This post is prompted by a recent forthright statement on social media to the effect that Edward IV was not married to Lady Eleanor Talbot.
Now it is one thing to suggest that there is a possibility that there was no such marriage. But certainty? Unless one was literally there, as one of the principal characters, or perhaps as Edward’s personal bodyguard, how can you possibly be certain?
Of course, some people believe in reincarnation, which is a perfectly respectable tradition, shared by millions around the world, but memories carried from previous lives are not usually adduced as historical evidence. Some believe, so it seems, that they are old enough in this life to have been around on 8th June 1461. Others appear to be time travellers.
The point is, of course, that there is evidence of the marriage. In the first and most obvious case, the legislation in Parliament known as Titulus Regius states quite clearly that Edward and Eleanor were married. Of course, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons were not all present in the chapel, but they were presented with proofs (no longer available to us) which evidently satisfied them sufficiently to pass a statute. However inadequate their knowledge may have been, it is hard to argue that we, 500-plus years later, are better informed on the matter.
Of course, the proofs had previously been presented at the time of Richard’s accession – Titulus Regius was merely a formalisation of what had already been accepted. It is worth mentioning though that the only evidence we have that Owain Tudor and Katherine of Valois were married was a similar statement in Parliament. Curiously, no one seems to question their marriage. You certainly do not come across bland assertions that it never happened.
There is other evidence too. Hearne’s Fragment, which is thought (by historians such as James Ross and D.A.L. Morgan) to be the remnant of a memoir by Thomas Howard Duke of Norfolk (d 1524) also records the marriage. What would be the purpose of making such a statement after 1485 if it was untrue? Would it not, in fact, have been rather dangerous for the author?
h/t Annette Carson
Sources:
i) Generally known as ‘Hearne’s Fragment’ – Ross and Morgan agree this is almost certainly the fragmentary memoirs of Norfolk himself. Originally T. Sprott, ‘Chronica’ ed. Thomas Hearne 1719 and Kingsford, ‘English Historical Literature in the 15th Century‘ (1913 repr. 2019 IIRC). Also recently accessible in ‘Chronicles of the White Rose of York‘ ed. J.C. Giles, 1843, repr. Alan Sutton 1974.
ii) Also fragmentary memoirs written by Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk (d. 1524) authenticated by James Ross and by D.A.L. Morgan in English Historical Review, 2009, Vol 124, No. 509, pp. 811-832.
The Talbot marriage is on record.
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