ISABEL NEVILLE, DUCHESS OF CLARENCE | Forgotten women of the Wars of the Roses | History Calling

Isabel Neville Duchess of Clarence is one of the most frequently forgotten women of the wars of the roses and one of History's tragic Royal duchesses born into one of England's most powerful 15th century families she was a great heiress but money would prove no protection from The Perils her life would throw at her stay tuned to this week's video from history calling to hear about her scandalous marriage into the York royal family her terrifying first childbirth experience the multiple times she had to flee her Homeland and go into Exile and the heart breaks and field hopes she suffered before her untimely death which her husband believed was murder thank you [Music] before we jump in those of you who saw last week's video will know that it was about Isabelle's sister and Neville I wasn't planning on doing the Two Sisters biographies back to back like this however the research I did on Anne doubled in many instances as research on Isabel so I decided to create this video while her story was still fresh in my mind there is some inevitable overlap in their stories however this video is very much from Isabelle's point of view with extra sources added in to better explain her experiences and other than the section explaining what the wars of the Roses were this does not just repeat Anne's video nor do you need to have seen that video for this one to make sense they do make good companion pieces though so you might want to watch Anne's biography after this and or the other videos I have in my series on the women of the wars of the Roses okay let's hear about Isabelle Isabel Neville was born at Warwick Castle on the 5th of September 1451. her father was Richard Neville Earl Warwick known to history as the king maker and her mother was Anne Beauchamp she was christened at Warwick with her paternal great aunt Cecily Neville Duchess of York as her godmother remember that name as Cecily will be reappearing in an important role later on Isabelle's parents produced only one other surviving child the aforementioned younger sister Anne who was also born at the castle in June 1456 and the two girls were therefore wealthy heiresses and would eventually be highly sought after Marriage Partners it was at Warwick that Isabelle likely spent her earliest years though given that her father became the captain of Calais in 1456 which was then still under English control his family may have relocated there soon after Anne's birth Isabelle's life would be shaped by the wars of the Roses which had its Beginnings in events which took place decades before her birth and which wouldn't finish until nearly 10 years after her death the problems began with Edward III who had five surviving sons in your face Henry VII this section of the video will recap information given in last week's documentary so if you're already up to speed on the background to the wars you might want to skip ahead by the time Edward died in 1377 his eldest boy Edward Prince of Wales known as the black prince was already dead the throne therefore went to the Prince's son who became Richard II but he had no children and so his Heir was Edmund Earl of March a descendant of Edward III's second surviving son Lionel eventwerp Duke of Clarence however in 1399 Richard II was deposed by his cousin Henry Bolingbrook who was the son of Edward III's third son John of gaunt Duke of Lancaster and his first wife Blanche of Lancaster Bolingbrook came Henry IV and Richard III died soon afterwards having probably been murdered Henry IV's eldest son became Henry V then his son became Henry VI in 1422 at the age of nine months as this branch of the plantagenets were descended from Edward III's third son however their blood claim on the throne was arguably weaker than the descendants of his second son line levantwerp Lionel's descendant Edmund Earl of March was long dead and had had no children but he had passed his claim to the throne onto the descendants of his sister Anne Mortimer she had married her distant cousin Richard Earl of Cambridge who was also a descendant of Edward III this time through his fourth son Edmund of Langley Duke of York so we have the descendants of John of gaunt who are known as the lancastrians because he was the Duke of Lancaster and we have the descendants of Lionel of Antwerp and Edmund of Langley who are known as the Yorks because Edmond was Duke of York the lancastrians hold the throne at the time of Isabel's birth because Henry IV had seized it but the Yorks have a better blood claim on it because they are descended from an older son of Edward III the idea of roses comes from the fact that one of the badges sometimes used by the House of Lancaster was a red rose while one of the badges sometimes used by the house of York was a white rose Isabelle was a descendant of Joan of gaunt but that descent was complicated after the death of his first wife Blanche of Lancaster he married again in 1371 to Constance of Castile they had no surviving Sons but Jon had a mistress Catherine swinford with whom he had three sons and a daughter between 1372 and 1381. the eldest of these would be the progenitor of the tutor line but it was from the daughter June that Isabelle descended after constance's death John of gond finally married Catherine swinford and had these children retroactively declared legitimate a later caveat was added by Henry IV which stipulated that they and their descendants were unable to inherit the throne though if you see my videos on Margaret Beaufort and her son Henry VII you'll know that that caveat ultimately didn't hold the king at the time of Isabelle's birth and during her early childhood was the noi adult Henry VI he and his wife Margaret evangelo had just one child Edward Prince of Wales born in 1453 during a period of time when his father had suffered a complete mental breakdown and was in a catatonic state Isabelle's father Lord Warwick was not on good terms with the Royal household