Joan of Kent’s seal, attached to an indenture from 20 April 1380 made between Joan, Princess of Wales, and Richard de Walkington and others of the town of Beverley. The deed was signed at Missenden. This is the only surviving seal of Joan’s. It is circular and two inches in diameter. Around the border edge are the words, in Latin, ‘Joan, Princess of [obscured but probably Aquitaine], Wales, Duchess of Cornwall and Countess of Cheshire and Kent’. The round, ornamental inside panel surrounds a shield with France and England quarterly, a label of three points for Prince Edward, and a bordure for Edmund, Earl of Kent (her father). The letters around the shield are I, E and P. (x)
«Those chronicles that give a date for Edward IVandElizabeth Woodville’smarriageeach specify the same one: 1 May. This date is compatible with the known movements of Edward, who was at Stony Stratford the night of 30 April 1464 and could have made an excursion to and from Grafton that morning, as claimed by Fabyan in the sixteenth century:
«[I]n most secret manner, upon the first day of May, King Edward spoused Elizabeth […] which spousals were solemnised early in the morning at a town called Grafton, near Stony Stratford; at which marriage were no persons present but the spouse, the spousess, the Duchess of Bedford her mother, the priest, two gentlewomen, and a young man to help the priest sing. After which spousals ended, he went to bed, and so tarried there three or four hours, and after departed and rode again to Stony Stratford, and came as though he had been hunting, and there went to bed again. And within a day or two after, he sent to Grafton to the Lord Rivers, father unto his wife, showing to him he would come and lodge with him a certain season, where he was received with all honour, and so tarried there by the space of four days. In which season, she nightly to his bed was brought, in so secret manner, that almost none but her mother was of counsel.»
Several historians, however, have questioned the May Day date. As David Baldwin notes, ‘The idea of a young, handsome king marrying for love on Mayday may have been borrowed from romantic tradition’. J.L. Laynesmith agreed that ‘1 May is a suspiciously apt day for a young king to marry for love. May had long been the month associated with love, possibly originating in pre-Christian celebrations of fertility and certainly celebrated in the poetry of the troubadours’.
Whether the couple were married on May Day or later, the scant record does bear out Hall’s claim that a priest was present at the wedding. A Master John Eborall, whose church of Paulspury was close to Grafton and Stony Stratford, is said to have offered in 1471 to intercede in a land dispute involving the queen ‘supposing that he might have done good in the matter, forasmuch as he was then in favour because he married King Edward and Queen Elizabeth together’. A chronicle known as Hearne’s Fragment adds that the priest who married the couple was buried at the high altar of the Minories in London, but leaves a blank space for the man’s name.”
- «The Woodvilles: The Wars of the Roses and England’s Most Infamous Family» by Susan Higginbotham.
Pictured: The marriage of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Illuminated miniature from Vol 6 of the Anciennes chroniques d'Angleterre by Jean de Wavrin, 15th century.
In the 14th century, a man called John Deydras claimed to be the real Edward II, asserting he and the English king were switched as infants by a nurse.
At his sedition trial he confessed to making up the story, explaining the devil possessed his cat and his cat convinced him to do it. In June 1318 he was hanged and his body was burned.
The cat was also hanged for its role in the plot.
And so you see, this isn’t a story about a mad pretender to the crown but rather about the hangman tasked with making a little cat-sized noose and actually carrying out the execution of an innocent cat whose only crime was to be the pet of a sniveling little punk snitch.
William the Conqueror long did reign; William his son, by an arrow was slain; Henry the First was a scholar bright; Stephen was king without any right. Henry the Second, Plantagenet’s scion; Richard the First was as brave as a lion; John, though a tyrant, the charter was signed; Henry the Third had a weakly mind. Edward the First conquered Cambria dales; Edward the Second was the first English Prince of Wales; Edward the Third humbled France in its pride; Richard the Second in prison died. Henry the Fourth for himself took the crown; Henry the Fifth pulled the French King down; Henry the Sixth lost his father’s gains; Edward the Fourth laid hold of the reins. Edward the Fifth was killed with his brother; Richard the Third soon made way for another. Henry the Seventh was frugal of means; Henry the Eighth had a great many queens. Edward the Sixth reformation began; Cruel Queen Mary prevented the plan; Wise and profound were Elizabeth’saims; England and Scotland were joined by King James. Charles the First found the people a cruel corrector; Oliver Cromwell was called Lord Protector; Charles the Second hid in an oak; James the Second took the Catholic yoke. WilliamandMary were offered the throne; Anne succeeded and reigned alone. George the First from Hanover came; George the Second kept up the name; George the Third was loved in the land; George the Fourth was polite and grand; William the Fourth had no heir of his own, So Queen Victoria ascended the throne. When good Queen Victoria’s long reign was o'er, Edward the Seventh the English crown wore. His son George the Fifth, ruled the realm amassed, where the sun never set, it was so vast. Edward the Eighth gave up the throne for his wife; George the Sixth ruled through World War II’s strife. Elizabeth the Second reigns today, And “God save the Queen” all her subjects hearts say!
