Marriages - Henry VII and Richard III

Hi,

We were discussing on the forum some while back:-

1) the possibility that Richard and Anne might have got a
dispensation after all (I discovered it doesn't have to come from the
Pope and could have been got retrospectively); and

b) where Elizabeth of York was living after she was taken from
Sheriff Hutton - if with Henry's mother then she may have had little
choice about the marriage. If with her moter, then that suggests that
Elizabeth Woodville at least was in favour.

Underwood and Jones' biography of Margaret Beaufort gives
interesting information in both contexts:

1) Margaret Beaufort's marriages are themselves an illustration of
the variation in the matter of dispensations. For Margaret's first
(childhood) marriage to John de la Pole, a papal dispensation was
secured, but it was issued retrospectively: ie the couple married
between 28th Jan and 7 Feb 1450 but the dispensation wasn't issued
until 18 August. For her marriage to Henry Stafford the dispensation
was issued by the local bishop (Coventry and Lichfield) on 6th April
1457; this time it came ahead of the marriage, which probably took
place on the 3rd January 1458.
All this means it is very likely that Richard and Anne obtained a
dispensation retrospectively, perhaps at local level, which has been
missed or for which the record has since been lost. If they married
at Westminster, as the chronicle states, I don't know who the local
authority would be. Isn't Westminster a royal peculiar? Could it have
been the Abbot of Westminster rather than a bishop?

2) Rooms were made ready for Elizabeth of York, "Henry's intended
bride", at Coldharbour, the London mansion which was given to
Margaret Beaufort after Bosworth.

Marie