381:, of a possible marriage, while both men were serving in France. But even that "seems hardly likely". Any valid precontract would most likely have been made in the early phase of Edward's reign, but the fact that Eleanor did not come forward when Edward married his queen militates against it. She also considers it odd that Eleanor's family did not support Richard's claims about the precontract. Since Edward was "not stupid enough" to have been unaware that any precontact would threaten his children's claim to the throne, if it had existed he could easily have applied to the Pope to free himself of it, which would have been the action of "any prudent king and his advisors". Michael Alexander argues that a precontract of marriage to Eleanor Talbot would not have affected the legitimacy of Edward's sons, since they were born after she died, her death negating any marriage.
373:, and Richard never attempted to have the precontract authenticated by a church court, the proper venue for such a case". Anne Crawford takes the view that any actual precontract with Eleanor Talbot is unlikely. If it had occurred before her marriage to Thomas Butler it would have been invalidated by the marriage. She suggests that the story may have originated with discussions between Edward's father
228:
338:, in his life of Richard III, states that Lucy was interrogated at the time of Edward's marriage to Elizabeth Woodville, because Edward's mother was strongly opposed to the marriage and had suggested that Edward was pre-contracted to Lucy. But Lucy denied that any contract had been made. More says that Richard revived the claim after Edward's death.
262:
The bishop discovered to the Duke of
Gloucester that his brother king Edward had been formerly in love with a beautiful young lady and had promised her marriage upon condition that he might lie with her; the lady consented, and, as the bishop affirmed, he married them when nobody was present but they
384:
However, according to
Helmholz (1986), canon law in this situation would not mitigate the illegitimacy of Edward's sons as, if the pre-contract existed, it would have meant that adultery had taken place on the part of Edward with Elizabeth. As such the illegitimacy could not be overcome by the death
388:
Even if there was no formal precontract it is possible that
Eleanor Talbot's name was used because she was known to have been one of the king's lovers. According to Thomas More, Edward had three "concubines" to whom he referred as the "merriest", the "wiliest" and "the holiest harlot in the realm"
277:
And howe also, that at the tyme of contract of the same pretensed
Mariage, and bifore and longe tyme after, the seid King Edward was and stode maryed and trouth plight to oone Dame Elianor Butteler, Doughter of the old Earl of Shrewesbury, with whom the same King Edward had made a precontracte of
164:(informal sitting of parliament with the same members), who determined that Bishop Stillington's claim was valid. The finding rendered Edward IV's second secret marriage to Elizabeth Woodville bigamous, thereby making all seven children illegitimate, including Edward's sons, the so-called
639:
The "king would say that he had three concubines who in three diverse properties diversely excelled: one the merriest, another the wiliest, the third the holiest harlot in the realm, as one whom no man could get out of the church lightly but it were to his bed." Keith
Dockray (ed),
393:, but does not name the others because they were of higher social status ("somewhat greater personages"). It has been speculated that Elizabeth Lucy and Eleanor Talbot were the other two. Her loss of property after the death of her husband may have initiated the affair.
368:
Other historians have been more sceptical. John A. Wagner states that "most modern historians believe the precontract to be a fabrication devised to give
Richard III's usurpation a veneer of legitimacy. The betrothal cannot be documented beyond the account rehearsed in
282:
Opponents of
Richard declared that the precontract was fiction. Richard's leading enemy, Henry Tudor, allied himself with Elizabeth Woodville, promising to re-legitimise her children if Richard was overthrown. After Henry's army defeated and killed Richard at the
215:
on 4 March 1461. Her father-in-law Lord
Sudeley took back one of the two manors he had settled on her and her husband when they married, even though he did not have a licence for the transfer. Edward seized both properties after he became king.
360:
have also either accepted it as fact, or argued that
Richard sincerely believed it to be true. It is also commonly argued by Ricardians that Stillington was imprisoned by Edward IV in 1478 because he incautiously spoke of the precontract to
397:
suggests that King Edward was liable to give "benefits" in exchange for sex: "Three young widows, Eleanor Butler, Elizabeth Lucy and
Elizabeth Wydeville , may have bought concrete benefits from Edward IV with their sexual favours".
