Marriage prospects for Edward of Westminster

HRH Cecily

HRH Cecily

I remember when I talked about a successful Lancastrian timeline I got a lot of possible foreign brides tossed at me. So, it's 1472, the Lancastrians are on the throne, Edward IV is dead and his son the one year old Edward is in Lancastrian custody as are his four sisters, to be raised by someone(s) loyal to the regime.

Don't worry about Anne Neville, I have plans for her.

Who is available on the marriage market and who would be the best choice?
 
CaptainShadow

CaptainShadow

Maybe Elizabeth of York herself? She'd be very young, being 13 years younger than him, and about 8 years old in 1472, but it'd be the best way to unite the bloodlines, and maybe get some of the Edwardians on board?

But he needs an international alliance as well, in which case I'd recommend a French match, probably Anne de Beaujeau or Joan of Valois (wife of Louis XII). Or would Louis XI be unwilling to give his daughters?(I'm sorry, I'm less familiar with the french than I am with the english) If so, maybe Marie of Orléans?
 
HortenseMancini

HortenseMancini

CaptainShadow said:
Maybe Elizabeth of York herself? She'd be very young, being 13 years younger than him, and about 8 years old in 1472, but it'd be the best way to unite the bloodlines, and maybe get some of the Edwardians on board?

But he needs an international alliance as well, in which case I'd recommend a French match, probably Anne de Beaujeau or Joan of Valois (wife of Louis XII). Or would Louis XI be unwilling to give his daughters?(I'm sorry, I'm less familiar with the french than I am with the english) If so, maybe Marie of Orléans?
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Joan of Valois may be a problem, since she was very obviously sterile from a pretty young age. But Anne de Beaujeu...as daughter in law of Marguerite d’Anjou...I wanna see that TL.
 
CaptainShadow

CaptainShadow

curlyhairedhippie said:
Joan of Valois may be a problem, since she was very obviously sterile from a pretty young age. But Anne de Beaujeu...as daughter in law of Marguerite d’Anjou...I wanna see that TL.
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Was she? I mean....I know next to nothing about fertility (or the French, for that matter), but how would someone know that a person is sterile from a young age?

And agreed.
 
HortenseMancini

HortenseMancini

CaptainShadow said:
Was she? I mean....I know next to nothing about fertility (or the French, for that matter), but how would someone know that a person is sterile from a young age?

And agreed.
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Well, she was ‘deformed’ from pretty much the time she was born and it was assumed that she was sterile. Louis d’Orléans tried to get out of marrying her but Louis XI forced the match, hoping that Joan’s assumed sterility would kill off the Orléans branch.
 
CaptainShadow

CaptainShadow

curlyhairedhippie said:
Well, she was ‘deformed’ from pretty much the time she was born and it was assumed that she was sterile. OTL Louis XII tried to get out of marrying her but Louis XI forced the match, hoping that Joan’s assumed sterility would kill off the Orléans branch.
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Oh? Seems interesting, I'll look her up.

Thx for the info!
 

Jan Olbracht

curlyhairedhippie said:
Well, she was ‘deformed’ from pretty much the time she was born and it was assumed that she was sterile. Louis d’Orléans tried to get out of marrying her but Louis XI forced the match, hoping that Joan’s assumed sterility would kill off the Orléans branch.
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Being deformed does not guarantee being sterile (good example is Elizabeth Habsburg, daughter of German King Albert II-she had extreme scoliosis and as result also deformed face, because she could not keep her head straight, thus one side of her face was much bigger than the other. Despite this, she have birth to 13 kids-out of them 11 survived to adulthood, and she lived to her 70s) , although in that case it likely was true. I wonder what would happen if little surprise happens and Louis XI is proven to be wrong about his daughter's fertility ;)
 
CaptainShadow

CaptainShadow

Jan Olbracht said:
Being deformed does not guarantee being sterile (good example is Elizabeth Habsburg, daughter of German King Albert II-she had extreme scoliosis and as result also deformed face, because she could not keep her head straight, thus one side of her face was much bigger than the other. Despite this, she have birth to 13 kids-out of them 11 survived to adulthood, and she lived to her 70s) , although in that case it likely was true. I wonder what would happen if little surprise happens and Louis XI is proven to be wrong about his daughter's fertility ;)
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She was married for 25 years IOTL, without issue so it is probable that she was sterile.

But her giving birth is an interesting possibility, albeit an unlikely one.
 
HRH Cecily

HRH Cecily

Any not impossible but less likely choices?
I was looking at Bona of Savoy’s daughters but they’re way too young.
 

CaptainAmerica

I was just working on a surviving Edward of Westminster TL and I really think based on my research that a marriage with Anne de Beaujeu is the best option for Edward considering that Burgundy will still be supportive of the Yorkist claim so long as Margaret of York is still Duchess of Burgundy.

Honestly, Edward's marriage to Anne Neville wasn't a terrible match even if it denied the Lancaster's an international alliance.
 
HRH Cecily

HRH Cecily

CaptainAmerica said:
I was just working on a surviving Edward of Westminster TL and I really think based on my research that a marriage with Anne de Beaujeu is the best option for Edward considering that Burgundy will still be supportive of the Yorkist claim so long as Margaret of York is still Duchess of Burgundy.
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That sounds cool! I’m leaning towards Joanna of Portugal or Eleanor of Naples or maybe Margaret of Scotland.

Let me know when you post!
 

isabella

HRH Cecily said:
That sounds cool! I’m leaning towards Joanna of Portugal or Eleanor of Naples or maybe Margaret of Scotland.

Let me know when you post!
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Naples (or Milan) really do not bring any valuable alliance on the table. If you want some other candidate you can look to the infantas of Navarre, who are also granddaughters of John II of Aragon and can work as French proxies (their father is French and their brother is/was married to Louis XI’s sister).
Anne of Savoy, niece of both Louis XI and his wife, would work still better as French proxy (and she is one of the most likely matches being 6 years older than her namesake double cousin)
 
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isabella

CaptainShadow said:
Would Elizabeth of York not be considered?

England has been through a civil war, better to kill off any potential uprisings, no?
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Way too young and not good enough to be worth the wait (unlike Anne of France who still was 5 years older than her). Instead is more likely a wedding between Edward of Westminster‘s heir and a daughter of Clarence
 
kasumigenx

kasumigenx

Isabella of Castile if married Edward of Westminister might mean that Anne of Beaujeu might marry Ferdinand of Aragon.
 

Kellan Sullivan

CaptainShadow said:
Maybe Elizabeth of York herself? She'd be very young, being 13 years younger than him, and about 8 years old in 1472, but it'd be the best way to unite the bloodlines, and maybe get some of the Edwardians on board?
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So long as Edward IV had no son thhere WAS talk of a match between EoY and EoW. Then the Readeption happened and the match moved from a hypothetical to impossible. Oddly enough, IIRC Warwick the Kingmaker was one of the ones pushing it, while Edward wasn't sold on it
 

Kellan Sullivan

CaptainShadow said:
But he needs an international alliance as well, in which case I'd recommend a French match, probably Anne de Beaujeau or Joan of Valois (wife of Louis XII). Or would Louis XI be unwilling to give his daughters?(I'm sorry, I'm less familiar with the french than I am with the english) If so, maybe Marie of Orléans?
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Louis the Spider will chew his own arm before he allows an Orléans match to England. He arranged Anne of Beaujeu's match to the duc de Bourbon to disrupt a proposed alliance between Marie and that same duc de Bourbon
 
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