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  • United Kingdom
    Apr, 1483
    Elizabeth Woodville

    Elizabeth Woodville became queen dowager

    United Kingdom
    Apr, 1483

    Following Edward IV's sudden death, possibly from pneumonia, in April 1483, Elizabeth Woodville became queen dowager. Her young son, Edward V, became king, with his uncle, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, acting as Lord Protector. In response to the Woodvilles' attempt to monopolise power, Gloucester quickly moved to take control of the young king and had the king's uncle Earl Rivers and half-brother Richard Grey, son to Elizabeth, arrested. The young king was transferred to the Tower of London to await the coronation. With her younger son and daughters, Elizabeth again sought sanctuary. Lord Hastings, the late king's leading supporter in London, initially endorsed Gloucester's actions, but Gloucester then accused him of conspiring with Elizabeth Woodville against him. Hastings was summarily executed. Whether any such conspiracy really occurred is not known.




  • Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
    Monday Jun 25, 1483
    Elizabeth Woodville

    Execution in Pontefract Castle

    Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
    Monday Jun 25, 1483

    On 25 June 1483, Gloucester had Elizabeth Woodville's son Richard Grey and brother Anthony, Earl Rivers, executed in Pontefract Castle, Yorkshire. By an act of Parliament, the Titulus Regius (1 Ric. III), it was declared that Edward IV's children with Elizabeth were illegitimate on the grounds that Edward IV had a precontract with the widow Lady Eleanor Butler, which was considered a legally binding contract that rendered any other marriage contract invalid. One source, the Burgundian chronicler Philippe de Commines, says that Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, carried out an engagement ceremony between Edward IV and Lady Eleanor.




  • Rennes, France
    Dec, 1483
    Elizabeth Woodville

    Henry Tudor agreed to the plan

    Rennes, France
    Dec, 1483

    To strengthen his claim and unite the two feuding noble houses, Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort agreed that the latter's son should marry the former's eldest daughter, Elizabeth of York, who upon the death of her brothers became the heiress of the House of York. Henry Tudor agreed to this plan and in December 1483 publicly swore an oath to that effect in the cathedral in Rennes, France. A month earlier, an uprising in his favour, led by Buckingham, had been crushed.




  • England
    Monday Jun 25, 1483

    King Edward V illegitimate king

    England
    Monday Jun 25, 1483

    King Edward V of England was declared illegitimate by the House of Commons.




  • England
    Monday Apr 9, 1483

    Edward V Brith

    England
    Monday Apr 9, 1483

    Edward V, who was 12 at the time, succeeds his father Edward IV as king of England.




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