Catherine of York

rdf:langString Catherine of York

rdf:langString Tiverton Castle, Devon, England

rdf:langString Eltham Palace, Greenwich, England

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rdf:langString right

rdf:langString ' Portrait of Edward IV, now at the National Portrait Gallery, London, ' Portrait of Elizabeth Woodville from the collection of Queens' College, Cambridge,

rdf:langString Arms of William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon , above the south porch of St Peter's Church, Tiverton . The arms are Courtenay impaling the paternal arms of his wife, Catherine of York. The arms are divided in two: *On the left, arms of the Earl of Devon: Quarterly, 1st & 4th: Or, three Torteaux ; 2nd & 3rd: Or, a Lion rampant Azure . *On the right, arms of the English royal House of York: Quarterly 1st: Arms of Edward IV; 2nd & 3rd: Or, a cross gules , 4th: Barry or and azure, on a chief of the first two pallets between two base esquires of the second over all an inescutcheon argent . These arms were also borne, with baton sinister, by Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, KG, , the illegitimate son of Edward IV.

rdf:langString ElizabethWoodville.JPG

rdf:langString King Edward IV from NPG .jpg

rdf:langString CourtenayArmsTivertonChurchPorch.JPG

rdf:langString ArmsOfWilliam Courtenay10th EarlOfDevonTivertonChurch.jpg

rdf:langString Edward Courtenay

rdf:langString Catherine of York (14 August 1479 – 15 November 1527), was the sixth daughter of King Edward IV of England and his queen consort Elizabeth Woodville. Soon after the death of her father and the usurpation of the throne by Richard III, Catherine was declared illegitimate along with the other children of Edward IV. The princess' mother, fearing for her children's lives, moved them to Westminster Abbey, where the late king's family received sanctuary and spent about a year; later she moved to the royal palace. When Richard III died, and Henry Tudor was on the throne under the name of Henry VII, the act recognizing the children of Edward IV as bastards was canceled. Henry VII married the eldest of Edward IV's daughters, Elizabeth, and Catherine became a valuable diplomatic asset: marriage plans with John, Prince of Asturias and later with James Stewart, Duke of Ross were made for her, but in both cases it did not come to a wedding. In 1495, Catherine was married to William Courtenay, son and heir of the Earl of Devon, an ardent supporter of Henry VII. In 1502, Catherine's husband was suspected of being involved in the conspiracy of the House of York pretender to the throne, Edmund de la Pole, and was soon arrested, deprived of his property and rights to inherit and transfer his father's titles and possessions to his children. Catherine herself, thanks to the patronage of her sister, remained at large. After the death of Henry VII in April 1509, the new king forgave William Courtenay and returned his confiscated estates to him; Catherine's father-in-law also soon died. In May 1511, William Courtenay was restored in his title of Earl of Devon, but a month later he died of pleurisy. Left a widow at the age of thirty-one, Catherine took a vow of celibacy. In 1512, she received from the king the right to use for life all the possessions of the late spouse in the county of Devon, in the same year the title of Earl of Devon was transferred to the ten-year-old son of the princess, Henry Courtenay. After the death of her husband, Catherine rarely visited the court: one of the few visits was the christening of the daughter of Henry VIII, Princess Mary in 1516, in which Catherine was the godmother. In Tiverton, Catherine was the head of the most powerful family in the area and the owner of a large estate, so that she could lead a lifestyle consistent with her origin. Catherine died at Tiverton Castle at the age of forty-nine and was buried with great ceremony in the local church of St. Peter. Of all the grandchildren of Edward IV, Catherine's children became the only ones who inherited claims to the English throne from the House of York.

rdf:langString Countess of Devon