29th April 2019
Recent research has revealed a fascinating insight into the death of one of our favourite queens – Elizabeth Woodville, the ‘White Queen’.
Wife of Edward IV, mother of Elizabeth of York and Edward V, and grandmother of Henry VIII; very little is known about Elizabeth’s final years in Bermondsey Abbey before her death in 1492. However, recently a 500 year old letter has been found in the National Archives which appears to suggest that she may have died of the plague.
The letter was written by the Venetian ambassador to London in 1511, nineteen years after Elizabeth died. It states ‘the Queen-Widow, mother of King Edward, has died of plague, and the King is disturbed’. Euan Roger, a records specialist at the National Archives, believes this can only refer to Elizabeth Woodville.
It may be a possible explanation for Elizabeth’s extremely modest funeral. Her removal from court to Bermondsey Abbey where she spent the last five years of her life may have been forced on her by her son-in-law Henry VII for her possible involvement in a Yorkist rebellion in 1487, although it may also have been a decision she made herself. While she was given an allowance and the respect due to her position as dowager queen and was able to visit her children, her will – made two months before she died – shows that she had little to leave them. Elizabeth also requests a simple funeral in her will, ‘without pomp entering or costly expenses done thereabout’.
Her request was granted – so much so that there was surprise at how quickly it took place, and the lack of ceremony afforded to a former queen. But if Elizabeth died of the plague as suggested by this letter, it explains the speedy and humble funeral. There was great fear of the plague and those who died of it were quickly buried in the hope it would stop the spread of infection.
After the initial terrible Black Death pandemic in 1348, outbreaks of bubonic plague happened intermittently in England during the 14th and 15th centuries. They gradually became less severe until the last major epidemic in 1665 broke out – this is known as The Great Plague and hit London the hardest. It is estimated that over 100,000 people died in that outbreak – 15% of the population of the city. Those who could leave London did so, including King Charles II and his court, who fled to Oxford in July and spent seven months moving around the south of England in an attempt to avoid the plague, before returning to Whitehall in February 1666.
https://www.theguardian.com/…/white-queen-died-of-plague-cl…