I’m thrilled to welcome novelist Saga Hillbom to the blog. Saga has written a wonderful guest post about Cecily of York, the protagonist of her forthcoming novel.
About the Author
Saga is the self-published author of four historical novels, including Princess of Thorns, City of Bronze City of Silver, Today Dauphine Tomorrow Nothing, and A Generation of Poppies. She is currently studying history in Lund, Sweden, where she lives with her family. When not writing or reading, Saga enjoys painting, cooking, spending time outside, and watching old movies.
Official author website: https://sagahillbom.blog/wip-coming-in-2021/
Princess of Thorns will be released as ebook and paperback on the 1st of March 2021.
There are, of course, countless intriguing personages that history has largely forgotten; often, it is women who have to take a backseat in the records so to speak. One of these women is the main character of my upcoming novel Princess of Thorns. Cecily of York was the daughter, niece, sister-in-law, and aunt of kings—but who was Cecily herself?
I have had a fierce interest in the Tudors since I was ten or eleven years old, but I only truly discovered the Plantagenets shortly before writing Princess of Thorns. Somehow, the more I read about them, the more I liked them. The story of the Wars of the Roses in particular ensnared me, as it has done with many history nerds, and I knew I wanted to write about it. All I needed was a fresh perspective, someone other than Elizabeth of York or Anne Neville, who were both fascinating women but who are already the subject of numerous novels. Cecily of York was an obscure figure, someone I could make my own in a way, and she was old enough at the time to have been able to reflect properly on the conflicts raging around her.
Born on the 20th of March 1469 as the third child and daughter of King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, Cecily’s life was turbulent from the very start. When she was one year old, her uncle George, Duke of Clarence, and her father’s cousin the Earl of Warwick rebelled for a second time, and Edward had to flee into exile in Flanders. Elizabeth Woodville sought sanctuary in Westminster Abbey with her two sons from her previous marriage and her three little daughters; they would return more than a decade later. In 1471, Edward and his younger brother Richard returned with an invasion army, restoring the Yorkist dynasty to the throne.
We can assume that Cecily received an education typical for a high-born girl in the 15th century, which included reading and writing, playing instruments and dancing, needlework, speaking French, and so on. Her handwriting was noted for being terrible; this is something I chose to include in my book as well. Like her sisters, Cecily was also taught how to manage a household, seeing as her father had plans for her to become a queen or at the very least a duchess when she reached maturity. It is difficult to overstate the expectations and privilege the York girls were raised with. Edward IV was an ambitious man; for example, he concluded agreements that would make Cecily Queen of Scotland, her sister Anne Duchess of Burgundy, and Elizabeth of York Queen of France. Of course, when Edward died, these deals came to nothing.
There is a popular image of Elizabeth Woodville and her daughters detesting Richard, Duke of Gloucester, the moment he claimed the title of Protector or even before that. I believe this probably stands true for Elizabeth and several other Woodvilles, considering the mounting tensions between their family and the old nobility, but I oppose the idea that all of her daughters would have felt the same. After all, the York girls knew Richard as their uncle and their father’s closest man. There is no evidence that Cecily had a better relationship with her uncle than her sisters, or that Richard had any favourites, but this is how I have chosen to portray it for the purpose of the plot. I have never made a secret of being a Ricardian, although naturally, I am aware that Richard was in no way a saint.
During her uncle’s reign, Cecily lived with some of her other closest relatives at Sheriff Hutton. She would have made scattered appearances at court, though, such as during the Westminster Christmas celebrations 1484. The following spring, she was married off to the relatively humble Ralph Scrope, younger son of the Baron of Masham. This match was clearly miles from what Cecily had been brought up to expect. There is extremely little information about Ralph other than that he was born in the early 1460s, died around 1515, and lived in Upsall. The most likely reason for Richard III arranging the marriage was to ensure that Cecily’s husband could not in any way present a threat to him, like Elizabeth of York’s fiancé Henry Tudor did. One problem of that sort was enough to deal with. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that before Cecily was married, she was listed as Tudor’s second choice and would with all probability have become queen if her older sister had died.
After the battle of Bosworth, Cecily lived at court and became First Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth. She was once more considered a legitimate princess after Henry VII’s first Parliament. However, I have not exactly made Cecily’s and Henry’s relationship rose-tinted in Princess of Thorns.
When Prince Arthur was born, Cecily helped carry him at his christening, which shows how elevated her position was. Henry VII was adamant to control the marriages of his sisters-in-law, leading him to annul the union between Cecily and Ralph before marrying her off to his maternal half-uncle John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles. The wedding took place in late 1487 and the couple subsequently moved to Welles’ estates. I believe it plausible that they lived mainly at Tattershall Castle since it is one of the few grandiose castles in the right area near Boston, Lincolnshire, and it had been a gift to Welles’ half-sister Margaret Beaufort, who herself was often at court.
Cecily’s time with her second husband is, like most aspects of her life, something of a mystery. Various sources tell us various things. Considering that Welles was a staunch Lancastrian and nineteen years older than Cecily, who was brought up to be a Yorkist, I doubt that it was a pleasant match to begin with. Still, they appear to have formed some kind of bond; in his will, Welles bequeaths his castles and lands to Cecily for the term of her life. The couple only had two daughters known to history: Elizabeth (named after her aunt and her grandmother) and Anne. Both girls died young, possibly in infancy but more likely in 1498 and 1499. Welles himself also died in 1499, leaving Cecily a wealthy widow. It has been claimed that she had one surviving son, but his existence is far less certain than that of her daughters.
After her husband’s death, Cecily probably returned to court, being a fairly eligible bride aged thirty. At this point, two of her younger sisters had been married: Anne to Thomas Howard, later Duke of Norfolk; Katherine to William Courtenay, later Earl of Devon. Briget, the youngest in the family, had lived with the nuns at Dartford Priory for many years. Elizabeth Woodville had died in Bermondsey Abbey, while Elizabeth of York had given Henry VII a total of six children although not all of them survived into adulthood.
At the wedding of Catherine of Aragon and Prince Arthur in November 1501, Cecily once more played a crucial role as the Queen’s oldest sister by carrying Catherine’s train during the ceremony. A few months or years later, Cecily abruptly left court and married a lowly esquire named Thomas Kyme. They lived in the East Standen manor house on the Isle of Wight and had at least two children who survived and later married: Margery (or Margaret) and Richard. Cecily’s reasons for her sudden departure are unknown. I personally think that she wished to escape the intrigues and bloodshed of courtlife, especially after Henry VII executed several of her relatives. Of course, the marriage to Thomas must also have been at least partly a love match, which makes Cecily all the more interesting in my eyes. I would say that the enduring relationship between her and her last husband is one of the main themes in my upcoming novel.
Cecily of York died on the 24th of August 1507, perhaps in childbirth or from tuberculosis, and was buried in Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight. Thomas Kyme was likely dead in 1530 and certainly in 1535. Their children were never part of the royal clique.
So, what can we say about Cecily as a person? Ambitious, I think, as she grew up in ambitious circles. In the end, though, she chose love and not another title. The stained glass portrait of her shows her as a beautiful blonde, extremely similar to the other York girls. However, treating them as one entity rather than individuals would be unfair. They were all unique and had more influence than the official historical records may allow.
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