The White Queen

de bene esse: literally, of well-being, morally acceptable but subject to future validation or exception 



The relationship between Richard III and his niece, Elizabeth of York. 

Is there contemporary evidence? There is. The first indication of a relationship between Richard and Elizabeth comes from The Crowland Chronicle. During the Christmas festivities of 1484, Elizabeth of York accompanied Queen Anne Neville wearing a gown "similar in colour and design" to Anne's. People started to murmur and rumours began spreading that Richard III "was bent, either on the anticipated death of the Queen taking place, or else, by means of divorce, for which he supposed he had quite sufficient grounds, on contracting a marriage with the said Elizabeth".

At that time Anne Neville was already seriously ill and she died in March 1485. After her death, Richard was left with no wife and no son to succeed him and he started planning his second marriage. According to contemporary rumour, he poisoned his wife to marry Elizabeth of York. Only two weeks after Anne Neville's death, Richard III publicly denied any plans to marry Elizabeth of York and he also denied that he had poisoned his wife.

There are also curious inscriptions in Elizabeth of York's manuscripts. She chose Richard III's motto ('loyalty binds me') and left it in her book. She also had a manuscript ('Tristan & Isolde') which was previously owned by Richard III and there too, she left her signature: 'without changing, Elizabeth'.

This is, however, not the whole story. George Buck, author of The History of the Life and Reign of Richard III written in the 17th century, claimed to have seen an old letter written by Elizabeth of York shortly before Queen Anne Neville's death. In this infamous letter, Elizabeth called Richard III "her only joy and maker in this world" and declared that "she was his in heart and in thoughts, in body and in all". She also added that she feared "the Queen would never die".

The letter, however, was seen only by George Buck and there are some disputes about this author's credibility. Plus, his original manuscript was damaged by fire and edited by another George Buck (nephew) who corrupted the text. He filled the blanks with controversial words "never die" and "body", altering the whole text. Historian John Ashdown Hill had recently argued that Elizabeth's letter was referring to a double marriage pact with Portugal: Richard would have married Infanta Joana of Portugal, and Elizabeth of York would have married Manuel, Duke of Beja.

If we are to believe in Polydore Vergil's account of events - and he was writing under the Tudor regime - Elizabeth of York vehemently protested that there was any kind of relationship between her and Richard: "She would repeatedly exclaim, saying ‘I will not thus be married, but, unhappy creature that I am, will rather suffer all the torments which St Catherine is said to have endured for the love of Christ than be united with a man who is the enemy of my family".

Sources:

Sarah Gristwood, 'Blood Sisters'
Alicia Carter, 'Women of the Wars of the Roses'
Arlene Okerlund, 'Elizabeth of York'