Queen by Right
Authors: Anne Easter Smith
Tags: #Fiction, #Historical, #Biographical, #Romance, #General
A
LSO BY
A
NNE
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ASTER
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MITH
A Rose for the Crown
Daughter of York
The King’s Grace
Touchstone |
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Anne Easter Smith
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Touchstone Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Touchstone trade paperback edition May 2011
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Designed by Renata Di Biase
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Easter Smith, Anne.
Queen by right / Anne Easter Smith.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. York, Cecily, Duchess of, 1415–1495—Fiction. 2. Richard, Duke of York, 1411–1460—Fiction. 3. York, House of—Fiction. 4. Great Britain—History—Lancaster and York, 1399–1485—Fiction. 5. Great Britain—History—Wars of the Roses, 1455–1485—Fiction. 6. Great Britain—History—House of York, 1461–1485—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3605.A84Q44 2011
813′.6—dc22
2011006027
ISBN 978-1-4165-5047-1
ISBN 978-1-4516-0822-9 (ebook)
For my sister Jill,
another courageous and fiercely loyal woman
Contents
England and France in the Early Fifteenth Century
Baynard’s Castle, London (Prologue)
7: Windsor, Winter to Summer 1429
10: Normandy, Winter to Spring 1431
14: England and Normandy, 1441
Acknowledgments
Cecily’s story from her childhood home, Raby Castle, to Westminster Abbey, where I take her at the end of this novel, could not have been told in such detail without the help of many people.
My thanks to Lord Barnard of Raby for his permission for a private tour of the castle by castle administrator Clare Owen and access to what is believed to have been Cecily’s room in the keep. Clare also gave me copies of Neville genealogy charts, which were most helpful. Thanks also to Helen Duce, Ludlow Castle custodian, who pointed me to archival material that gave me further insight into the history of this beautiful ruin. Then, in Dublin, I was lucky enough to have the help of historian Jenny Papassotiriou at the castle. She not only showed me the remaining medieval parts of the castle but also gave me copies of maps surviving from the period. She told me that she was delighted to learn a part of the castle’s history with which she had not been familiar before researching in the archives for my visit. Thanks, too, to Virginie Beaunier of the Bibliothèque Municipale de Rouen, who found me a medieval map of the city.
One of the delights of doing the research for this book was a reunion with one of my high school friends, Carol Rowntree, and her husband, Donald. My husband, Scott, and I spent several days at their home near Chester, and they drove us many a mile to Ludlow in Shropshire, to Snowdonia and Anglesey in North Wales. I cannot thank them enough, too, for sending me information from Fotheringhay, with the help of their grandson Benjamin, that I was unable to collect for myself. Another friend, Roxana Gendry, is owed love and gratitude for chauffeur duties in Yorkshire and Durham.
Once again I need to thank my friends with medical knowledge who never seem to mind obscure questions about childbirth: OB/gyn nurse practitioner Claire Denenberg, nurse midwife Maryann Long, and OB/gyn physician Jennifer Johnson.
I would be remiss not to again acknowledge my agent of nine years, Kirsten Manges, who believed in me from the start, and my editor, Trish Todd, who never fails to astound me with her insight and gentle patience. It can’t be easy guiding this temperamental Brit!
To my husband, Scott—who
knows
it is not easy—all love and thanks.
The smartest thing I did during the writing of this book was to find an out-of-home office, for which I am in debt to my friend Mary Schaefer, who rented me a wonderfully bright, spacious room in her 1840s house two streets from my own. Finally, I must acknowledge my friend Cathy Thibedeau, who has dedicated so many hours of her precious retirement to being my “reader” throughout the writing process. A former chair of the English department at Hamilton-Wenham High School, MA, Cathy is used to deconstructing already written novels, so watching a novel take shape was a first for her—and a thrill, she told me, refusing all attempts to thank her profusely for her insights and corrections. Now my gratitude is in print for all to see!
Dramatis Personae
York family
(see genealogy chart)
Richard Plantagenet, duke of York
Cecily Neville, duchess of York (see Neville family)
Anne, duchess of Exeter (Nan),
Richard and Cecily’s oldest daughter
Edward (Ned), earl of March,
Richard and Cecily’s oldest son
Edmund, earl of Rutland,
their second son
Elizabeth (Bess),
their daughter
Margaret (Meg),
their daughter
George, duke of Clarence,
their son
Richard (Dickon), later duke of Gloucester,
their son
Isabel Plantagenet, countess of Essex and Eu,
Richard’s older sister
Henry Bourchier, earl of Essex and Eu,
Richard’s brother-in-law
Lancaster family
(descended from John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster)
Henry VI,
only child of Henry V
(see genealogy chart)
Catherine of Valois,
his mother
Margaret of Anjou,
his wife
Edouard of Lancaster, prince of Wales,
his only child
John, duke of Bedford,
Henry’s uncle and regent
Anne of Burgundy, duchess of Bedford,
his first wife
Jacquetta St. Pol, duchess of Bedford,
his second wife; later wife to
Richard Woodville
Humphrey, duke of Gloucester,
Henry’s uncle, Bedford’s brother and regent
Jacqueline of Hainault, duchess of Gloucester,
Humphrey’s first wife
Eleanor Cobham, duchess of Gloucester,
Humphrey’s second wife
Henry Holland, duke of Exeter,
great-grandson of John of Gaunt, m. Anne of York
Beaufort family
(descended from John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford)
Henry Beaufort, bishop of Winchester and cardinal of England,
their son
(see genealogy chart)
Joan Beaufort (see Neville),
their daughter
John Beaufort, duke of Somerset,
their grandson
Margaret Beaufort,
John’s only child
Edmund Beaufort, 2nd duke of Somerset,
John’s brother
Henry Beaufort, 3rd duke of Somerset,
Edmund’s son
Neville family
(see genealogy chart)
Ralph Neville, earl of Westmorland,
Cecily’s father
Joan Beaufort, countess of Westmorland (see Beaufort),
Cecily’s mother and Ralph’s second wife
Cecily Neville, duchess of York,
their youngest child
Richard Neville, later earl of Salisbury,
Cecily’s brother and oldest of the
Beaufort Nevilles
Alice Montagu, countess of Salisbury,
Richard Neville’s wife
Robert Neville, Bishop of Salisbury and Durham,
Cecily’s brother
William Neville, Lord Fauconberg,
Cecily’s brother
George Neville, Lord Latimer,
Cecily’s brother
Edward Neville, Lord Bergavenny,
Cecily’s brother
Katherine Neville, duchess of Norfolk,
Cecily’s sister