Friday, June 9, 2017

The Real Elizabeth Woodville

From Dr. Sarah Peverley:
The BBC’s new drama series The White Queen began on Sunday. Based on the Cousins’ War novels by Philippa Gregory, the series focuses on Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV’s queen, who rose to power during a turbulent period of civil war in England known as The Wars of the Roses.
As a medievalist who specialises in this period, I’m delighted that the real life ‘Game of Thrones’ is finally taking attention away from the ever-popular Tudors. Sure, the TV series takes liberties with characterisation and plot – it isn’t for purists who want to learn the facts of the period, see historically accurate clothing, or discover how real medieval people spoke and thought – but it’s a way into some of the complex power relations, family ties and events that typified late fifteenth-century England.

This post is for those wanting to know more about what the real White Queen might have looked like and what she wore in contemporary, or near contemporary, images. (See entire post.)
The real Elizabeth Woodville in coronation robes.
Signature of Queen Elizabeth Woodville, 1491
Dr. Peverley also has a post on some historical documents pertaining to Elizabeth Woodville, including the Queen's Last Will and Testament, written at Bermondsey Abbey where she lived out her days. Elizabeth asked to be buried beside her late husband "the most victoroiuse Prince of blessed memorie, Edward the Fourth." She died on June 8, 1492.

Rebecca Ferguson as Elizabeth in the BBC's The White Queen 
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