Margaret of York: The Diabolical Duchess by Weightman Christine

Author:Weightman, Christine [Weightman, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
Published: 2012-07-21T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

‘This Diabolicall Duches’

‘LYKE A DOGGE REVERTYNGE TO HER OLDE VOMYTE.’

‘Once more’, wrote Jean Molinet, ‘the house of York has been left wretched and deserted by Good Fortune’.1 Molinet had inherited the mantle of Georges Chastellain as the chief historian and rhetorician of the Burgundian court. He wrote his chronicles between 1474 and 1506 and his views echoed those of his patrons. His sorrowful verdict on the battle of Bosworth may well have reflected Margaret’s sentiments when she heard of the defeat and death of her last surviving brother, Richard III.

In her thirty-nine years, Margaret had witnessed many dramatic revolutions of the great wheel of fortune, from the sudden deaths of her father and brother at Wakefield to the tragic early death of her stepdaughter in 1482, but here for the first time she had to face the total eclipse of the House of York. When the confused reports of the battle of Bosworth field first reached Malines, Margaret had little time to grieve for her dead brother. She was fully involved with the establishment of the new household for the young Duke Philip and the preparations for the Great Council which had been summoned to meet at Malines in mid-September.2 Viewed within the context of Margaret’s own earlier experience and considering her many preoccupations in the late summer of 1485, the Dowager must have received the news of the accession of Henry Tudor as King Henry VII with resignation. Remembering the restoration of her brother Edward in 1471, she would also have considered that, given some slight military and financial assistance from Burgundy, this new Tudor usurper, with his weak and tenuous claim, would soon be successfully replaced.

On the other hand, there was no reason why Margaret should not simply accept the marriage of Henry to her niece Elizabeth of York as being in the best interests of her family. It was a marriage accepted by Margaret’s closest surviving relatives, by her mother Cecily, her sister Elizabeth and her sister-in-law the dowager Queen Elizabeth Woodville. Henry made several well considered gestures of conciliation towards these three matriarchs of the House of York. His marriage had been planned by his mother, the Lady Margaret Beaufort, with the support of Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV’s widow. He immediately granted Elizabeth Woodville her full dower rights and she and her surviving relations were given an honourable welcome to the new court. Also early in 1486 he renewed trading licences which Edward IV had granted to the old Duchess Cecily.3 Margaret’s sister, the Duchess of Suffolk, was welcomed to the new Tudor court in spite of the fact that all her six sons were in direct line to the throne.

Although the King gave full recognition to the property and position of these Yorkists, he ignored the interests of the Burgundian Dowager. Margaret had benefited from all the various trading licences granted by her brother, and she had continued to enjoy these privileges during the brief reigns of Edward V and Richard III, but with the accession of Henry VII her trading privileges appear to have ceased.

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