Anne Neville
(1456-1485)
BIRTH
June 11, 1456
PLACE
Warwick, England
DEATH
March 16, 1485
PLACE
London, England
FAMILY
HUSBAND
Richard III
(1452-1485)
HOMES
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
RELIGIOUS AFFILIATION UNCERTAIN
DENOMINATION UNCERTAIN
MEMBERSHIPS
AWARDS
Anne Neville, daughter of the Earl of Warwick known as the Kingmaker, married first Edward of Lancaster and then Richard, Duke of Gloucester, becoming queen of England when he took the throne as Richard III. Her father was killed at Barnet in April 1471, and her husband died at Tewkesbury that May. Richard was killed at Bosworth five months later. She died at the Palace of Westminster on March 16, 1485, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
EARLY LIFE
Anne Neville was born on June 11, 1456, at Warwick Castle, the younger daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, and Anne Beauchamp. Her father was the most powerful noble in England and played a leading role in the Wars of the Roses, first helping the Yorkist Edward IV to the throne. She spent part of her childhood at Middleham Castle in Yorkshire, where Edward's younger brother, Richard of Gloucester, was also raised in Warwick's household. Her elder sister, Isabel, married Edward's brother George, Duke of Clarence, in 1469, as Warwick turned against Edward IV.
In 1470 Warwick allied with Margaret of Anjou, and Anne was married to Margaret's son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales, in France. Her father was killed at Barnet in April 1471, and her husband died at Tewkesbury that May.
In 1472 Anne married Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and they lived mainly at Middleham, where their only son, Edward, was born. When Richard seized the throne in June 1483, she was crowned queen alongside him at Westminster Abbey on July 6, 1483.
Their son died in April 1484, and Anne's own health soon declined. She died at the Palace of Westminster on March 16, 1485, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Richard was killed at Bosworth five months later.
CAREER
DEATH
When Richard seized the throne in June 1483, she was crowned queen alongside him at Westminster Abbey on July 6, 1483. Anne Neville died on 16 March 1485, probably of tuberculosis, at Westminster. The day she died, there was an eclipse, which some took to be an omen of her husband's fall from heavenly grace. She was buried in Westminster Abbey in an unmarked grave to the right of the High Altar, next to the door to the Confessor's Chapel. Nevertheless, rumours circulated that Richard III had poisoned her in order to marry his niece Elizabeth of York. The available biographical account does not describe a continuous final medical course. It gives no dependable sequence of treatment and last symptoms from which to reconstruct a more detailed bedside narrative.
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES
Anne Neville, Warwick’s daughter and Richard III’s queen. Hicks and Licence are dedicated biographies; Hickey is collective family biography. Five dedicated biographies were not identified. These editorial selections include biographies where available, with personal writings, collective biography, reference works and related studies clearly labelled.
1. Anne Neville: Queen to Richard III — Michael Hicks. Find on Amazon
2. Anne Neville: Richard III’s Tragic Queen — Amy Licence. Find on Amazon
3. The Kingmaker’s Women: Anne Beauchamp and Her Daughters, Isabel and Anne Neville — Julia A. Hickey. [Collective family biography] Find on Amazon
4. Richard III — Paul Murray Kendall. [Related biography of her second husband] Find on Amazon
5. Queens Consort: England’s Medieval Queens — Lisa Hilton. [Collective biography] Find on Amazon
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