Yorkist fold. It is, moreover, possible that she first agreed to throw her weight behind the rebellion in the belief that her sons were still living and that the insurrection would have a chance of placing Edward V on the throne. The Crowland chronicle suggests that the rebels first contemplated arms in the Princes’ name and then, after “a rumour arose that King Edward’s sons, by some unknown manner of violent destruction, had met their fate,” turned to Henry Tudor in their need for “someone new at their head.”

Margaret Beaufort’s position is more equivocal. If Margaret’s sole goal was to bring her son safely home, subject to some friendly sovereign, she might simply have continued negotiating with Richard—unless she mistrusted him and feared treachery. On the other hand, if she knew or believed the Princes were dead when she committed herself to the rebellion, her rationale would have been significantly clearer. The Princes’ deaths would have made Henry Tudor’s chances for assuming the throne much better—and would also have made Elizabeth of York more important, since she would now be the main inheritor of her father’s bloodline. If Henry could but marry Elizabeth, then many Yorkist supporters, dismayed by Richard’s seizure of the throne, might rally behind Henry, Lancastrian though he may be.

Buckingham’s position is yet more puzzling. Most now dismiss the idea (Vergil’s) that he had quarreled with Richard over lands promised and not granted. It is theoretically possible that he was belatedly defending the rights of Princes he believed to be still living; no manifesto for the rebels survives, but it seems that some of the minor risings in the South and West were indeed popular ventures aimed at freeing the Princes. (Crowland reports that “in order to deliver them from this captivity, the people of the southern and western parts of the kingdom began to murmur greatly, and to form meetings and confederacies.”) But as word of the Princes’ deaths filtered out and the goal changed, Buckingham’s involvement becomes anomalous. He may possibly have been genuinely disinterested enough to wish, while avenging the Princes, to elevate Henry Tudor to the crown. But from everything that is known of him, this seems unlikely.

Buckingham may well have been an opportunist, taking advantage of the Princes’ deaths to promote his own claim. If so, he probably hoped to dupe Margaret Beaufort into believing he supported her son’s claim—striking a deal with Margaret to get the Tudor and Woodville supporters as allies, while always planning himself to step into Henry Tudor’s place. But it is just as conceivable that he was

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