LADY ANNE PLANTAGENET
(b. 1439 - d. 1476)
BIOGRAPHY:
Not
much is known of Anne Plantagenet despite the fact that she was sister
to two kings and unusually arranged a divorce from her first husband Henry
Holand (1430 -1475).
Anne Plantagenet was born on 10 August 1439 in Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire.
She was the first child of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York and Lady
Cecily Neville. Typically for this time period, Anne married young (c
1477) and gave birth to her daughter, Anne Holand, at the age of 16. Anne
Holand (1455 -1475), at the tender age of 10 was later married to Thomas
Grey, son of King Edward VI's (Anne Plantagenet's brother) wife, Elizabeth
Woodville, from her first marriage to John Grey.
Her husband, Henry Holand Duke of Exeter and Lord High
Admiral was a Lancastrian and Anne a Yorkist. However, despite the union,
Henry continued his father's tradition of loyalty to the House of Lancaster.
He was thus present at the battle of Towton of 1461 and was attainted
by the victorious Edward IV in the aftermath of that battle. He later
escaped abroad to Flanders in the company of Margaret of Anjou in 1463.
From this information we can gather that Anne had to divorce her husband
who openly challenged her family claim to the throne. As they only had
one daughter the Holand's had no heir and there were no further Holand
claimants. She divorced her Lancastrian husband in 1472 and he later drowned
in the English channel when returning from the French campaign in 1475.
Anne remarried c1473, her second husband being Sir Thomas St. Leger (?-1483)
by whom she had a daughter, Lady Anne St. Leger (c 1476 - 1526, whose
descendants became the earls and later dukes of Rutland). Anne would have
been in her mid thirties when her daughter was born. Her second husband
was tried at special assize in Torrington and was found guilty for his
part in the unsuccessful rebellion plotted by Harry Stafford, Duke of
Buckingham and was executed in 1483.
Anne died in 12th or 14th January 1476 at the age of 37, possibly during
child birth and was buried in St. George's chapel, Windsor.
As there are no records of Anne written during her lifetime I can only re-enact her character with the information I have here and what I know of the noble woman's role in the 15th century.
