lochiels:HISTORY MEME - Notably ‘Unfamiliar’ Women in History [1/?]↳ Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester

lochiels:HISTORY MEME - Notably ‘Unfamiliar’ Women in History [1/?]↳ Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester (c. 1400 - 7 July 1452)Eleanor was a daughter of Sir Reginald Cobham of Sterborough and his first wife, Eleanor Culpepper. In the early 1420’s, she entered the household of Jacqueline, Countess of Hainault. Soon later, Henry V died in August 1422, leaving his infant son, Henry VI, as his successor. Henry V’s younger brother, John, Duke of Bedford, governed in France, while his youngest brother, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester was named protector of England during the young king’s minority.In April 1425 Eleanor returned to England, she was described as “a woman distinguished in her form,” and as “beautiful and marvelously pleasant,” Eleanor soon became Humphrey’s mistress. By 1428 the two were married and by April 1436, she was granted the robes of a duchess for the Garter ceremony. Eleanor’s status underwent a drastic change in September 1435, when the Duke of Bedford, Humphrey’s older brother, died. As the fourteen-year-old Henry VI was childless, and Bedford had no legitimate children from either of his two marriages, Humphrey now stood next in line to the throne. Eleanor had consulted astrologers to try to divine the future. The astrologers, Thomas Southwell and Roger Bolingbroke predicted that Henry VI would suffer a life-threatening illness. On either 28 June or 29 June 1441, Eleanor, dining in her usual high style at the King’s Head in Cheapside, heard of the arrests of three of her associates, Master Roger Bolingbroke, Master Thomas Southwell, and John Home. The three men were accused of conspiring to bring about the king’s death.Eleanor, had fled into sanctuary and on the 24th and 25th July, she was examined at St. Stephen’s Chapel, Westminster, on twenty-eight charges. She was to be investigated for heresy and witchcraft instead of treason; Eleanor admitted five of the charges, the precise details of which have not survived. It was probably at this point that Eleanor acknowledged using the services of Margery Jourdemayne, known as “the witch of Eye.” On 19 October, she returned to Westminster, where she was again examined by an ecclesiastical tribunal at St. Stephen’s. At a second hearing on 23 October, she was confronted with Bolingbroke and his instruments, and admitted to employing them only to conceive a child by Humphrey. Southwell and Margery also appeared at the hearing, where they accused Eleanor of being the “causer and doer of all these deeds.” She was found guilty of sorcery and witchcraft and imprisoned at the Tower of London.on 6 November 1441, when a commission of bishops ordered that Humphrey and Eleanor be divorced. The couple would never meet again. Three days later, Eleanor was ordered to do public penance for her sins. On 13 November, bareheaded and dressed in black, carrying a wax taper, she was taken by water from Westminster to the Temple landing stage. Led by two knights, she walked from Temple Bar to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where she offered her taper at the high altar. Two days later, she walked from the Swan pier in Thames Street to Christ Church, where she again offered a taper. On 17 November, with the familiar taper in hand, she made a third journey, from Queenhithe to St. Michael’s in Cornhill. Her public penance ended Eleanor’s public life. In January 1442, she was sent to Cheshire; the king, evidently bearing Eleanor’s previous feigned illness in mind, ordered that the journey not be delayed due to any sickness on her part. She was allowed 100 marks per year and had a household of twelve people—a considerable comedown for the proud duchess. In October 1443, she was taken to Kenilworth; during her stay there, King Henry sent her a canopy with curtains for her bed. In July 1446, Eleanor was transferred to the Isle of Man. In March 1449 she moved for the last time, to Beaumaris in Wales. On 7 July 1452, she died at Beaumaris, where she was buried at the expense of Sir William Beauchamp, the constable of the castle there. Few chroniclers noted her demise, and it was not until 1976 that her date and place of death were established. [x] -- source link

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