Cecily Neville and Margaret Beaufort

This comparison supports my impression that Henry VII
borrowed and adapted from his predecessors. In this
quote, it's Lady Margaret who's doing the borrowing.
But Jones and Underwood show that Lady Margaret had a
lot of influence on Henry's decisions.

"Margaret had been impressed by the more subtle
authority and greater range of cultural interests
possessed by Cecily Neville, dowager-duchess of York,
whom she had encountered at court in the 1470s.
Cecily combined pious and devotional concerns (she was
a generous donor to Queen's College, Cambridge) with a
forceful upholding of her rights, whether exploiting
wardships or protecting her tenants at law. She held
a commanding behind-the-scenes influence within the
Yorkist polity, and Edward IV and his brother, Richard
duke of Gloucester, regularly discussed matters of
state with her. These two determined ladies held each
other in great respect. In her will, in 1495, Cecily
left Margaret a beautiful breviary bound in cloth of
gold."

It amazes me that Cecily would leave Margaret anything
in her will. Would this have been more political than
personal? Was there some tradition of leaving gifts
to political enemies in hopes of gaining protection
for surviving members of the family? Even if Cecily
respected Margaret's political skills, it's hard to
understand how she could leave the mother of the man
who was killing off her family a gift in her will.
Can anyone tell me about 15th century traditions
governing gifts in wills?

TIA!

Marion


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--- In , marion davis
<phaecilia@y...> wrote:
> This comparison supports my impression that Henry VII
> borrowed and adapted from his predecessors. In this
> quote, it's Lady Margaret who's doing the borrowing.
> But Jones and Underwood show that Lady Margaret had a
> lot of influence on Henry's decisions.
>
> "Margaret had been impressed by the more subtle
> authority and greater range of cultural interests
> possessed by Cecily Neville, dowager-duchess of York,
> whom she had encountered at court in the 1470s.
> Cecily combined pious and devotional concerns (she was
> a generous donor to Queen's College, Cambridge) with a
> forceful upholding of her rights, whether exploiting
> wardships or protecting her tenants at law. She held
> a commanding behind-the-scenes influence within the
> Yorkist polity, and Edward IV and his brother, Richard
> duke of Gloucester, regularly discussed matters of
> state with her. These two determined ladies held each
> other in great respect. In her will, in 1495, Cecily
> left Margaret a beautiful breviary bound in cloth of
> gold."
>
> It amazes me that Cecily would leave Margaret anything
> in her will. Would this have been more political than
> personal? Was there some tradition of leaving gifts
> to political enemies in hopes of gaining protection
> for surviving members of the family? Even if Cecily
> respected Margaret's political skills, it's hard to
> understand how she could leave the mother of the man
> who was killing off her family a gift in her will.
> Can anyone tell me about 15th century traditions
> governing gifts in wills?
>
> TIA!
>
> Marion

Hi Marion,

I've wondered myself about that bequest. Both Cecily and Anne
Beauchamp seem to have been ingratiating with the new regime, but in
both cases evidence is now emerging that they were probably involved
in Yorkist plotting at the same time.
What I do know about 15th century wills is that they were not just
about being fair to your various offspring, but were to a large
extent about making one's peace with God, and a last chance to see to
all the things that Christians are supposed to have done in this
world before being fit to meet the Maker. So, for instance, wills
routinely cover the 7 corporal acts of mercy. It was not such a
normal worry, but anybody with enemies would I guess also have to
forgive them. It was, of course, also very important to people that
their souls should be prayed for after their deaths, and who did more
praying than Margaret Beaufort?
As with Anne Beauchamp, though, the sucking up may have had a very
practical purpose, ie to help protect more vulnerable members of the
family - the Yorkist heirs.
I wonder if Margaret Beaufort had her eye on that book, and might
have been very annoyed if she hadn't got it. It is also the case that
wills were normally taken down by the priest (the parish priest for
normal folks - I don't know who the nobility used - their own
confessors I suppose), and that deathbed wills might reflect the
priest's ideas more than the testator's.

I'd be interested to read the whole will, and get a feel for where
Cecily might have been coming from.

Marie

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