Mary Woodville, Countess of Pembroke (c. 1456–1481) was a sister of

Edward IV Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483) was King of England from 4 March 1461 to 3 October 1470, then again from 11 April 1471 until his death in 1483. He was a central figure in the Wars of the Roses, a series of civil wars in England ...

's Queen consort,

Elizabeth Woodville Elizabeth Woodville (also spelt Wydville, Wydeville, or Widvile;Although spelling of the family name is usually modernised to "Woodville", it was spelt "Wydeville" in contemporary publications by Caxton, but her tomb at St. George's Chapel, Wind ...

, and of

Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers Anthony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers (c. 144025 June 1483), was an English nobleman, courtier, bibliophile and writer. He was the brother of Queen Elizabeth Woodville who married King Edward IV. He was one of the leading members of the Woodvi ...

. She later became the first wife of

William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (5 March 145116 July 1491) was an English nobleman and politician. Early life He was the son of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke and Anne Devereux. His paternal grandparents were William ap Thomas a ...

, by whom she had one daughter.

Biography

She was born in about 1456 to

Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers (1405 – 12 August 1469), also Wydeville, was the father of Elizabeth Woodville and father-in-law of Edward IV. Early life Born at Maidstone in Kent, Richard Woodville was the son of Richard Wydeville ( ...

and his wife,

Jacquetta of Luxembourg Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Dowager Duchess of Bedford and Countess Rivers (1415 or 1416 – 30 May 1472) was a prominent, though often overlooked, figure in the Wars of the Roses. Through her short-lived first marriage to the Duke of Bedford, bro ...

. After King Edward IV's public recognition of Elizabeth Woodville as his wife, the new queen sought to raise her family's standing by arranging a series of advantageous marriages for her five brothers and seven unwed sisters. In September 1466, Mary was

betrothed An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

to William Herbert, the eldest son and heir of the first Earl of Pembroke. Lord Herbert had been Henry VII's guardian. The young William was recognized as Lord Dunster in view of his approaching marriage (a grant of the lordship of Dunster and all the possessions of its

attainted In English criminal law, attainder or attinctura was the metaphorical "stain" or "corruption of blood" which arose from being condemned for a serious capital crime (felony or treason). It entailed losing not only one's life, property and hereditary ...

lord, James Luttrell, in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

and

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, had been secured by his father in June 1463). In January 1467, Mary Woodville was married to Lord Dunster at

St George's Chapel St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in England is a castle chapel built in the late-medieval Perpendicular Gothic style. It is both a Royal Peculiar (a church under the direct jurisdiction of the monarch) and the Chapel of the Order of the Gart ...

Windsor Castle Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. The original cast ...

"amid profuse magnificence." The bride was about ten or eleven years old; her groom, aged fifteen. Two years later, Lord Dunster's father, the first Earl of Pembroke, was executed on the orders of Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick. Nothing seems to have aggravated Warwick more than the marriage of the Lady Mary, the Queen's sister, to Herbert's eldest son. Dunster became the second Earl of Pembroke following the death of his father in 1469 and henceforth Mary was styled Countess of Pembroke. Pembroke proved rather ineffectual in governing

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. Mary's death in 1481 considerably weakened her husband's links with the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

's associates, and he was forced to give up the earldom of Pembroke for that of Huntingdon, and a less valuable endowment in Somerset and Dorset. In 1484, he took as his second wife, Catherine Plantagenet, the illegitimate daughter of

King Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Batt ...

; however, this marriage failed to produce offspring. Ultimately, Herbert only had one child, a daughter by his first marriage,

Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert Elizabeth Herbert, 3rd Baroness Herbert (c. 1476 – 27 August 1507) was the sole heir and daughter of William Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, and his first wife, Mary Woodville. Her father died on 16 July 1491, and she inherited extensive ...

, who later married Charles Somerset, later Earl of Worcester. Elizabeth was of great importance to the Somerset family, as she brought to them wealth and a legitimate relationship to royalty. The barony of Herbert was created by patent in favour of her husband, although during her lifetime she held the barony of Herbert in her own right.

References

*Cokayne, George E. ''Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct, or Dormant.'' London: G. Bell & Sons, 1887. (p. 207
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Retrieved May 4, 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodville, Mary 1450s births 1481 deaths

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

Daughters of British earls 15th-century English people 15th-century English women