Anne (York) de St Leger (1439 - abt. 1476)

Born 10 Aug 1439 in Fotheringhay, Northamptonshire, England

Ancestors

Daughter of Richard (York) of York KG and Cecily (Neville) of York

Wife of Henry (Holand) Holland — married 30 Jul 1447 in Windsor, Berkshire, England

Wife of Thomas (St Leger) de St Leger KB — married about 1472 in England

Descendants

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Biography

Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter (10 Aug 1439 – 14 Jan 1476)

p. Richard, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville

m.1 1447 Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter. Divorced 1472.

dau. Anne Holland (c.1455-btw 26 Aug & 06 Jun 1447)

m. Oct 1466 Thomas Grey, 1st Marquess of Dorset

m.2 1474 Thomas St. Leger

dau. Anne St. Leger (14 Jan 1476 – 21 Apr 1526)

Burial: 1 Feb 1476 St. George's Chapel, Windsor

Family

Anne of York came from royal blood. She was the second child and oldest surviving daughter of Richard, 3rd Duke of York and Cecily Neville.^[1] Siblings were: ^[2]

• Joan - eldest child, b. 1438; died young
• Henry - b. 1441; died young
• Edward IV of England - b. 28 April 1442
• Edmund Earl of Rutland - b.1443; d. 1460
• Elizabeth Duchess of Suffolk - b. 22 April 1444; m. de la Pole; d. about 1504
• Margaret Duchess of Burgundy - b. 3 May 1446; m. Charles Duke of Burgundy; d. 1503
• William - b. 7 July 1447; d. young
• John - b. 7 November 1448; d. young
• George Duke of Clarence - b. 21 October 1449; d. 1478
• Thomas - b. 14150/1; died young
• Richard III of England - b. 2 October 1452; d. 22 August 1485
• Ursula - 22 July 1455; d. young

1447: Marriage to Henry Holand

At about age 8, Anne was married to her second cousin Henry Holand, who would succeed as 4th Duke of Exeter within a month of the marriage. On 30 July 1447, the Crown granted the keeping of the underage Henry to Anne's father, Richard of York. ^[3] The families at the time may have considered the match as a family alliance; Exeter's allegiance, however, was to his own house of Lancaster in the person of the mentally unstable King Henry VI (to whose throne, at one time, he might have had a claim), and opposed to the ambitions of the House of York.

Following Richard of York being named Protector of the king in 1453, Exeter joined Thomas Percy, Lord Egremont, in his uprising against York. They were defeated in the 1454 Battle of Stamford Bridge and Exeter imprisoned at Pontefract Castle until Henry VI was restored to power. ^[4] This battle can be considered as the first in the Wars of the Roses, in which Exeter commanded forces on the Lancastrian side at the 1460 Battle of Wakefield where Richard of York and his son Edmund Earl of Rutland were killed.

Anne of York, at least from this time, took the Yorkist side in the wars, against her husband. Sometime before the Battle of Wakefield - there is no clear date, but given Anne's age it could not have been much before 1454 - Anne gave birth to her only child, Anne Holand. It does not appear likely that the couple cohabited after that date, as Anne's brother immediately declared himself as King Edward IV and, on 29 March 1461, decisively defeated the Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Towton, where Exeter was a commander. Exeter fled the field, and his brother-in-law, King Edward IV, had him attainted and his title and honors declared forfeit. His estates were granted to his wife, ("as a woman soule") the king's sister Anne of York, and to her heirs - her sole heir at the time being her daughter Anne Holand. ^{[5] [4]}

Her concern from that time was to permanently separate herself from the Duke of Exeter and retain his estate for herself and her daughter. This was granted in successive acts: ^{[6] [7] [8] [9] [10]} At some point by 1472, Anne was granted a divorce or annulment of her marriage to Exeter, of which no record has been discovered.

About 1472: Marriage to Thomas St Leger

Thomas St Leger of Ulcombe Kent had been an esquire of King Edward IV. Sources generally believe that he and Anne of York had been lovers. Ross ^[11] believes that Anne's marriage was dissolved in order allow this marriage, although the exact date has not been discovered. Richardson ^[12] dates the marriage from about 1472. This source also claims there was a son Anthony as well as a daughter Anne, born 1475/6, but if so he must have died very young, as Anne was the St Leger heir after Anne of York died in childbed about 14 January 1475/6.

St Leger founded a chantry to commemorate her at St George's Chapel, Windsor, (now the Rutland Chantry Chapel, named after their descendants) where a memorial brass can still be seen. The inscription reads: "Wythin thys Chappell lyethe beryed Anne Duchess of Exetur suster unto the noble kyng Edward the forte. And also the body of syr Thomas Sellynger knyght her husband which hathe funde within thys College a Chauntre with too prestys sy’gyng for ev’more. On whose soule god have mercy. The wych Anne duchess dyed in the yere of oure lorde M Thowsande CCCCl xxv". ^[13]

Shortly before this, in September 1475, having been in the king's custody since 1471, the body of Henry Duke of Exeter was washed ashore, drowned. The contemporary chronicler Robert Fabyan wrote: "In this yere, was y duke of Exceter founden deed in the see atwene Douer and Calays, but howe he was drowned y certaynte is nat knowen." ^{[14] [15]}

Children

Anne of York bore two daughters, both named Anne, one with each of her husbands.