especially Queen Margaret and was instead a supporter of his uncle by marriage the Duke of York this was the husband of Isabelle's godmother York was second in line to the throne after the infant Prince of Wales and was named protector of the realm during the King's incapacitation and again for three months in late 1455 and early 1456 for reasons which are less clear he had four sons who survived infancy Edward Edmund George and Richard three of whom would prove to be instrumental in the direction Isabelle's life took Isabelle much like her sister is one of those historical figures for whom we have frustratingly little information I can't even tell you for sure what she looked like the image of her in a stained glass window is a much later imagining and the only near contemporary drawing we have of her is the very generic picture you see here from a document called the Russ rule nigh held in the British library in this document however all the women look pretty much the same as each other as do all the men what I can tell you though is that most of her life was governed by the decisions made by her father and only rarely did these make her existence easier as the Yorks and Lancaster struggled for the throne Lord Warwick and his father the Earl of Salisbury were pulled into the fighting at the Battle of ludford bridge in October 1459 the yorkist forces suffered a serious defeat leading Warwick Salisbury and the Duke of York's eldest son Edward Earl of March to flee to Calais while the Duke himself took his second boy Edmund Earl of Rutland and went to Ireland Isabelle and her mother and sister were either already in Calais at this time or joined their men folk there soon afterwards the following July however the Yorks succeeded in deposing Henry VI and taking him prisoner while Queen Margaret evangelo and her son had to flee to Scotland at the end of October an active Accord was passed stating that upon Henry's death Isabelle's great uncle the Duke of York would become king and the throne would then pass to his children rather than the Young Prince of Wales things didn't go that smoothly however York and his second son Edmund were both killed at the Battle of Wakefield just two months later with Isabel's grandfather Lord Salisbury taken prisoner and killed shortly afterwards at pontefract Castle despite these lancastrian games though the supporters of King Henry couldn't hold on to par even after they defeated Isabel's father at the Second Battle of Saint Albans on the 17th of February 1461 and freed the king from Warwick's custody the Duke of York's oldest son the 18 year old Edward Earl of March who was technically the Duke of York neither history never refers to him by this title managed to take London where he was declared King Edward IV on the 4th of March King Henry Queen Margaret and their son withdrew into Scotland Isabelle had remained in France during these treacherous months but with yorkist control over England now secure she her mother and her little sister returned to England and set up home in Middle home Castle it's very hard to Glimpse the girl in the records however she was at the re-burial of her grandfather Lord Salisbury at bishomabi in February 1463 he'd originally been interred in the Ferrari at pontefract and in September 1465 she attended the Austin tearsius celebrations for the enthronement of her paternal Uncle George Neville as Archbishop of York she sat with her sister and their father's cousin the almost 13 year old Richard Duke of Gloucester who was Edward IV's youngest brother and who was then living with the Neville family at middleham he would stay until 1469 when aged 16 he was declared to be of age this was also the year that the relationship between his brother King Edward and Isabelle's father Lord Warwick would take a nosedive and Isabelle would be at the center of the storm before I reveal what happened next if you're enjoying this content I'd be really grateful if you'd consider giving the video a thumbs up before you go as this helps YouTube know that you liked it so that they can recommend it to other interested people for more from me you can also hit the Subscribe button with the notification Bell switched on and that way YouTube will alert you when I upload a new long form video short or Community post you can also find me over on Instagram where I post every week and on patreon where I provide bonus material including many podcasts and early access to ad-free videos these are both linked below for you a quick thank you to those of you who already support me on patreon or by making one-off donations to the channel using the thanks button underneath videos for your great generosity and support you'll recall that King Edward and Richard had another surviving brother George Duke of Clarence George was one of those people who wanted more than he had even when he didn't deserve it and he fancied himself as king one day as Edward did not yet have a legitimate son this left George essentially next in line for the throne for although Edward did have daughters there was no precedent in this era for a woman successfully inheriting the throne if you want to hear about the most famous example of a medieval lady who tried though see my video on Empress Matilda linked on screen and blue for you George wanted a wealthy aristocratic wife to suit his aspirations and he and Warwick both felt that Isabelle 917 was the perfect candidate with Warwick no doubt hoping the end result might be one of his grandchildren on the throne Edward though could not be persuaded to give his consent to the match probably wanting to limit Clarence and Warwick's par within England and use Clarence to make a useful foreign match this greatly angered both his cousin and his brother as Edward himself had squandered his opportunity to make a strategic Alliance by marrying the lancastrian Widow Elizabeth Woodville back in 1464. furthermore he did this in secret and only admitted to it sometime later when Warwick was in the process of trying to arrange