lADY KATHERINE WHITFIELD

(b. 1444 - d.1511)

BIOGRAPHY:

Lady Katherine Whitfield was lady in waiting to Lady Margaret Plantagenet. As a lady in waiting she is a lesser noble than the one she serves but she is a noble none the less. Her duties were to act as confident to Lady Margaret and to accompany her wherever she went. Ladies in Waiting were often relatives of the family and in Lady Katherine’s case the two women had been friends from childhood.

Lady Katherine was the daughter of Sir Robert Fitzsimmons and Ava Morris. Ava was Sir Robert’s second wife, his first (the first daughter of an English Lord) having died in childbirth, along with the child. Sir Robert had received a plentiful dowry of lands from his first marriage and could afford a love match for his second wife.
Ava’s parents were both English by several generations but Ava’s mother had an eastern look about her that her daughter had certainly inherited with her dark curly hair. It was thought that somewhere along the line, possibly during the first crusade their family had mingled with the blood of the East.

Shortly after their marriage Ava was found to be pregnant. Fearful that he would lose his second wife in childbirth, Sir Robert sought a prominent position in a noble household to secure his wife the best of medical attention.
He was warmly received into the Neville-Plantagenet family in 1444. In 1446, when Katherine was just 2 years old the Duchess Cicely gave birth to Lady Margaret who was to be one of Katherine’s life long companions. The two girls were brought up together with the notion that Katherine would one day be Margaret’s Lady in Waiting. Katherine’s mother, Ava, was silently delighted at this report as she was from rather more humble origins and had only been advanced by her marriage to Sir Robert. The next year she was pregnant again and gave birth to a second daughter whom they named Cicely in honour of her Ladyship. These early years were happy for all the children but times were soon to change.

By the late 1450s dissent was in the air and Sir Robert fought with Richard Duke of York in the battle of Wakefield in 1460. Sadly, it was here that he died along with the Duke, his second youngest son Edmund and Lady Cicely’s brother Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury.
Ava was broken hearted but her husband had catered for her well, leaving her all their lands to distribute amongst their two daughters upon her death. She moved back to their large manor house with her youngest daughter (Cicely, now aged 13) for company.
Katherine was left behind with the Plantagenets. At 16 she was around marriageable age and her mother thought it best for her to be in an environment where a suitable match may be made. On Ava’s departure, Cicely ensured her that she would find a suitable husband for Katherine when the time was right.

It is the year 1471 and Katherine is now 27 years of age. She has been married to the honourable Knight, Sir Nicholas Whitfield, for 3 years. Sir Nicholas was one of those knights appointed to protect the Lady Margaret but has ridden ahead of the party with a small group of scouts to notify King Edward of their arrival.