Anne Neville's Maternity

So Anne Neville is remembered as being - for all intents and purposes - Richard III's faceless queen (no proper portraits of her seem to survive), who's only son and heir died young and she followed him to the grave shortly after, followed by her husband months later.

What were the reasons (if any) why Anne never had any other children besides Edward of Middleham? Was she like Margaret Beaufort whose childlike body was torn apart by the birth of her only child - or was she simply unfortunate when compared to the Ceres-like fertility of Queen Elizabeth?

Is it possible that Anne was the victim of unmentioned/unchronicled miscarriages and stillbirths so characteristic of the age? Which does seem odd when one considers that she was the second/third lady of the court, but not unusual. Even Anne Boleyn, fifty years later, is an obstetrical mystery with three pregnancies that are dead-to-rights certain, but other pregnancies mentioned in letters by Chapuys and other sources at court that seem to be at odds with these dates.
 
What were the reasons (if any) why Anne never had any other children besides Edward of Middleham? Was she like Margaret Beaufort whose childlike body was torn apart by the birth of her only child - or was she simply unfortunate when compared to the Ceres-like fertility of Queen Elizabeth?

Anne was 16 when she became pregnant with Edward of Middleham. Margaret Beaufort was 12 when she became pregnant with Henry Tudor. Anne might have had a difficult childbirth that rendered her sterile, but she seems to have been physically mature.

Anne's was not the only Neville who wasn't particularly fertile. Her mother had only two children.
 
Anne was 16 when she became pregnant with Edward of Middleham. Margaret Beaufort was 12 when she became pregnant with Henry Tudor. Anne might have had a difficult childbirth that rendered her sterile, but she seems to have been physically mature.

Anne's was not the only Neville who wasn't particularly fertile. Her mother had only two children.

Anne Neville's mother was a Beauchamp not a Neville. Another Beauchamp (I can't remember if they were related and I'm quite frankly too tired to check) was Margaret Beaufort's mother - but that's solely for interest.

Secondly,
Edward died on April 9 1484, aged somewhere between seven and ten. Little is known about his short life; even his birthdate is disputed, occurring somewhere between his parents’ marriage in 1472 and his inclusion in prayers offered for Richard and Anne, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester in the spring of 1477.

So, if he's born in 1472 - then Anne's 16, if he's born in 1477, she would be closer to 21.

Personally, I think it was perhaps a case of the fact that Middleham Castle (or the North) was far enough away from the court that Anne could be pregnant and miscarried before the news reached the court. Also, at that time, it was not possible to confirm pregnancy with any precision - take a look at how Mary I genuinely believed she was pregnant until her due date came and went with no baby (and that was nearly a century later).

As to Anne Boleyn's pregnancies, I agree, medicine at that time was as much science as guesswork - and just praying you guessed right. Catherine of Aragon is another one.

According to J.J. Scarisbrick, Catherine of Aragon had “several miscarriages, three infants who were either stillborn or died immediately after birth (two of them males), two infants who died within a few weeks of birth (one of them a boy) and one girl, Princess Mary”. Dewhurst makes the point that “several” must mean three or more so Scarisbrick is crediting Catherine with a total of nine pregnancies, only one of which gave Henry a living heir and it was only a girl. Hester Chapman writes of Catherine having a total of seven pregnancies, Neville Williams writes of how Henry was “mindful of earlier miscarriages” in his second year of marriage to Catherine, John Bowle writes of six pregnancies and A.F. Pollard suggests a total of around ten pregnancies.

http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/t...boleyn-and-catherine-of-aragon/#ixzz2psfr4P9l
 
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