Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk

{{Short description|English noblewoman (1444 – c. 1503)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Infobox royalty

| name = Elizabeth of York

| title = Duchess of Suffolk

| image = Elizabeth_of_Suffolk.jpg

| caption = Elizabeth Plantagenet, Duchess of Suffolk, detail from her effigy in St Andrew's Church, Wingfield, Suffolk

| image_size =

| spouse = John de la Pole, 2nd Duke of Suffolk

| issue = John de la Pole, 1st Earl of Lincoln
Geoffrey de la Pole
Edward de la Pole, Archdeacon of Richmond
Elizabeth de la Pole, Lady Morley
Edmund de la Pole, 3rd Duke of Suffolk
Dorothy de la Pole
Humphrey de la Pole
Anne de la Pole
Catherine de la Pole, Lady Stourton
William de la Pole
Richard de la Pole

| house = York

| father = Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York

| mother = Cecily Neville

| birth_date = 22 April 1444

| birth_place = Rouen, Normandy, France

| death_date = after January 1503 (aged ~58)

| death_place = Wingfield Castle, Suffolk, England

}}

Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk also known as Elizabeth Plantagenet (22 April 1444 – {{c.}} 1503) was the sixth child and third daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York (a great-grandson of King Edward III) and Cecily Neville.Halsted, Caroline A. Richard III, as Duke of Gloucester and King of England. Philadelphia: Carey and Hart, 1844. 37. She was thus a sister of kings Edward IV and Richard III.

Marriage

Sometime before February 1458, Elizabeth was married to John de la Pole. John was the eldest son of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk and Alice Chaucer.Clutterbuck, Rev. Robert Hawley. Notes on the Parishes of Fyfield, Kimpton, Penton Mewsey, Weyhill and Wherwell in the County of Hampshire. Salisbury, UK: Bennett Brothers, 1898. 101. His maternal grandparents were Thomas Chaucer and Maud Burghersh.Weir, Alison. Mistress of the Monarchy: The Life of Katherine of Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. New York: Ballantine, 2009. 296.

Her father-in-law had served as the principal power behind the throne for Henry VI of England from 1447 to 1450.Wagner, John A. Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2001. 210-211. His three years in this position saw the near-complete loss of the English possessions in northern France, towards the end of Hundred Years' War. Suffolk could not avoid taking the fall for the failure. He had been imprisoned in the Tower of London and had been attainted. Consequently, John had not succeeded to his titles when his father was executed on 2 May 1450.

Her older brother Edward IV of England restored his brother-in-law to the title of Duke of Suffolk in 1463. She remained the Duchess of Suffolk until his death in 1491/1492. They were settled in Wingfield, Suffolk.

She survived her husband by almost a decade. She is last mentioned alive in January 1503. She was mentioned being deceased by May 1504. She is buried in the church in Wingfield, Suffolk.

Issue

With Suffolk, she had the following children:

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel

|collapsed=yes |align=center

| boxstyle_1 = background-color: #fcc;

| boxstyle_2 = background-color: #fb9;

| boxstyle_3 = background-color: #ffc;

| boxstyle_4 = background-color: #bfc;

| 1 = 1. Elizabeth of York, Duchess of Suffolk

| 2 = 2. Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York

| 3 = 3. Cecily Neville

| 4 = 4. Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge

| 5 = 5. Anne de Mortimer

| 6 = 6. Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland

| 7 = 7. Joan Beaufort

| 8 = 8. Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York

| 9 = 9. Isabella of Castile

| 10 = 10. Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March

| 11 = 11. Alianore Holland

| 12 = 12. John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville

| 13 = 13. Maud Percy

| 14 = 14. John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster

| 15 = 15. Katherine Swynford

}}

References