348:, was the first to identify Eleanor Talbot as the woman in question. Buck, a defender of Richard, accepted the validity of the precontract. His view has been followed by many defenders of Richard since, including
273:, which debarred Edward V from the throne and proclaimed himself as King Richard III. At a meeting held on 23 January 1484 the former king's marriage was declared illegal. The document states:
619:
R.H. Helmholz, 'The sons of Edward IV: a canonical assessment of the claim that they were illegitimate', in Richard III: Loyalty, Lordship and Law, ed P.W. Hammond (London, 1986, repr. 2000).
195:
was untrue. A few historians have agreed with this view. Supporters of Richard, however, have argued that the precontract was real and that it legitimised his accession to the throne.
263:
two and himself. His fortune depending on the court, he did not discover it, and persuaded the lady likewise to conceal it, which she did, and the matter remained a secret.
416:
180:. Edward's sons remained in the royal apartments in the Tower and subsequently disappeared. Various explanations for their appearance have been put forward.
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After King Edward's death in 1483, his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was appointed protector to the as-yet-uncrowned king
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Matrimonie, longe tyyme bifore he made the said pretensed Mariage with the said Elizabeth Grey, in maner and fourme abovesaid.
310:
It was suggested that Eleanor had given birth to a child, possibly fathered by King Edward IV, shortly before her death.
29:
385:
of Eleanor before the birth of Elizabeth's sons, even if Edward and Elizabeth married 'again' after Eleanor's death.
258:. Stillington had been briefly imprisoned and fined for speaking out against Edward IV in 1478. Commines later wrote,
488:
Philipe de Commines, '’The memoirs of Philip de Commines, lord of Argenton'’, Volume 1, H.G. Bohn, 1855, pp.396–7
394:
28:
This article is about a noblewoman who married into the Butler family. For other people titled Lady Butler, see
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in parliamentary records to be destroyed, along with all others (one copy was later found to have survived).
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389:(who was always in church when she wasn't in bed with the king). More names the "merriest" as
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353:
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against Henry in 1487. He was arrested and imprisoned in the Tower until his death in 1491.
63:
243:
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327:
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246:. He then proclaimed that they were illegitimate. According to the French chronicler
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Because Commines does not name the "beautiful young lady", and the official copy of
442:
330:(also known as Elizabeth Wayte), the probable mother of Edward IV's bastard son,
523:
341:
335:
153:
566:
Richard III: his life & character, reviewed in the light of recent research
430:
390:
231:
227:
203:
In 1449, 13-year-old Eleanor married Sir Thomas Butler (or Boteler), son of
145:
629:
Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)- Legitimation by William Henry Windsor Fanning
597:, "appeandix II, Edward IV's Possible Pre-Contract of Marriage", pp.179–80.
81:
168:. As the oldest male blood relative of Edward IV, his brother Richard,
579:
Eleanor, the Secret Queen: The Woman Who Put Richard III on the Throne
219:
Eleanor died in June 1468. She was interred on 30 June in Norwich.
655:
Of virtue rare: Margaret Beaufort, matriarch of the House of Tudor
226:
160:. The evidence was examined and the Bishop was questioned by the
326:
historians confused Talbot with Edward's long-standing mistress
502:
608:
The First of the Tudors: A Study of Henry VII and His Reign
234:, alleged to have precontracted marriage to Eleanor Talbot
156:
to Edward, which invalidated the king's later marriage to
152:, Bishop of Bath and Wells, that she was legally married
242:. Richard placed Edward and his younger brother in the
425:(online) (online ed.). Oxford University Press.
140:), was an English noblewoman. She was a daughter of
110:
100:
90:
80:
70:
57:
44:
37:
681:English Political Culture in the Fifteenth Century
267:Richard then persuaded Parliament to pass an act,
528:Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy
19:For other people named Lady Eleanor Butler, see
543:, Cambridge University Press, 1883, pp.61–2, 70
473:Muriel Smith, "Reflections on Lady Eleanor",
460:John A. Wagner, "Butler precontract (1483)",
132:– June 1468), also known by her married name
8:
553:The Works of Horatio Walpole, Earl of Orford
287:on 22 August 1485, he came to the throne as
568:, London: Smith and Elder, 1906, pp.94–101.
