Wars of The Roses
The Yorkists crushed the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton on 29 March 1461, and Edward IV, the first king from the House of York, took the throne. Elizabeth's husband Sir John Grey had been killed a month before at the Second Battle of St. Albans, a Lancastrian victory under the command of Margaret of Anjou. At Towton, however, the tables turned in favour of the Yorkists. Three years later, in 1464 (allegedly on Jacquetta's instructions), the beautiful, widowed Elizabeth and her two young sons approached the young king as he hunted in Whittlebury Forest near the Woodville manor. Elizabeth pleaded with the King for the estates confiscated from her husband to be restored to her sons. Thoroughly bewitched by Elizabeth, Edward offered to make her his mistress, but she held out for marriage. A desperate Edward married Elizabeth in secret, but the marriage was not disclosed for months. Once it became common knowledge, however, the alliance displeased the Earl of Warwick, the King's most trusted ally, and his friends.
With Elizabeth now Queen of England, the Woodvilles rose to great prominence and power. Richard was created Earl Rivers and appointed Lord High Treasurer in March 1466. Jacquetta found rich and influential spouses for her children and helped her grandchildren achieve high posts. She arranged for her 20-year-old son, John Woodville, to marry the widowed and very rich dowager Duchess of Norfolk, Catherine Neville. The bride was at least 45 years older than the groom at the time of the wedding. The marriage caused a furor and earned the Woodvilles considerable unpopularity.
The rise of the Woodvilles created widespread hostility to them. They had deserted the Lancastrian side and were now displacing longtime Yorkists in the King's favour, such as Warwick and the King's brothers George and Richard.
In 1469, Warwick openly broke with Edward IV and temporarily deposed him. Earl Rivers and his son John Woodville were captured and executed by Warwick on 12 August at Kenilworth. Jacquetta, broken-hearted, survived her husband by three years and died in 1472, at about 56 years of age.
Read more about this topic: Jacquetta Of Luxembourg
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