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Edward IV, Dame Eleanor and the Phantom Web of Impediments
Affinity, Anne Mowbray, Calendar of Papal Register, Catholic Encyclopedia, Cheshire, common stock, consanguinity, consanguinity test, denialists, Edward IV, Elizabeth Wydeville, Fourth Lateran Council, Gregory I, Hicks, impediments, John Earl of Shrewsbury, Lady Eleanor Talbot, Lady Elizabeth Talbot, Maude Furnivall, mediaeval canon law, pre-contract, Ricardian Bulletin, Richard of Shrewsbury, Sir John Grey of Groby, Sir Thomas Butler, St. AugustineIntroduction The precontract (i.e. prior marriage) between Edward IV and Eleanor Butler, née Talbot, has long been a subject of debate, but what has not previously been claimed is that Edward and Eleanor were so closely related as to have been unable to make a valid marriage without a special dispensation from the Pope. Recently,…