Anne Beauchamp | |
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| 16th Countess of Warwick (suo jure) Countess of Salisbury | |
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| Born | Lady Anne Beauchamp 13 July 1426 |
| Died | 20 September 1492(1492-09-20) (aged 66) |
| Noble family | Beauchamp |
| Spouse | Richard Neville, 6th Earl of Salisbury |
| Issue | Isabel, Duchess of Clarence Anne, Queen of England |
| Father | Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick |
| Mother | Isabel Despenser |
Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick (13 July 1426 – 20 September 1492) was an importantlate medieval English noblewoman. She was the daughter ofRichard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, and his second wife,Isabel le Despenser (a daughter ofThomas le Despenser (22 September 1373 – 13 January 1399/1400) andConstance of York).
Anne Beauchamp marriedRichard Neville "the Kingmaker", who becameEarl of Warwick by right of Anne. She was the mother of two famous daughters,Isabel Neville, the wife ofGeorge Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, andAnne Neville,Queen of England as the wife ofKing Richard III.[1]
She has been described as "diplomatic, intelligent and resilient", and was at the centre of politics during the War of the Roses.[2]
Anne Beauchamp was born atCaversham Castle in Oxfordshire (nowBerkshire). She marriedRichard Neville 'the Kingmaker' – and her brotherHenry Beauchamp married Richard's sisterCecily – in 1436.[3] Following the death of Anne's father in 1439, and subsequently that of her brother Henry in 1446, and his infant daughterLady Anne in 1449,[4] Neville inherited the title and the considerable estates of theEarldom of Warwick through his wife.[5]
However, this was contested by Anne's three older half-sisters, children of her father's first marriage toElizabeth, heiress of the Berkeley estates.[6] One of these,Lady Eleanor, was married toEdmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (killed at theFirst Battle of St Albans in 1455). The litigation over the Warwick inheritance only fuelled the enmity between this branch of theNevilles and theBeauforts who were closely related. Anne Beauchamp's husband, Richard, was the grandson ofLady Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland, sister of the Duke's late father. Law considered that Anne Beauchamp being a full-blooded aunt of the last countess was more eligible to inherit than her older half-sisters, who were thus not coheirs with her, including the eldest –Lady Margaret, Countess of Shrewsbury (d. 1468). Richard Neville succeeded in keeping the Warwick and Despencer estates intact.[7]
When her husband died in 1471 fighting against King Edward IV of England, Anne sought sanctuary inBeaulieu Abbey and wrote to the King to assure him that she was 'the kinge's true liege woman' and to negotiate her own safety.[2] She also sent appeals to powerful women of the royal family, includingJacquetta of Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford,Elizabeth Woodville andElizabeth of York.[2] She remained in sanctuary until 1473.[8]
Her elder daughter, LadyIsabel, marriedGeorge, Duke of Clarence, the younger brother of KingEdward IV of England.[9] Her younger daughter, LadyAnne Neville, was married toEdward of Westminster, the only son of Lancastrian KingHenry VI.[10] When Edward of Westminster was killed in theBattle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471, Anne Neville was married to Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the brother of Yorkist KingEdward IV of England who later became KingRichard III of England.[1] They married after a dispensation to marry was issued from Rome on 22 April 1472.[1] Anne joined her daughter Anne's household in 1473 after Richard obtained the king's permission to release his mother-in-law from her sanctuary.[8] Anne is known to have passed an illustratedBook of Hours to her daughter, which had been commissioned byRichard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick.[11]
Although their mother was still living, the husbands of the two Neville sisters fought over their inheritance.[12] To win his brother George's final consent to the marriage with Anne, eventually Richard renounced most of Warwick's land and property including the earldoms of Warwick (which the Kingmaker had held in his wife's right) and Salisbury and surrendered to Clarence the office of Great Chamberlain of England.[8] In 1474, to settle the dispute once and for all, Anne was declared legally dead by Parliament and her inheritance was divided between her two daughters.[13]
After George was executed for treason in 1478,[9] his son Edward inherited the title of Earl of Warwick, while Richard's son was styled Earl of Salisbury.[14]
Anne was once again in sanctuary atBeaulieu Abbey in 1486 when she petitionedHenry VII for the return of her estate. She recovered a small portion, but only on condition that she broke the entail and remit the bulk of them to Henry VII.[7] "The 'Warwick and Spencer lands', her own patrimony became part of the crown estate."[15]
Anne died in obscurity, having survived her husband, her daughters and the sons-in-law who had effectively disinherited her. She was buried alongside her husband.[16]
Anne, Countess of Warwick, appears prominently in thePhilippa Gregory novelsThe White Queen (2009),The Red Queen (2010), andThe Kingmaker's Daughter (2012),[17] and is played byJuliet Aubrey in the 2013 television adaptation of all three novels,The White Queen.[18] She is depicted as a coldly ambitious mother to Isabel and Anne Neville, and her husband's staunchest supporter.
A more sympathetic portrayal of the Countess of Warwick is in the novelThe Sunne in Splendour bySharon Kay Penman, and a maternal view of her is observed inThe Reluctant Queen byJean Plaidy.[citation needed]
NovelistSandra Worth represents the Countess as her husband's conscience in her five novels about theWars of the Roses. Another sympathetic portrayal of Anne Beauchamp isWife to the Kingmaker, a 1974 title by Sandra Wilson.[19]
| Peerage of England | ||
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| Preceded by | Countess of Warwick 1449–1492 | Succeeded by |
