and Elizabeth Woodville, ''
Anciennes Chroniques d'Angleterre'' by
Jean de Wavrin, 15th century Edward IV had many mistresses, the best known of them being
Jane Shore, and he did not have a reputation for fidelity. His marriage to the widowed Elizabeth Woodville took place secretly and, though there is no documentary evidence of the date, it is traditionally said to have taken place at her family home in
Northamptonshire on 1 May 1464. Only the bride's mother and two ladies were in attendance. Edward married her just over three years after he had assumed the English throne in the wake of his overwhelming victory over the Lancastrians, at the
Battle of Towton, which resulted in the displacement of King Henry VI. Edward introduced Elizabeth Woodville as his queen to the royal court at
Reading Abbey on Michaelmas Day (29 September 1464). Elizabeth Woodville came to London for her coronation. Her
Royal Entry was marked by a pageant at
London Bridge featured angels wearing wigs dyed with saffron and the texts of six ballads were painted and set up on the bridge. She was crowned queen at
Westminster Abbey on 26 May 1465, a few days after
Ascension Day. In the early years of his reign, Edward IV's governance of England was dependent upon a small circle of supporters, most notably his cousin,
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick. At around the time of Edward IV's secret marriage, Warwick was negotiating an alliance with France in an effort to thwart a similar arrangement being made by his sworn enemy
Margaret of Anjou, wife of the deposed Henry VI. The plan was that Edward IV should marry a French princess. When his marriage to Elizabeth, who was both a
commoner and from a family of Lancastrian supporters, became public Warwick was both embarrassed and offended. His relationship with Edward IV was ruined. The match was also badly received by the
privy council, who according to
Jean de Waurin told Edward with great frankness that "he must know that she was no wife for a prince such as himself". With the arrival on the scene of the new queen came many relatives, some of whom married into the most notable families in England. Three of her sisters married the sons of the earls of Kent, Essex and Pembroke. Another sister,
Catherine Woodville, married the queen's 11-year-old ward
Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, who later joined Edward IV's brother
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, in opposition to the Woodvilles after the death of Edward IV. Elizabeth's 20-year-old brother
John married
Katherine, Duchess of Norfolk, Edward IV and Warwick's aunt. The Duchess had been widowed three times and was in her sixties, so the marriage created a scandal at court. Elizabeth's son, Thomas Grey, married firstly Anne Holland, a niece of Edward, and later
Cecily Bonville, 7th Baroness Harington. Elizabeth's status as a commoner before her sudden, secret marriage to Edward was primarily the reason for the backlash against her queenship. She was often seen as arrogant and disrespectful for actions that would be seen as normal by a lady of higher rank, such as her predecessor
Margaret of Anjou. Such was Elizabeth's unpopularity that
George, Duke of Clarence, rebellious brother of her husband, later even accused her of witchcraft in order to murder his wife
Isabel Neville. Most historians now believe that Isabel died of either consumption or
childbed fever. When Elizabeth Woodville's relatives, especially her brother
Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers, began to challenge Warwick's pre-eminence in English political society, Warwick conspired with his son-in-law
George, Duke of Clarence, the king's younger brother. One of his followers accused Elizabeth Woodville's mother, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, of practising witchcraft. She was acquitted the following year. Warwick and Clarence twice rose in revolt and then fled to France. Warwick formed an uneasy alliance with the Lancastrian Queen Margaret of Anjou, executed Elizabeth's father and brother after the Yorkist defeat at the
Battle of Edgcote, and restored Margaret's husband Henry VI to the throne in 1470. But the following year, Edward IV returned from exile and defeated Warwick at the
Battle of Barnet, and the Lancastrians at the
Battle of Tewkesbury. Henry VI was killed soon afterwards. Following her husband's temporary fall from power, Elizabeth Woodville sought
sanctuary in
Westminster Abbey, where she gave birth to a son, Edward (later King
Edward V of England). Her marriage to Edward IV produced a total of ten children, including another son,
Richard, Duke of York, who would later join his brother as one of the
Princes in the Tower. ==Queen dowager==