The King’s Son: The Short Life of Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales

by Karlie aka History Gal

In April 1484 King Richard III and his wife Anne Neville were enjoying a respite from their royal progress. They were lodging at Nottingham Castle when they received the devastating news that their son Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales was dead.

Richard and Anne Neville - Attribution

The Croyland Chronicler recorded that King Richard and Queen Anne were “in a state almost bordering madness, by reason of their sudden grief.” 1

Prince Edward’s death would have profound consequences in Richard and Anne’s personal and political lives. It would also herald in the beginning of the end of the Plantagenet’s reign.

 Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales, had taken his last breath at the same place in which he was born: Middleham Castle in North Yorkshire. Edward’s nursery, located in the west wing of the Castle, was adjacent to the south wing known as the ‘Prince’s Tower’ (where Anne is said to have given birth to him).

The precise date and year of Prince Edward’s birth is unknown. Various historians have estimated that he was born within the years of 1473 to 1477; this would have made Edward 11 to 7 years old at the time of his death in 1484. According to “the Tewkesbury chronicler,” it’s likely that Edward “was born…in 1476 – an old style year that continued until 25 March 1477...” 2 

Middleham Castle - Attribution

Few records survive of Edward’s life both before and after his father, Richard, became King of England in June 1483. The first official record we have of him was written on 10 April 1477 when the priests at York Cathedral were asked to “pray for the good estate of the King and his consort (Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville) and the King’s brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester (the future Richard III) and Anne his consort and Edward their son...” 3

As the nephew of the King, the son of a Duke, and an Earl in his own right, Edward was cared for and tutored as befitting his high status. The woman employed as his wet nurse was Isabel Burgh: wife to one of King Richard’s favorite courtiers.

The mistress of the nursery was Anne Idley: the widow of “Peter Idley, author of a book of manners, or education, for the rearing of boys, called Instructions to His Son.” 4 Edward’s parents must have been happy with Anne Idley’s services, because Richard penned a letter (to William Stoner) praising Idley, referring to her as “our right well beloved servant.” 5 In Edward’s later years, a lady by the name of Jane Collins was employed as his caretaker and Master Richard Bernall was assigned as his tutor.

Even with his exemplary upbringing, the prospect of Edward ever becoming King seemed less likely to occur during the early years of his life. At that time, Richard’s eldest brother –and Edward of Middleham’s uncle, (possible) god father and namesake—Edward IV was King of England. Edward IV’s son: Edward, Prince of Wales (the future Edward V) was the next in line to the throne, followed by his other son Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.

Edward IV - Atribution

Things changed after the deaths of Richard’s other elder brother George, Duke of Clarence in 1478, Edward IV’s death in 1483 and subsequently the latter’s sons’ disappearance in 1483. These series of events made it possible for Richard to assume the role as King of England.

In early 1484 parliament declared King Edward IV and Queen Elizabeth’s marriage invalid due to an alleged pre contract of marriage between King Edward to Lady Eleanor Butler. This proclamation made all of the late King’s offspring with Queen Elizabeth illegitimate, thus forfeiting their right to the crown.

As the new heir to the throne, King Richard’s son inherited grand titles. On 26 June 1483 Edward of Middleham became the Duke of Cornwall, a month later he was given the honorary title of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. On 24 August 1483 he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. The following month he was formally invested as Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester in an extravagant ceremony held at York Minster. The venue was chosen as the place for his investiture instead of “Westminster Abbey as was customary…because the boy’s fragile health made distant travel ill advised.” 6 Edward was supposedly too weak to ride on horseback for the ceremony, and had to be carted from and back to Middleham Castle in a litter. Nonetheless, this was a proud moment for the young Prince’s parents to have witnessed, particularly since Edward was not in attendance for their joint coronation.

Although there is very little contemporary evidence to prove that Prince Edward suffered from a frail constitution throughout his entire life, it seems that he did spend the majority of his time in the confines of Middleham Castle. The scant records that exist of his life, show that he was able to live a fairly normal existence.

Edward Prince of Wales - Attribution

At Middleham, “Edward would have spent his days playing in the court yard watching mummeries (elaborate plays) in the Great Hall and spending time with his parents when they were at the keep.” 7 He also had a fool (a court jester) named Martyn who no doubt provided him with hours of entertainment. “Edward’s leisurely activities may have included watching the hounds” 8, as part of his inventory shows that during a visit to Pontefract Castle, he had in his possession “a pack of hounds…” He also occasionally traveled with his retinue to the “religious houses of Coverham, Fountains and Jervaulx.” 9

In the spring of 1484 Prince Edward was curiously absent during his parent’s royal progress. It’s possible that his father “left him behind in the north, as a symbol to his most loyal adherents of the new regime to which they owed allegiance, but it was likely that (his son) was also too ill to travel.” 10 What is certain is that neither King Richard nor Queen Anne expected their son to die during their absence.