298:Stillington later joined the rebellion of
34:
417:"Talbot, John, first earl of Shrewsbury"
207:. Thomas died at an unknown date before
589:
587:
422:Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
407:
344:, who found the only surviving copy of
668:The Royal Bastards of Medieval England
595:The Yorkists: The History of a Dynasty
456:
454:
452:
332:Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle
191:, used false propaganda to claim that
176:by the Three Estates to the throne as
555:, G. G. and J. Robinson, 1798, p.113.
462:Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses
148:of England in 1483 it was claimed by
7:
21:Lady Eleanor Butler (disambiguation)
666:Chris Given Wilson, Alice Curteis,
379:John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
142:John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
105:John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury
610:, Taylor & Francis, 1981, p.9.
541:More's History of king Richard III
322:in parliament had been destroyed,
183:After the death of Richard at the
14:
683:, Routledge, New York, 2002, p.16
61:June 1468 (aged 31–32)
499:"Titulus Regius – Original Text"
657:, Houghton Mifflin, 1982, p.58.
16:15th-century English noblewoman
606:Michael Van Cleave Alexander,
1:
250:he acted with the support of
126:
48:
443:UK public library membership
740:15th-century English people
205:Ralph Boteler, Lord Sudeley
756:
735:15th-century English women
710:Daughters of British earls
581:, The History Press, 2009.
464:, ABC-CLIO, 2001, pp.42–3.
27:
18:
670:, Routledge, 1984, p. 12.
291:. He ordered the copy of
715:Daughters of Irish earls
479:, September 1998, no 142
363:George, Duke of Clarence
285:Battle of Bosworth Field
256:Bishop of Bath and Wells
185:Battle of Bosworth Field
705:Mistresses of Edward IV
642:Edward IV: a sourcebook
377:, and Eleanor's father
431:10.1093/ref:odnb/26932
415:Pollard, A.J. (2004).
280:
265:
235:
644:, Sutton, 1999, p.15.
564:Clements R. Markham,
375:Richard, Duke of York
275:
260:
230:
144:. After the death of
248:Philippe de Commines
211:'s overthrow of the
209:Edward IV of England
166:Princes in the Tower
75:Whitefriars, Norwich
577:John Ashdown-Hill,
505:on 1 September 2013
437:on 7 February 2019.
314:Views of historians
158:Elizabeth Woodville
123:Lady Eleanor Talbot
39:Lady Eleanor Talbot
252:Robert Stillington
236:
213:House of Lancaster
170:Duke of Gloucester
150:Robert Stillington
115:Margaret Beauchamp
539:J.R. Lumby (ed),
441:(Subscription or
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95:Sir Thomas Butler
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346:Titulus Regius
328:Elizabeth Lucy
320:Titulus Regius
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306:Possible issue
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300:Lambert Simnel
293:Titulus Regius
270:Titulus Regius
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134:Eleanor Butler
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507:. Retrieved
503:the original
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82:Noble family
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730:1436 births
720:1468 deaths
524:Alison Weir
342:George Buck
336:Thomas More
223:Allegations
189:Henry Tudor
178:Richard III
154:precontract
130: 1436
52: 1436
30:Lady Butler
694:Categories
445:required.)
402:References
391:Jane Shore
358:Ricardians
199:Known life
289:Henry VII
232:Edward IV
146:Edward IV
91:Spouse(s)
66:, England
356:. Later
240:Edward V
509:21 June
174:elected
138:Boteler
64:Norwich
439:
172:, was
111:Mother
101:Father
86:Talbot
71:Buried
324:Tudor
511:2013
352:and
136:(or
58:Died
45:Born
427:doi
696::
586:^
526:,
451:^
419:.
365:.
334:.
254:,
187:,
127:c.
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513:.
429::
125:(
32:.
23:.
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