Mother
of two Kings of England, Queen by Right, Cecily
was born the 3rd of May 1415 at Raby Castle in England. She was the
10th child of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland and Joan
Beaufort; Cecily was the great-granddaughter of Edward III. Cecily was known as
the “Rose of Raby” and “Proud Cis” in her youth, the first for the castle at
which she was born and the latter for her pride and temper that went along with
it. Cecily was betrothed to Richard Plantagenet, the heir and protector of
Henry VI, when she was just 9 years old. The two were married by October 1424.
The marriage seems to have been a genuinely happy one as well as being
particularly fruitful – they had a grand total of 12 children, however unfortunately
only half survived into adulthood.
At the
outbreak of the English Civil War, aka the War of the Roses or the Cousin’s
War, Cecily decided to remain at her family’s home, Ludlow Castle. The years of
civil war would be turbulent for both the House of York as well as the House of
Lancaster. Although the Yorkists would prevail multiple times over the
Lancastrians, even going as far as capturing the Lancastrian King Henry VI,
tragedy would strike at the Battle of Wakefield when the Duke of York (Richard
Plantagenet) and his son Edmund were killed. Now a widow, Cecily continued to
fight for the House of York, her son Edward became the Yorkist leader and
pushed on despite the tragic turn of events. It was in 1461 that the House of
York would finally triumph over the Lancastrians as they were turned away from
London and later forced out of England which allowed Edward to crown himself
King of England.
Once
her son was crowned King of England and the war seemed to be over, Cecily could
live out the rest of her life in peace, or relative peace at least. She was not
content with her son’s choice of a wife as Elizabeth Woodville was a simple
commoner, and was not good enough for her son the King. There was also that
brief period of time when Henry VI regained control of the crown from 1470-71
that she needed to wait out until her son reclaimed the throne (and possibly
murdered Henry while doing so . . .) Then there was the unfortunate event that
saw her son George, Duke of Clarence executed in 1478 for plotting against his
brother’s throne. Other than that, Cecily had it pretty good as mother of the
King until 1483 that is when Edward IV suddenly died and left his crown to his
teenaged son Henry V. Well, we all know the story of the Princes in the Tower .
. . where Edward and his brother Richard went missing in the Tower of London
(they were probably killed but not known for sure) and their uncle Richard
became King Richard III. Holy family drama going on here! Cecily’s sons had
some serious brotherly rivalry – they all wanted to be King apparently and
would stop at nothing - plotting, murder, to get the position for themselves.
Despite all of Richard’s efforts to become King, he didn’t last for very long –
only 2 years into his reign he was killed at Bosworth by the Lancastrian
claimant Henry VII. Upon Henry’s marriage to Elizabeth of York, Cecily’s
granddaughter, the Houses of Lancaster and York were forever united and once
again Cecily was able to live in Peace. Cecily lived a long life, one that was
plagued by civil war and family dysfunction. She died at the age of 80 on the
31st of May 1495 in Hertfordshire.
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