the king's marriage to Bonner of Savoy having flooded expectations so spectacularly himself it must have seemed a bit much that he now expected George to toe the line his little brother and his cousin were to prove just as willing to break the rules when it suited them though and events soon took a dangerous turn the plan to marry George and Isabel to one another was in the works for a long time in March 1468 Clarence and Warwick obtained a Papal dispensation which would overcome the obstacle created by the couple's blood relationship and the fact that Isabel was the goddaughter of George's mother which was a genuine impediment in this era it wasn't until July 1469 however that this scheme was put into action in that month Warwick and George took Isabel to Calais and we are told by one source the 12th day of the month of July in the translation of sim Ben at the Abbot the ninth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King Edward IV in the castle of Calais the said Duke took in marriage Isabelle one of the daughters and Heirs of the said Richard Earl of Warwick which that time was present there and five other Knights of the Garter and many other Lords and Ladies and worshipful Knights well accompanied with wise and discreet Esquires in right great number to the Lloyd praising of God and to the honor and worship of the world the contrast between Edward's furt of marriage to his Queen and George's very public nuptials couldn't have been more Stark it also had much more familial support than the Woodville marriage had ever enjoyed the ceremony was officiated by the bride's Uncle George Neville Archbishop of York and seemingly blessed by the groom's mother Cecily who allowed her own minstrels to play at the celebrations something which has been taken as a tacit approval of the Union the wedding party stayed in Calais for five days then Warwick and George quote shipped into England leaving the sad Duchess at Calais of for said and went himself and said Earl to the city of London and so forth northward this was the beginning of a full-scale revolt against Edward the Juke and the Earl defeated the king's forces at the Battle of edgecoat on the 26th of July and days later they had Edward himself in their custody as for Isabelle she was either already pregnant or became so very soon after returning from France thanks to her father and husband's miscalculations however the end result of this pregnancy would be tragic within a few months of their coup it became clear that Warwick and Clarence couldn't rule England in Edward's name and keep the peace and the King had to be released there was a show of familial forgiveness but the situation was very uneasy and in early 1470 Isabelle's father and husband had another goo at ousting the monarch again they failed and this time they had to take Isabelle her mother and her sister and flee to France in the middle of April Edward managed to get orders through to his Lieutenant at Calais not to allow his treaderous family to land there though and so it was that the 18 year old Isabelle who should have been at home in her own bed went into labor on the boat Philippe de Comins who was an advisor to Louis XI of France had this to say of what happened in the tine meaning Calais was Warwick's Lieutenant Lord Wenlock and several of his domestic servants instead of welcoming him they fired several cannon shots at him while they lay at anger before the time the Duchess of Clarence the Earl of Warwick's daughter gave birth to his son it was only with a great deal of difficulty that Lord Wenlock and the others could be persuaded to allow two flagons of wine to be brought to her the baby whose gender is actually unknown despite what comings said because different sources give different information was either stillborn or lived only a short time perhaps suggesting that it was premature the ruse rule said it was buried by Calais which could mean either buried at Sea or taken ashore and entered there the bedraggled group landed in Normandy on the 1st of May and with nowhere else to go Warwick and Clarence neymared an alliance with the exiled Margaret of bonjour it was one which would critically undermine Isabelle's own marriage and any pretensions she ever had of being Queen the idea was to have Warwick's younger daughter the 14 year old Anne marry Margaret's son Edward Prince of Wales Warwick would take troops supplied by King Louis of France who wanted Military Support against burgundy in return to England to pose Edward IV restore Henry VI who had been captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London back in 1465 and when it was safe Margaret Prince Edward and his new wife would return to England this must have been galling for Isabelle it effectively said that her own marriage was a Liam duck of no use to her father and that he was now putting all his eggs in her little sister's basket it also meant that Anne would outrank her first as Princess of wheels and then if all went according to plan as Queen and that it would be her children who would someday inherit the throne not Isabel's plan was soon put into motion Ann and Edward were betrothed on the 25th of July while they awaited a people dispensation to allow them to wear it and Warwick and Clarence set off for England Landing there on the 13th of September they succeeded in deposing Edward IV who had to flee into Exile on Mainland Europe along with his youngest brother Richard Duke of Gloucester and Henry VI was freed and put back on the throne in the middle of October Anne and Larry Warwick stayed behind with the girls almost in-laws as virtual hostages in France and Isabelle possibly remained with them though we don't actually know for sure where she was and later events make it appear that she returned to England separately from them as with all Warwick and Clarence is scheming the positive results for them didn't last long we don't know how Warwick convinced George to agree to the plan to restore Henry or if there was any convincing at all George