In this age of superstition, it did not go unnoticed that Richard’s heir died in April 1484, “on a date not very far distant from the anniversary” 11 of King Edward IV’s death. This gave way to malicious gossip at court that Prince Edward’s death was just punishment because his father had been responsible for the deaths of the Prince’s in the Tower: Edward V and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York.

There has been much speculation regarding the cause of Edward of Middleham’s death. One theory is that he died from tuberculosis: a bacterial infection that primarily affects the lungs. Whatever the true cause was, the Croyland Chronicler notes that his illness mercifully lasted but a “short duration.”

There can be no doubt that King Richard and Queen Anne genuinely loved their son. The “maddening grief” that they displayed shows that they were not as cold hearted as history has portrayed them. And that they didn’t just see their son as another pawn in their dynastic ambitions.

There is a lot of speculation concerning the whereabouts of Prince Edward’s remains, as no surviving record exists of his burial place. The Church of St Mary and St Alkelda in Middleham, Jervaulx Abbey in East Witton, Coverham Abbey in Coverdale, and the Church of St Helen and Holy Cross in Sherriff Hutton, are locations speculated as being Edward’s final resting place. At the Church of St Helen and Holy Cross, there is an alabaster cenotaph depicting a young boy dressed in fine robes. However, “recent research has proved that it dates from the first half of the 15th century” 12; thus the cenotaph is likely that of a Neville family relation.

A few months after Prince Edward’s death, King Richard traveled to North Yorkshire to pay off the remainder of his son’s expenses. The document he signed (detailing Edward’s expenditure) included the words “most dear son” and following that “in his own handwriting [Richard] added 'Whom God has pardoned'”.13

With his heir gone, the question arose about who Richard’s successor would be. The latter fathered two (perhaps three) illegitimate children with an unidentified woman, prior to his marriage to Anne Neville. King Richard’s other son, John of Gloucester, was knighted at York Minster on the same day that Edward of Middleham’s investiture as Prince of Wales took place.  Because bastards could not inherit the throne, John could not become King of England. The next obvious successors were Richard’s two nephews: John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln (son of Richard’s sister: Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk) and Edward, Earl of Warwick (son of Richard’s late brother George, Duke of Clarence). However, an Act of Attainder, issued by Edward IV against George, Duke of Clarence, prevented the latter’s offspring from inheriting the throne. This fact was further cemented in a statute, issued by parliament in 1484, called Titulus Regius (a statute essentially stipulating that Richard was the rightful King of England). Other than the contemporary English historian John Rous writing that King Richard named Edward, Earl of Warwick as his successor, there is no other evidence to support this. Although John de la Pole was never formally confirmed as such, Richard appears to have accepted him as his successor.

King Richard’s hopes of producing another heir were dashed when his wife became ill during the winter season of 1484. Tragically, 11 months after the death of her son, Anne died at the Palace of Westminster on 16 March 1485. She was only 28 years old and had been Queen Consort of England for almost 2 years. The general consensus among modern scholars is that the most likely cause of her death was either tuberculosis or some form of cancer.

Cenotaph once alleged to be that of Edward of Middleham

After the death of his wife, King Richard’s reign became blighted by political and domestic turmoil and scandals. The gossip at the English court and abroad was that Richard had poisoned his wife so that he could marry his young and attractive niece Elizabeth of York. The marriage never came to be, and for a time he made negotiations to marry Princess Joanna of Portugal, but that union never came to pass.

King Richard also had to contend with the hostile Lancastrian faction and their figurehead Henry Tudor. Henry had been living in exile in Brittany for over a decade, until he landed on the shores of Mill Bay in Wales on 7 August 1485. His mission: to become the new King of England.

The fight for dynastic supremacy, known as the Wars of the Roses, reached its crescendo at the Battle of Bosworth Field, on 22 August 1485. King Richard and his army put up a valiant fight but were ultimately defeated by Lancastrian forces.

Richard died on the battlefield after sustaining several blows to his head by “possibly four assailants armed with halberds, swords, and heavy-bladed daggers” .14 Henry VII became King and his family, the Tudors, ruled England for the next 118 years.

Portrait of King Henry VII - Attribution

Edward of Middleham’s legacy, much like his life, was short lived. He is a footnote in history, overshadowed by the political climate of his time, and the character and reign of Richard III. A sad state of affairs for a Prince whom—had he outlived his father—could have gone down in history as a famous Yorkist King, prisoner, martyr and or soldier.

