Cecily Neville Duchess of York (2) | The Woman Who Survived the Wars of the Roses | The Mother of Kings

From History Calling

In December 1460 CECILY NEVILLE, Duchess of York was facing the greatest crisis of her life. Though now remembered as the woman who survived the Wars of the Roses, her survival came at a cost and after the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December that year, her husband (Richard, Duke of York), second son (Edmund, Earl of Rutland) and brother, Richard, Earl of Salisbury all lay dead. Her eldest son, Edward, Earl of March was about to go into battle against Owen and Jasper Tudors and Lancastrian forces of Queen Margaret of Anjou, the wife of Henry VI. Cecily meanwhile was in London, potentially facing exile or death if Edward lost. In this video from History Calling we look at what happened next and at how Cecily went from the disgraced dowager Duchess of York to the mother of Kings Edward IV and Richard III. We’ll see how she reacted to key events in the ongoing Wars, including the seizing of the crown from Henry VI by Edward; her son George, Duke of Clarence’s betrayal of his older brother; George’s execution on Edward’s orders; the brief reign of her grandson Edward V and the decision of her son Richard, Duke of Gloucester to take the crown from his nephew (which followed the disappearance of the Princes in the Tower). We’ll also look at how she reacted to the final fall of the Plantagenets, when Richard was killed at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 and her granddaughter Elizabeth of York became the wife of Henry VII and the first Tudor queen and at the final years of her long life. Throughout, we’ll look at the many royal scandals the Duchess of York lived through, the relationship between Cecily Neville and Elizabeth Woodville, the daughter-in-law she never wanted and the personality of the woman known to history as ‘Proud Cis’. If you’ve ever wondered, what were the Wars of the Roses (or indeed what was the Cousins’ War, which was the name this conflict was originally given), Cecily’s story is an excellent entry point into this complicated saga. This is the second video in a series on the women of the Wars of the Roses.