Anne Holand

Daughter of Henry Holand, Duke of Exeter. Anne Holand's date of birth is not known, although it was undoubtedly between 1454 and 1461, when Anne of York separated from Exeter. As a young child, she had been betrothed to George Neville, son of John Neville Marquess of Montague and thus nephew of Richard Neville, the Earl of Warwick, powerful Yorkist supporter. However, following her marriage to Edward IV, the queen, Elizabeth Woodville, seeking to enrich her own relatives at the expense of Warwick, paid Anne's mother 4000 marks for her marriage to her brother Thomas Grey. ^[16] She was married in October 1466 at Greenwich Palace but died without issue sometime between 26 August 1467 ^[8] and 6 June 1474, when Grey remarried the young heiress Cecily Bonville. ^[17]

Anne St Leger

Anne was born in January 1475/6, and her mother died in childbed. Anne St Leger should then have become the heiress to the Exeter estates through her mother, but this prize was too great to be ignored by the Grey family. In 1483, Thomas Grey obtained the marriage of Anne to his heir, Thomas Grey 2nd Marquess of Dorset, whereby he and his family would control Anne and her inheritance. ^[18] That marriage, however, did not take place, as events soon altered the fortunes of St Leger and the Grey family, and Anne St Leger eventually married George Manners, 11th Baron de Ros. Their marriage produced a numerous family.

Anne, Baroness de Ros, died in 1526 and was buried with her husband (d. 1513) in the Rutland Chantry Chapel at St George's Chapel, Windsor. The inscription reads: "Here lyethe buryede george Maners knyght lord roos who decesede/ the xxiii daye of October In the yere of our lorde god Mi Vc xiii and ladye Anne his wyfe dawghter of anne duchesse of exetur Suster unto/ kyng Edward the fourthe and of Thomas Sentlynger knight/ the wyche anne decessed the xxii day of apryll In the yere of our lorde god MiVc xxvi on whose souls god haue mercy amen." ^[13]

Research Note: Divorce

Numerous sources refer to Anne of York's divorce from the Duke of Exeter, but there seem to be no records of any such event, most citing only Stow (1472): "The 12th of November, the Lady Anne, the King's Sister, was divorced from Henry Holland, the Duke of Exeter, by her own suite." ^[19] (Stow, it must be noted, was a 17th-century writer and thus a less than reliable witness.) It seems much more accurate that the Exeter marriage was annulled - reversing a dispensation that originally allowed the second cousins to marry. By 1472, it is likely that the Exeters' daughter, Anne Grey, then Marchioness of Dorset, was deceased and could not have lost her inheritance by the ruling. Thus Anne would have been at liberty, even with her (ex) husband still living, to remarry and bear legitimate heirs.

Some sources ^[20] have claimed erroneously that the marriage of Anne to her second husband St Leger took place by 1467, before the annulment (whenever that took place), when their daughter Anne St Leger had already been born which would have made her illegitimate. Although the exact date of the marriage has not been discovered, it certainly took place later, and Anne St Leger is known to have been born in 1475/6, with her mother dying in childbirth after the death of the Duke of Exeter.

Sources

1. ↑ Maternal relationship is confirmed by an exact HVR1 and HVR2 match between this mtDNA test for Michael Ibsen and this mtDNA test of his direct maternal line 14th cousin twice removed Wendy Duldig and this mtDNA test of his direct maternal line 15th great uncle King Richard III.
2. ↑ Weir, Alison. Britain's Royal Families pp. 134-143. London: Vintage Books, 2008
3. ↑ Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Preserved in the Public Record Office: 1446-1452, 25 Henry VI, Part 2, Membrane 3, p. 86. HM Stationery Office, 1909. p. 86
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Cokayne, G E. The Complete Peerage, Second Edition, Vol. 5, pp. 212-215. 1926. p. 212
5. ↑ "Edward IV: April 1463." Parliament Rolls of Medieval England. Eds. Chris Given-Wilson, Paul Brand, Seymour Phillips, Mark Ormrod, Geoffrey Martin, Anne Curry, and Rosemary Horrox. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2005. British History Online. Web. 8 February 2024. #42
6. ↑ Calendar of the Patent rolls preserved in the Public record office, 1 EDWARD IV.— Part I. Membrane 19, p. 7. May 1, 1641
7. ↑ CPR 3 EDWARD IV.— Part 1. Membrane 14, p. 265. May 18 1463
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} CPR 7 EDWARD IV.— Part I. Membrane 23, p. 32. August 26 1467
9. ↑ 8 EDWARD IV.— Part III. Membrane 4, p. 137. February 12 1469
10. ↑ 12 EDWARD IV.— Part I. Membrane 6, p. 373. January 4, 1473
11. ↑ Ross, Charles. Edward IV, p. 184. p. 184
12. ↑ Royal Ancestry" 2013 by Douglas Richardson Vol. V. page 455-461.
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1} Archives, St George's Chapel, Windsor. Ros
14. ↑ Fabyan, Robert. The new chronicles of England and France, p. 663. London : Printed for F.C. & J. Rivington, 1811. p. 663
15. ↑ Kingsford, CL. Chronicles of London p. 186, note #14. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. p. 186
16. ↑ Ross, p. 93. p. 93
17. ↑ Cokayne, GE. The Complete Peerage, (2nd ed.) Vol 4, p. 418, "Dorset". London : The St. Catherine press, ltd., 1910. p. 418
18. ↑ "Edward IV: January 1483." Parliament Rolls of Medieval England. Eds. Chris Given-Wilson, Paul Brand, Seymour Phillips, Mark Ormrod, Geoffrey Martin, Anne Curry, and Rosemary Horrox. Woodbridge: Boydell, 2005. British History Online. Web. 8 February 2024. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/no-series/parliament-rolls-medieval/january-1483 #20]
19. ↑ Stow, John. Annales, p. 425. 1631. p. 425.
20. ↑ Holland, Bernard. The Lancashire Hollands, p. 230. J. Murray 1917. p. 230