                                                           References
1. 11. “Richard, The Man behind the Myth” by Andrea Willers
2. “Anne Neville: Queen to Richard III” by Michael Hicks
3. “Calendar of the Patent Rolls: Edward IV-Richard III.” by Great Britain. Public Record Office
4. http://authorherstorianparent.blogspot.com/2013/04/educating-edward-what-sort-of-king.html
5. “The Contemporary Review, Volume 3” by A. Strahan, 1866
6. “Lives of England's Reigning and Consort Queens” by H. Eugene Lehman
7. “The World of Richard III” by Kristie Dean
8. http://nerdalicious.com.au/history/a-glimpse-of-edward-of-middleham-prince-of- http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140917-richard-cause-death-helmet-forensic-science/ wales/
9. “Richard III: England's Black Legend” by Desmond Seward
10. “Queens Consort: England's Medieval Queens from Eleanor of Aquitaine to Elizabeth of York” by Lisa Hilton
12. http://www.richardiii.net/richards_world.php
13. “Memoirs of King Richard the Third and Some of His Contemporaries, Volume 1”by John Heneage Jesse
14. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140917-richard-cause-death-helmet-forensic-science/

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I’m Karlie (also known as History Gal on Twitter)! I have many interests including reading, writing, drawing and painting but my passion is history. I have read and love to read just about every period in history but I am most interested in the Plantagenet and Tudor eras. I’m intrigued, not just by their dynasties, but also the world in which they lived i.e.: the people, the religion, the politics, the conflicts, the events, the castles, the beautiful clothes, just overall their way of life.

St. Alkelda: Saxon Lady, Martyred Saint?

by Lauren Gilbert

It’s important to remember that, once upon a time, saints were declared locally. Many have not been canonized officially. St. Alkelda seems to have been one of those saints. St. Alkelda seems to have been known only in the Middleham area of Yorkshire. Her name is associated with two churches: St. Mary and St. Alkelda’s Church in Middleham, and St. Alkelda’s in Giggleswick, both of which are still open and serving their parishes.

Middleham: The Collegiate Church of St. Mary and St. Alkelda, by Bill Henderson, 2002.  Wikimedia Commons

St. Alkelda (also known as Alchild), according to her legend, was a Saxon, a high-born, apparently virgin lady, who was strangled by the Danes in a Viking raid (possibly by one or two women) while travelling between Middleham and Giggleswick about 800 AD. Alkelda may have been a princess; she may have been a nun or abbess of a monastery in the area. Both churches were in the gift of Finchale Abbey, founded by the Cistercians. Information shows that Finchale Priory was built in the 12th century on the site of a hermitage lived in by St. Godric. There apparently was some earlier religious establishment, whether church or monastery, in the area previously to the hermitage and priory, as a synod was supposedly held there in 792 by Bishop Higbald of Lindisfarn regarding church discipline and manners, and another synod possibly held in 810. The earlier time frame would certainly have fit Alkelda, so the idea of her being a religious had credibility.

Alkelda’s name may have been derived “haeligkeld” an Old English word meaning a holy well or spring. It is worth noting that there is a well in Giggleswick, called the Ebbing and Flowing Well, as well as a St. Alkelda’s Well at Middleham which has apparently been blocked up due to construction in the 1950’s. The church in Middleham has a stained glass window showing her death by strangulation (oddly, she was depicted as smiling). St. Alkelda was supposedly buried beneath the nave of St. Mary and St. Alkelda’s Church in Middleham. The well at that church, when water was accessible, was supposed to have healing qualities. There were associations between a well at Giggleswick and the healing of eye problems, but whether it was the Ebbing and Flowing Well or a different well does not appear to be known.

St. Alkelda's Church, Giggleswick, by Humphrey Bolton

St. Alkelda’s feast day was celebrated March 28 (although there is also a reference to November 5). There is no reference to St. Alkelda in any of the versions of The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Principle Saints by Alban Butler that I consulted, nor was she shown on the list of saints demoted and removed. However, I did find a reference to her as a pre-schismatic saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church who was martyred by the Danes, with a feast day of March 27. She is not shown on the current Eastern Orthodox calendar. 

St. Mary and St. Alkelda Church in Middleham had a strong connection to Richard III. Amy License, in chapter 9 of her biography of Anne Neville, indicated that, when in residence in Middleham Castle, Richard and Anne attended that church and, as Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, named various stalls for their favourite saints, including St. George and St. Barbara (military saints, probably for Richard) and St. Winifred (probably for Anne). Ms. License also indicated that Richard had planned to establish a chantry college at St. Mary and Alkelda, to say prayers for the salvation of the souls of his family. In 1478, Richard III received a grant to elevate St. Mary and Alkelda to the status of a college church, which would have had a dean and six secular priests. This did not come to pass due to Richard’s death.

