The future Queen Elizabeth of York was born in the family of the ruler of England, Edward IV. When she was born in 1466, a civil war broke out in the country for 11 years between two dynasties claiming the throne - York and Lancaster.
Ancestors
This conflict will affect the lives of all members of the Elizabethan family and her own destiny. In the meantime, she was the eldest daughter of the king, and her childhood passed in this status. The princess got her nickname "York", enshrined in historiography by her belonging to the dynasty of the same name.
The girl's mother was Elizabeth Woodville. She was a beautiful and strong-willed woman and belonged to the peers' family - that is, she was a representative of the nobility of the middle hand. On the maternal side, the ancestors of the future queen were French counts from the province of Champagne.
Betrayal and recognition by the bastard
Elizabeth of York unexpectedly lost her father in 1483. Until now, it has not become exactly clear what caused the death of Edward IV. There are versions of typhoid, pneumonia and even poison. The way she acted to know right after the death of the king makes one think that poisoning could indeed have taken place.
Elizabeth of York had two brothers - Edward and Richard. The eldest of them was declared king. At that time he was only 13 years old. Both brothers were sent asylum to the Tower Fortress. The uncle of the children and their regent, Richard, believed that young heirs should be isolated from maternal relatives who belonged to the surname of Woodville.
Soon, however, things went awry. Parliament recognized that the marriage of Edward IV was illegal due to the fact that at that time the man had already promised to marry another woman. Everything would be fine, but this meant that both the princes and Elizabeth of York were recognized as illegal children (bastards), and therefore did not have rights to the throne. The brothers were immediately insidiously killed in captivity. The uncle was named king under the name of Richard III.
Heiress of the dynasty
The death of the brothers led Elizabeth of York to become a formal candidate for the throne. Her mother was still alive and full of energy. She decided to protect her daughter and disappeared with her in an unknown direction. In exile, Elizabeth Woodville made an alliance with Margaret Beaufort, an aristocrat who was, among other things, the great-great-granddaughter of King Edward III of the Plantagenet dynasty, who ruled in the XIV century. This meant that her son Heinrich Tudor (father's last name) also had legal rights to the throne.
Two mothers decided to engage their children. This was done so that the claims of young Tudor would be even more legitimate. In the meantime, Elizabeth and her mother decided to return to the court of Richard III. The king publicly stated that they were not in danger under his protection. The return took place in the spring of 1484.
Husband defeats uncle
However, Henry Tudor was not going to give up. At that time he had lived in continental Brittany for ten years. The applicant knew that regular killings of heirs and other troubles led to the fact that the English nobility was opposed to Richard. Very soon, the closest associate of King Henry Stafford rebelled against the overlord and sowed turmoil in the state.
The tudor decided to recruit mercenaries in Europe and especially in France. He was already crossing the English Channel when he learned about the defeat of the rebels and the beheading of Stafford. Nevertheless, Henry did not change his plans and landed with an army in Wales. He had Welsh roots, so in this province he managed to gain many supporters.
Richard met the challenger with the army at the Bosphere Field. The king divided his army into three parts, while Henry united the army into a single force.
The battle began with a successful attack by the rebels on the vanguard of Richard. The king decided to act on the bash and, realizing that he could attack Henry's retinue, he sent the whole army there. However, during the battle, some close ones betrayed him and left their regiments aside.
An attempt to hit Tudor directly was unsuccessful. The army, which remained loyal to the king, was surrounded, and Richard himself was knocked off his horse and killed there.
At this time, Elizabeth remained in London. After what happened, it became clear that she would become Queen of England.
Wedding
Elizabeth of York and Henry were still named. Their marriage was one of the conditions by which Parliament agreed to recognize and support the newly made king. The wedding took place successfully, and even before that, a decree had been declared unlawful that the children of Edward IV were declared illegitimate. The paper was seized from all the archives of the country, and its copies were pointedly burned. Nevertheless, one of the copies of the document was preserved - now it is stored in the museum as a vivid symbol of the era of the war of the Scarlet and White Roses.
After the wedding, Elizabeth formally became a member of the Tudor family, although historiography remembered her precisely as the last of the Yorks.
Queen's children
The marriage gave the spouses seven children. Elizabeth, Edmund and Catherine died in infancy or at a very young age. Unfortunately, this was not uncommon even in such crowned families: the state of medicine in the Middle Ages left much to be desired. Later, the descendants of the three children of Elizabeth and Henry at once will fight to be on the throne of England.
Henry 7 and Elizabeth of York named their eldest son in honor of the semi-legendary King Arthur, who was a popular character in local legends. The child received the title of Prince of Wales and was the heir to the throne. In this regard, he was engaged to Infanta Catherine - the daughter of the founders of the Spanish state. It was a dynastic marriage, which was to serve as the basis of an alliance between countries. However, Arthur died tragically at the age of only 15 years. The reason was a rare medieval disease - prickly heat.
Daughter Margarita became the wife of the Scottish king James IV. For some time after the death of her husband, she even became regent of the throne, but was deposed by the forces of the local nobility.
Son Henry will be in the future one of the most famous English kings. Following his father, he will receive serial number VIII. It will become famous thanks to the English Reformation and separation from the Catholic Church, as well as many marriages, which for the most part ended tragically for his wives.
The youngest daughter, Maria, became the wife of King Louis XII of France in her first marriage.
Conclusion
Elizabeth of York, Queen of England, was the last representative of her dynasty, which had legal rights to the throne. Thus, her children inherited this legitimacy, and the next Tudors could no longer be blamed for being usurpers.
The marriage between the spouses was happy. However, Elizabeth of York, wife of Henry 7 of Tudor, tragically died after giving birth to her last child. This has been linked to infection. The husband could not survive such a loss and, remaining a widower, he soon died.