See Also:

• "Royal Ancestry" 2013 by Douglas Richardson Vol. V. page 455

ANNE PLANTAGENET, born at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire 10 August 1439. She married (1st) before 30 July 1447 HENRY (or HARRY) HOLAND (HOLLAND), Knt., Duke of Exeter, Earl of Huntingdon and Ivry [see EXETER 11.I], joint Admiral of England, Ireland, and Aquitaine, 1446, joint Constable of the Tower of London, 1447, Lord and Castellan of Lesparre and L'Esparrois, 1447, Constable of Fotheringhay Castle, 1459, son and heir of John Holand (Holland), Duke of Exeter, Earl of Huntingdon and Ivry, by his (1st) wife, Anne, daughter of Edmund Stafford, K.G., K.B., 5th Earl of Stafford [see EXETER 11 for his ancestry]. he was born in the Tower of London 27 June 1430. He resided at King's Hall, Cambridge in 1439-40 to 1441-2. They had one daughter, Anne (wife of Thomas Grey, K.G., K.B., 1st Marquess of Dorset, Lord Ferrrers of Groby) [see GROBY 17]. He and his wife, Anne, were granted a papal indult for a portable altar in 1455. His wife, Anne, was admitted to the fraternity of St. Nicholas in London in 1446. She presented to the church of Blagdon, Somerset in August 1472. They were divorced 12 Nov. 1472 (he drowned Sept. 1475). She married (2nd) about 1472/3 THOMAS SAINT LEGER Knt. ... son of John Saint Leger, Esq., of Ulcombe, Kent, Sheriff of Kent, by Margery, daughter and heiress of James Donet [see RAYNSFORD 11.i.a for his ancestry]. They had one son, Anthony, and one daughter, Anne.

Anne Plantagenet died 12 (or 14) Jan. 1475/6. He presented to the church of Blagdon, Somerset in 1479. He was present at the funeral of King Edward IV in 1483. SIR THOMAS SAINT LEGER was the chief instigator of the Buckingham rising in Surrey against King Richard III, in 148. He was taken at Torrington and beheaded at Exeter, Devon 12 Nov. 1483.

• "Royal Ancestry" 2013 by Douglas Richardson Vol. IV. page 461

• Cawley, Charles (3 June 2011). "Earls of Kent [1352-1408, Holand"]. Medieval Lands. Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved May 2010.

• Ross, Charles (1997). Edward IV. Yale English monarchs (illustrated ed.). Yale Univ Press. pp. 336–337. ISBN 0300073720.

• "Ancestors/Descendants of Royal Lines" (Contributors: Manuel Abranches de Soveral, Reynaud de Paysac, F.L. Jacquier <Genealogy of Lewis Carroll, Justin Swanstrom, The Royal Families of England Scotland & Wales by Burkes Peerage; Debrett's Peerage & Baronage; Table of descendants French Canadian Genealogical Society>, H.R. Moser <Burke Peerage>, L. Orlandini, O.Guionneau, L.B. de Rouge, E. Polti, A.Terlinden <Genealogy of the existing British Peerage, 1842>, L. Gustavsson, C. Cheneaux, E. Lodge, S. Bontron Brian Tompsett, R. Dewkinandan, C. Donadello) http://geneastar.org.

• The royal lineage of our noble and gentle families, pg 181 [1]

• Burke, Bernard. Royal Descents and Pedigrees of Founders Kin (Harrison, London, 1864) Page 78-81
• Wikipedia: Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter
• Wikipedia: Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter
• Wikipedia: Thomas St. Leger