Brought Up of Nought: A History of the Woodvile Family

Described as ‘greedy and grasping, and raised from nothing’, the Woodviles have had a bad press. This book investigates the family origins, and explains the rise and fall of the senior branch from ‘baron’ to gentry, and how, in the early fifteenth century the wheel of fortune turned dramatically in favour of the junior branch in Northamptonshire, who rose to the highest level of society. Sir Richard Woodvile was placed in the service of John, Duke of Bedford at his court in Rouen. When the duke died he then secretly married his widow Jacquetta, and in 1464 their daughter Elizabeth made an extraordinary marriage to the young king, Edward IV. This move attracted criticism at the time and resulted in a period of slander which continues to this day: was the Woodviles ‘blackened reputation’ the result of a concerted campaign by one man, Richard, Earl of Warwick, who was jealous of the Woodviles and eager to retrieve his position as kingmaker.

Table of Contents

Preface; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Glossary of Terms; 1 Origins 1066-1300; 2 The Wydeviles of Grafton, Northamptonshire; 3 Thomas Wydevile (c. 1363/4-1437/8); 4 ‘Brought up by Henry V?’ Richard (III) Wydevile (c. 1381/2-c. 1441/42); 5 Sir Richard and Jacquetta: ‘Made by Maryage’; 6 ‘Brought up of Nought’; 7 Warwick’s ‘Displeasure’ 1464-1469; 8 The Wheel Turns 1470-1478; 9 1483 ‘The King is Dead, Long Live the King’; 10 The Fate of the Wydeviles; Conclusion; Appendix I: Appointments; Appendix II: Will of Thomas Wydevile; Appendix III: Purchase of the Mote; Appendix IV: Jacquetta’s Potential Annual Income; Appendix V: Purchase of Grafton; Appendix VI: The Children of Richard, Earl Rivers; Appendix VII: Warwick’s Manifesto 1469; Genealogies; Endnotes; Bibliography; Index.