Obviously, there are many questions about whether or not Alkelda lived. There are claims that the details, such as they are, are inventions. Nevertheless, St. Mary and St. Alkelda Church went through extensive renovation in 1878, at which time a primitive stone coffin containing ancient remains was discovered in the vicinity of the area tradition indicated St. Alkelda was buried. A doctor declared these remains to be female. A plaque was mounted on a pillar near the spot indicating that the remains of St. Alkelda, patron saint of the church, had been found near there. Research by Dr. Heather Edwards threw into question the derivation of the name Alkelda, preferring the medieval Alchild which fits a 7th-8th century lifetime, and discounts the idea of the martyrdom. Others prefer a 9th-10th century date, which fits the derivation of Alkelda from the Old English term. Regardless of the date, here seems to be a conviction that Alkelda was a real person, probably not a princess but definitely a religious, who was locally venerated in the Middleham area.



Sources include:

License, Amy. ANNE NEVILLE Richard III’s Tragic Queen. 2013: Amberly Publishing, Stroud. (Kindle version)

GoogleBooks. NOTES AND QUERIES: A Medium of Intercommunication for Literary Men, General Readers, Etc. Sixth Series-Volume Twelfth. July-December 1885. London: Office, 22, Took’s Court, Chancery Lane, E.C. HERE.

British History Online. “Houses of Benedictine monks: Priory of St John Baptist & St Godric, Finchale.” From A History of the County of Durham: Volume 2, ed. William Page (London, 1907), pp. 103-105 HERE.

North Craven Heritage Trust. “Sacred Landmarks and Landscapes in North Craven:
St Alkelda re-visited, holy wells and south-side side crosses” by Kathleen Kinder. Journal 2015. HERE. “St. Alkelda” by Michael Slater. Journal 2008. HERE.

18th Century Collections on line. “The History and Antiquity of the county palatine, of Durham” by William Hutchison. 1732-1814. HERE.

Jervaulx Churches.”St. Alkelda.” (No author or post date shown.) HERE

Britannia.com. “St. Alkelda (Died C AD 800).” (No author or post date shown.) HERE.

Project Gutenberg. Butler, Alban. The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Principal Saints. January-March. 1895: Archbishop’s House, New York. HERE.

Wikipedia. “March 27: Eastern Orthodox Liturgics.” (No author shown.) Last modified March 3, 2017. HERE.

Britain Express. “Finchale Priory” by David Ross. (No post date shown.) HERE.

Wikimedia Commons. St. Mary’s and St. Alkelda’s Church. HERE. ; St. Alkelda’s Church, Giggleswich. HERE.

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Lauren Gilbert lives in Florida with her husband. Her first published book, HEYERWOOD, A Novel, was released in 2011, and her second, A Rational Attachment, is due out in 2017. Please visit her website HERE for more information and current events!

The Longevity of the Neville Women

by Susan Appleyard

It is impossible to be definitive, but it seems the life expectancy of a woman in the Middle Ages was about thirty-five to forty. While the average life expectancy of a man was truncated by battle and block, as well as work related accidents, the battlefield for women was the birthing chamber. Many died in childbirth (5%) or from complications arising afterward (as many as 15%). If a woman survived her child-bearing years, however, she stood a good chance of living into her fifties or sixties.

I was surprised to discover that the Neville women, four sisters, all lived to a ripe old age. By the Neville women, I mean the daughters of Earl Ralph of Westmoreland and his second wife, Joan Beaufort: Eleanor, Katherine, Anne and Cecily. The trouble with living so long is that collectively they outlived numerous husbands, sons and even grandsons. I decided to look into this, focussing on the male members of the families who reached manhood. Information about girls is harder to find, especially if they were younger daughters or didn’t marry well.

Eleanor was the eldest, born c. 1397 died 1472. She had three spouses, but children with only the second and third. The second was Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland, with whom she had ten, seven of them boys. Of the four I could track, all four predeceased her, although one was a bishop and might have been expected to live longer than the others who all died in battle or under the axe. One of her grandsons became Earl of Northumberland in his turn and also predeceased her, while another had five sons who all outlived her. I coul’t discover anything about her second husband and the two sons she had with him.

Katherine, Duchess of Norfolk, came next, born c.1400 and died sometime after 1483. She had 4 husbands but only 1 son and 1 grandson, who did not outlive her but were fortunate to die natural deaths.

Anne was born c.1411 and died in 1480, outliving two husbands. By her first, Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, she had four sons and outlived all but one. Of two grandsons, one survived her.

Cecily, born 1415, died 1495, the youngest and best known had only one husband, Richard Duke of York with whom she had four sons and outlived them all. The eldest was King Edward IV, who had two sons, known as the princes in the tower. A contentious issue, but it is highly likely that Cecily outlived them. Her second son was killed at the age of 17 and had no issue. The third son, George had one son who outlived his grandmother by about four years. Her fourth son, King Richard III had one son who did not outlive her.

Most of the information above came from Wikipedia and http://www.geni.com/

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Susan Appleyard is an author of historical fiction. She has written two books set during the War of the Roses, which are available at Amazon, and a third is due to be released in June.