Eleanor Butler – The true Queen of England?

? Eleanor Butler – The true Queen of England? ?

? Eleanor Butler was the woman who helped change the royal history of England forever.

Thanks to Richard III, she almost brought one of its most famous dynasties to disaster, before they had even secured the throne.

In her lifetime, Eleanor never claimed the crown for herself, but as the Wars of the Roses raged to their bloody end at Bosworth Field, she became a central figure in the path to the throne for Richard III.

? Eleanor was actually already dead, by the time her name was passed through parliament, in the fight for Richard’s right to rule.

The fact that she had even lived at all, was a vital part of the hold that Richard III had on the title of King of England, after the death of his brother Edward IV, in 1483.

? Richard claimed that Eleanor, a renowned beauty, had actually been contracted to marry Edward before he entered his famous union with Elizabeth Woodville.

In the 15th century, that precontract was enough to make any subsequent marriages invalid.

Richard and his advisers argued that Eleanor and Edward’s ‘arrangement’ meant his wedding to Elizabeth wasn’t legal, meaning their children were illegitimate.

With the York princes and princesses out of the way, the only claimant to the throne was Richard himself.

? The next thing you know, Parliament was merrily constructing the Titulus Regius which proclaimed Edward’s bigamy to the world, and bastardized all his children including the young King Edward – who swiftly lost his crown to his uncle, and disappeared from history.

The 1484 law ensured Richard III’s tenure as King of England, and made Eleanor Butler one of the most talked about women in Europe.

But who was Eleanor, and did she really have a claim to be Queen of England?

? Eleanor was born around 1436 as Eleanor Talbot. She had a pretty impressive family tree all of her own.

Her father was John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. Eleanor’s mother was his second wife, Lady Margaret Beauchamp, who was part of the mighty Warwick family.

Eleanor followed the path of many well born women in the 15th century, and married young.
She wed Sir Thomas Butler in 1449, the son of Ralph Butler, Lord Sudeley and went to live with them at Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire.

Thomas died, most probably before 1460, and Eleanor was left a very wealthy widow.

? Quite when she met Edward IV isn’t known, but her relationship with him was a matter of gossip and speculation.

Thomas More later wrote that Edward had three mistresses who he nicknamed ‘the merriest, the wiliest and the holiest harlot in the realm”.

Although he didn’t name her, perhaps because of her important connections, it was widely understood the ‘holy harlot’ was Eleanor, who was renowned for her religious devotion as well as her beauty and her relationship with the lusty young king.

? No documentation exists relating to a marriage or precontract, between Edward and Eleanor.

Written records of marriages weren’t required or kept in the 15th century, and Edward was a notorious womaniser.

Handsome and dashing, he had a habit of promising those he desired what they wanted to hear – before unlacing their corsets.
He then left them once his thirst had been quenched.

The argument made by Richard, was that Edward had agreed to marry Eleanor, forming that all important contract, before abandoning her once they had slept together…..

? How very convenient it was for Richard that Edward was dead, before he chose to mention the embarrassing news that his brother had made one too many marriage vows – and just before Edward V’s coronation as well, such a coincidence!

Also, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick – and Eleanor Butler’s uncle, never mentioned that Edward was already married to his niece when he tried to marry Edward off to the Princess Bona….

? However, Richard managed to dig up a ‘witness’ to the wedding.
Robert Stillington, Bishop of Bath and Wells, told the king that he had officiated at the ceremony uniting Edward and Eleanor.

That evidence was more than enough for a law to be passed striking Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville from the books.

Now, Stillington was hardly a credible witness.
In 1478, Robert Stillington had spent some weeks in prison, apparently as a result of some association with the disgraced George, Duke of Clarence.

He gave Clarence information about the king’s prior common law association with Eleanor.
Information that would have put Clarence in a position to claim the throne for himself.

When this didn’t work, Stillington turned his attention to the other York brother, Richard.

Some years after, Stillington became involved in the plot to place the impostor Lambert Simnel on the throne in 1487.
After finding refuge at Oxford University, he was eventually handed over to King Henry VII, and imprisoned.

History relies on evidence which can, of course, be misleading.
Much of the evidence relating to Edward’s marriage to Eleanor Butler is circumstantial, and the sources are often rather biased, especially as Eleanor held another advantage for Richard – as she was also dead, she was a silent witness.

She died in 1468 and so couldn’t face interrogation over the state of her relationship with Edward.

With both bride and groom absent from the debate, Richard’s argument held the day.

His nephews, Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, disappeared from their new home at the Tower of London, while their sisters went from being eligible princesses to illegitimate castoffs, dependent on the charity of their uncle.

‘The Croyland Chronicle’ very clearly states that the whole thing was cooked up by Richard, to justify the usurpation of the throne.

Richard, of course, didn’t enjoy his power for long.
He lost his crown, and his life, at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485, when Henry Tudor claimed victory.

But Eleanor still proved problematic.
Henry had an agreement as part of plans to unite the Houses of Lancaster and York, to marry the White Princess, Elizabeth of York.

Elizabeth was the eldest child of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.

In law, Elizabeth was now the product of an invalid marriage.
The new king couldn’t found a powerful dynasty with an illegitimate wife.

So Henry’s first parliament repealed the Titulus Regius and all copies were destroyed.

However, one survived, despite threats of fines and imprisonment for anyone who held on to one.
Years later, it emerged to put Eleanor’s name back in the spotlight.

Somewhere out there, is a document which proves a wedding between Edward and Eleanor took place.
Or its a testament that they never wed, and merely both enjoyed a sexual relationship, without the promise of wedding bells.

But for now, the existence of Titulus Regius and the claims within it, add another enticing element to the story of the Tudors – and the rise of a dynasty born from claims of illegitimacy…..

Max Irons as Edward and Rebecca Fergusson as Elizabeth Woodville in ‘The White Queen’ 2013

Photo: Ed Miller/Company Pictures