On this day in history, 18th January 1486, King Henry VII united the Houses of Lancaster and York by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.
In “The Crowland Chronicle Continuations: 1459-1486”, there is the following record of the marriage:
“…after the victory of the said king Henry the Seventh, and the ceremonies of his anointing an coronation, on the last day but one of the following month, by the hand of the most reverend father, Thomas, cardinal archbishop of Canterbury, and in due conformity with the ancient custom, the marriage was celebrated, which from the first had been hoped for, between him and the lady Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of king Edward the Fourth. This was duly solemnized, at the instance and urgent entreaty of all three of the estates of the realm, in the presence of the Church, on the eighteenth day of the month of January, in the year of our Lord, according to the computation of the Roman Church, 1486; a dispensation having been first obtained from the Apostolic See on the account of the fourth degree of consanguinity, within which the king and queen were related to each other.”
The Memorials of Henry VII record what a happy event it was and how people rejoiced “far and wide” because violence and hatred had gone. It also records how it was not long before Jesus Christ answered the prayers of the couple and the people of England by blessing the Queen with a pregnancy, a child who would be the apple of his father’s eye: Prince Arthur.
You can read more about Henry VII and Elizabeth of York in my article “Henry VII Marries Elizabeth of York”.
Notes and Sources
- The Croyland Chronicle: Part IX
The Third Continuation of the History of Croyland Abbey: July, 1485 – April, 1486, available from the Richard III Society Online Library - Memorials of King Henry VII, edited by James Gairdner, p38-39