was too far gone with his cousin it seemed to ever return to his brother so he may have been going along with events at this point due to a lack of any other viable option he was financially compensated by the new henrique and government but at some point it seems to have dawned on him that he was useless to the new regime and would never be as well off as he had been as the brother of the King by now he was just the brother-in-law of the Princess of Wales which was a real calm down by comparison while we seeking greener pastures I'm certainly not burdened with any great sense of loyalty to anyone but himself he now switched sides again and in April 1471 he rejoined his brothers who had returned from Exile the previous month to retake the throne this left his wife in an unenviable position with her father and sister on one side of the political divide and her husband on the other a sudden death was about to settle the situation for her though on the 14th of April at the Battle of Barnet King Edward's forces clashed with those of Richard Earl of Warwick and Isabelle's father was killed it was the same day that her sister new brother-in-law and Margaret evangelo had returned from France this group made a concerted effort to carry on the fight by attempting to join forces with Henry VI's uncle Jasper Tudor but Edward IV engaged the Prince of Wales and his troops in battle at Tewksbury on the 4th of May and the 17 year old Prince was killed shortly afterwards Margaret Evangel and Anne were taken prisoner from a nearby Church in which they had been Sheltering and brought to Edward IV at Coventry on the 11th the fact that Isabelle doesn't seem to have been with him at this point makes me suspect that she was already back at George's side her mother we know was in sanctuary at Beulah Abbey Ann was placed in George's custody and sent to live with her sister and brother-in-law possibly at their house at Cold Harbor Isabelle was now effectively her sister's Jailer in many respects but we have no information as to how the two girls because really that's all they were interacted with each other during this time Richard Duke of Gloucester soon may had known his desire to marry Anne which would have given him access to her half of the Warwick inheritance which George currently controlled as Isabel's husband and the two brothers fought bitterly over the ex princess's future there is a story that George even hadan disguised as a kitchen made in one of his houses in order to try to hide her from Richard and if this is the case we must wonder what Isabelle made of this treatment of her younger sibling eventually though Richard got his way and married Anne sometime between March 1472 and July 1474. this put the sisters back on an even footing both Royal duchesses and sisters-in-law to the king as well as NY being sisters-in-law to each other too just one of the odd little quirks of this level of family intra marriage the births of Isabelle's children help us to track her movements during the final years of her life by the end of 1472 she was pregnant once more and her daughter Margaret later kindness of Salisbury was born at Farley Castle on the 14th of August 1473. she was joined by a brother named Edward after the king and given the title The Earl of Warwick who was born a year and a half later in late February 1475 at Isabelle's childhood home Warwick Castle her last child another boy called Richard after his uncle Gloucester arrived in October 1476 at Tewksbury Abbey showing just how brief the gaps between medieval aristocratic pregnancies were it is possible that Isabel attended the re-burial of her father and brother-in-law the Duke of York and the Earl of Rutland at fathering hay in July 1476 and if so this would likely have been one of her last if not her final official engagement after baby Richard's birth she seems to have suffered postpartum complications which ultimately killed her at Warwick Castle on the 22nd of December she was just 25 years old her little son outlived her by a matter of days dying on the 1st of January 1477. she was buried in Tewkesbury Abbey her loss sent George into a death spiral of his own he accused her mere servant and correct winnow of having poisoned Isabel and the baby in October which made no sense given that they didn't die until December and January respectively and had the woman seized then tried phoned guilty of murder and executed all in one day it was judicial murder and usurp the king's par further insults to Edwardson followed leading to George's arrest and dramatic execution by drawing in February 1478. after which he was interred with Isabel you can hear all the details of this case in my video on his death Isabelle's children met similarly gruesome ants her son Edward spent most of his life in prison and was eventually executed by Henry VII in 1499 after supposedly planning to escape and oppose the king while her daughter Margaret was beheaded in 1541 on the orders of Henry VII in retaliation for the actions of her sons who did not support his church reforms rarely had a family all met such tragic ends I hope you find this biography of Isabelle interesting let me know in the comments below what you make of her father and husband's treatment of her and for more on this period of English History do check out my Wars of the Roses playlist I'll be back next week and until then keep learning

Channel: History Calling

Views: 57,351

Keywords: Isabel Neville, duchess of Clarence, forgotten women of the wars of the roses, the women who fought the wars of the roses, the woman who lost the wars of the roses, what was the cousins' war, richard iii's queen, richard iii's wife, the wife of richard iii, the King’s sister-in-law, what were the wars of the roses, the women of the wars of the roses, women of the wars of the roses, understanding the wars of the roses, queen of England, forgotten royal duchess, History Calling

Id: cMZNzng4CL4

Length: 24min 29sec (1469 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 21 2023