Catherine Woodville (also spelled Wydville, Wydeville, or WidvileAlthough spelling of the family name is usually modernised to "Woodville", it was spelled "Wydeville" in contemporary publications by Caxton and her tomb at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle is inscribed thus; "Edward IV and his Queen Elizabeth Widvile".) (c. 1458Her brother Richard's 1492 postmortem inquisition names her as being “34 or more”, placing her birthdate at about 1458. See Calendar of Inquisitions Post-Mortem, Henry VII, vol. I, No. 681 (Richard, Earl of Ryvers). – 18 May 1497) was the Duchess of Buckingham and a medieval English

noblewoman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The character ...

Early life

Catherine was the daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, and

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 ...

. When her sister Elizabeth married

Edward IV of England 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 Englan ...

, the King elevated and promoted many members of the Woodville family. Elizabeth Woodville's household records for 1466/67 indicate that Catherine was being raised in the queen's household.

First marriage

Sometime before the coronation of Elizabeth in May 1465, Catherine was married to

Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, KG (4 September 1455 – 2 November 1483) was an English nobleman known as the namesake of Buckingham's rebellion, a failed but significant collection of uprisings in England and parts of Wales again ...

; both were still children. A contemporary description of Elizabeth Woodville's coronation relates that Catherine and her husband were carried on squires' shoulders due to their youth. According to Dominic Mancini, Buckingham resented his marriage to a woman of inferior birth. However, the couple had four children: *

Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham (3 February 1478 – 17 May 1521) was an English nobleman. He was the son of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Katherine Woodville, and nephew of Elizabeth Woodville and King Edward IV. Thu ...

(3 February 1478 – 17 May 1521) *

Elizabeth Stafford, Countess of Sussex Elizabeth Stafford (c. 1479 – 11 May 1532) was an English noblewoman. Family Elizabeth Stafford was the daughter of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Lady Catherine Woodville, the daughter of Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers, by ...

(c. 1479 – 11 May 1532) *

Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire Henry Stafford, 1st Earl of Wiltshire (c. 1479 – 6 April 1523) was an English peer. Family Henry Stafford, born c.1479, was the younger of two sons of Henry Stafford, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, and Lady Catherine Woodville, the daughter of ...

(c. 1479 – 6 April 1523) * Anne Stafford, Countess of Huntingdon (c. 1483–1544) In 1483, Buckingham first allied himself to the Duke of Gloucester, helping him succeed to the throne as

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 ...

, and then to Henry Tudor, leading an unsuccessful rebellion in his name. Buckingham was executed for treason on 2 November 1483.

Second marriage

After Richard III was defeated by Henry Tudor at the

Battle of Bosworth The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Au ...

in 1485, Catherine married the new king's uncle Jasper Tudor on 7 November 1485.Richard Marius, ''Thomas More: A Biography'', (Harvard University Press, 1984), 119.

Third marriage

After Jasper's death in December 1495, Catherine married -- not later than 24 February 1496 -- Sir

Richard Wingfield Sir Richard Wingfield KG of Kimbolton Castle (c. 1469 – 22 July 1525) was an influential courtier and diplomat in the early years of the Tudor dynasty of England. Life He was born at Letheringham, Suffolk to Sir John Wingfield (c. 1428 &ndash ...

, who outlived her.

Depiction in fiction

Catherine is the main protagonist in Susan Higginbotham's 2010

historical novel Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other t ...

''The Stolen Crown''. She is briefly mentioned in

Philippa Gregory Philippa Gregory (born 9 January 1954) is an English historical novelist who has been publishing since 1987. The best known of her works is '' The Other Boleyn Girl'' (2001), which in 2002 won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Rom ...

's historical novels '' The White Queen'' (2009), '' The Red Queen'' (2010), and '' The White Princess'' (2013).

Notes

References

Sources

* (chart 806) * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckingham, Catherine Woodville, Duchess of 1458 births 1497 deaths

Catherine Katherine, also spelled Catherine, and other variations are feminine names. They are popular in Christian countries because of their derivation from the name of one of the first Christian saints, Catherine of Alexandria. In the early Christ ...

Daughters of British earls Women of the Tudor period

Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...

15th-century English nobility 15th-century English women

Duchesses of Bedford Wives of knights